Throughout the

history of Chicago Chicago has played a central role in American Economy of the United States, economic, Culture of the United States, cultural and Politics of the United States, political history. Since the 1850s Chicago has been one of the dominant metropoli ...

, there have been many nicknames for the city of

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois.

Windy City

Second City

"Second City" originates as an insult from a series of articles in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' by A. J. Liebling, later combined into a book titled ''Chicago: The Second City'' (1952). In it, Liebling writes about his hatred for Chicago and contrasts it to his hometown

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He complains about Chicago's economic decline, rampant organized crime and political corruption, declining population, outdated schools of thought, and general dependency on the cities along the east coast. The Chicago-based

improv comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv or impro in British English, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted, created spontaneously by the performers. In its ...

group

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise. It is the oldest improvisational theater troupe to be continuously based in Chicago, with training programs and live theaters in Toronto and New York. Since its debut in 1959, it has b ...

references Liebling's book in their self-mocking name. In 2011, Chicago announced its adoption of the

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan or a political, commercial, religious, or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group ...

"Second to None", a protest stance indirectly referring to Liebling's publications. The slogan was replaced with another in 2022. An etymology popularized by tour guides suggests that it refers to rebuilding the city following the

Great Chicago Fire The Great Chicago Fire was a conflagration that burned in the American city of Chicago, Illinois during October 8–10, 1871. The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left mor ...

in 1871.

Chi-town

"Chi-town," "Chi-Town," or "Chitown" ( ) is a nickname that follows an established pattern of shortening a city's name and appending the suffix "-town," like " H-Town" refers to

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. Despite many mentions by well-known figures in popular works, such as C. W. McCall's song "

Convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

," its popularity as a nickname used by locals is disputed. Wendy McClure wrote in the ''

Chicago Reader The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. The ''Reader'' has been ...

'' in 2017 that it is the "

cilantro Coriander (), whose leaves are known as cilantro () in the U.S. and parts of Canada, and dhania in parts of South Asia and Africa, is an annual herb (''Coriandrum sativum'') in the family Apiaceae. Most people perceive the leaves as ha ...

of nicknames": its distastefulness depends on who is using it. Events and organizations often use the nickname, for example, the hockey team

Chi-Town Shooters The Chi-Town Shooters were two professional ice hockey teams that played in the All American Hockey League. They played their home games at the Midwest Training & Ice Center in Dyer, Indiana. The "Shooters" name refers to the casinos in the Sou ...

, the WCW event

Chi-Town Rumble Chi-Town Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) banner. It took place on February 20, 1989, at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinoi ...

, and the New Year's Eve event Chi-Town Rising.

City of Big Shoulders

"City of Big Shoulders" is a nickname coined by

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg w ...

in his 1914 poem "

," which describes the city as "stormy, husky, ndbrawling." It is the last of several nicknames in the poem; the others hint at the city's major industrial activities, for example, the

meat-packing industry The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally n ...

and railroad industry. It is also sometimes said as the "City of Broad Shoulders."

Chiberia

"Chiberia"a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "Chicago" and "

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

" was coined by Richard Castro, a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

working for the National Weather Service, during a cold wave in 2014 that brought the coldest temperatures to the city in multiple decades. The

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...

used the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

"#Chiberia" during its reporting on the cold wave. The nickname continues to be used during cold weather events, for example in 2017 and in 2019.

Chiraq

"Chiraq"a portmanteau of "Chicago" and "

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

"controversially compares the city (given its crime rates) to war-torn Iraq. Chuck Goudie, a reporter for

ABC7 Chicago WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as ...

, asserted that the nickname is based on an Iraq War statistic: from 2003 to 2012, 4,265 people were killed in Chicago, nearly equal to the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq in the same period. The origin of the nickname is not definitive, but it saw increasing popularity in usage around the end of the Iraq War.

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary ...

used the nickname as the title of his 2015 film.

City in a Garden

In the 1830s, the

government of Chicago The government of the City of Chicago, Illinois, United States is divided into executive and legislature, legislative branches. The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limit ...

adopted the motto "," a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

term that translates to 'City in a Garden.' It is displayed in the city's seal. The

Chicago Park District The Chicago Park District is one of the oldest and the largest park districts in the United States. As of 2016, there are over 600 parks included in the Chicago Park District as well as 27 beaches, 10 boat docking harbors, two botanic conservat ...

adopted a seal in 1934 that contains the Latin phrase , meaning 'Garden in a City.'

Great Commercial Tree

"Great Commercial Tree" comes from the lyrics of the state anthem of Illinois: "... Till upon

the inland sea ''The Inland Sea'' is a 1991 American travel documentary directed by Lucille Carra. It is inspired by the 1971 travelogue of the same title written by Donald Richie. In the documentary, filmmaker Carra undertakes a similar trip across the isla ...

, stands thy great commercial tree..."

Other nicknames

* "Mud City" – possibly the oldest nickname for the city, referring to the fact that the terrain of the city used to be a

mud flat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal f ...

* "City by the Lake" – used as early as the 1890s * "The City that Works" – slogan from

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the mayor of Chicago from 1955, and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party from 1953, until his death. He has been called "the last of ...

's tenure as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

, describing Chicago as a

blue-collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...

, hard-working city, which ran relatively smoothly * "The Great American City" – taken from

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning novelist

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

's book ''

Miami and the Siege of Chicago ''Miami and the Siege of Chicago: An Informal History of the Republican and Democratic Conventions of 1968'' is a non-fiction novel written by Norman Mailer which covers the Republican and Democratic national party political conventions of ...

'' (1968): "Chicago is the great American city ... perhaps

he last He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

of the great American cities"; "the notion that Chicago is arguably the most quintessential American city" was central to Robert J. Sampson's landmark research on communities,

criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...

, and

urban sociology Urban sociology is the sociological study of cities and urban life. One of the field’s oldest sub-disciplines, urban sociology studies and examines the social, historical, political, cultural, economic, and environmental forces that have shaped ...

, '' Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect'' (2012) * "The City Beautiful" – a reference to the eponymous reform movement sparked by the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, used by

Hawk Harrelson Kenneth Smith Harrelson (born September 4, 1941), nicknamed "the Hawk" due to his distinctive profile, is an American former professional baseball player and television announcer. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1971 as a ...

when the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

open a game at

U.S. Cellular Field Rate Field (formerly named Comiskey Park, U.S. Cellular Field and Guaranteed Rate Field) is a baseball stadium located on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox, one of the city ...

* "The 312" – a reference to the city's original area code under the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1, World Numbering Zone ...

before the overlays of

area code 773 Area code 773 serves Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States ce ...

area code 872 Area code 872 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan for Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It is an overlay code for a numbering plan area that comprises those of area codes 312 and 773. The overlay commenced service ...

, and now even later

Area codes 708 and 464 Area codes 708 and 464 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the southern and western suburbs of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. The numbering plan area comprises most of western and southern Cook County, ...

. * "

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on the

Prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

" - a name from

Daniel Burnham Daniel Hudson Burnham (September 4, 1846 – June 1, 1912) was an American architect and urban designer. A proponent of the ''Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts'' movement, he may have been "the most successful power broker the American archi ...

's "Plan for Chicago".

References

{{Chicago Nicknames for Chicago Culture of Chicago

Names of places in the United States