There are many nicknames for the city of Houston, the largest city in

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and fourth-largest city in the United States. The city's

nicknames A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

reflect its

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...

economy An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with th ...

, multicultural population, and popular culture, including sports and music. They are often used by the media and in popular culture to reference the city.

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

currently has one official nickname, "Space City", signifying the city's global importance to

space exploration Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration though is conducted both by uncrewed robo ...

and historical role as a prominent center of activity by the

National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding ...

(NASA). Cities adopt official nicknames such as this one to establish a civic identity, promote civic pride, and build community unity. Muench, David
Wisconsin Community Slogans: Their Use and Local Impacts
", December 1993, accessed April 10, 2007. Houston has had other nicknames in the past which have faded in common usage, going as far back as the 1870s. The city has recently accumulated several unofficial nicknames from among sub-groups within the city, including several whose origins are in the local hip-hop subculture. The most recently added nickname is "The Big Heart", which refers to assistance given by Houston and its citizens to the victims of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in 2005 and 2006.

Official nickname

Space City

Houston received its official nickname of "Space City" in 1967 because it is home to

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

Manned Spacecraft Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

. NASA's center in Houston has its origins in the

Space Task Group The Space Task Group was a working group of NASA engineers created in 1958, tasked with managing America's human spaceflight programs. Headed by Robert Gilruth and based at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, it managed Project Me ...

which directed its first manned spaceflight program,

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

. In 1961, it grew into a bigger organization as the Manned Spacecraft Center, and in 1962 moved into a newly built campus on land donated by

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

. It was renamed the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) in honor of Texas

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

Vice President A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

, and

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

in 1973, the year Johnson died. As

Senate Majority Leader The positions of majority leader and minority leader are held by two United States senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. They serve as the chief spokespersons for their respective political parties holding t ...

, Johnson played a decisive role in passage of the legislation which created NASA in 1958. JSC contains the

Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center NASA's Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center (MCC-H, initially called Integrated Mission Control Center, or IMCC), also known by its radio callsign, Houston, is the facility at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, t ...

, which coordinates and monitors all human spaceflight for the United States, and directed all

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program n ...

missions and activities aboard the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest Modular design, modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos ( ...

. The visitor's center of JSC is

Space Center Houston Space Center Houston is a science museum that serves as the official visitor center of NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston. It was designated a Smithsonian Affiliate museum in 2014. The organization is owned by NASA, and operated under a con ...

. Some of the first words transmitted by

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

from the moon, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed", are written in 15 languages on bronze plaques placed along the main entrance of Tranquility Park in

downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The ...

. A replica of one of the footprints left on the moon by Neil Armstrong is also on display inside the park.

Popular nicknames

HOU

The correct 3-letter abbreviation for the city, taken from the acronym for Hobby Airport.

Bayou City

Houston is popularly known as "The Bayou City" (and less frequently as "Baghdad on the Bayou") because it is home to ten winding waterways that flow through the surrounding area.

Buffalo Bayou Buffalo Bayou is a slow-moving body of water which flows through Houston in Harris County, Texas. Formed 18,000 years ago, it has its source in the prairie surrounding Katy, Fort Bend County, and flows approximately east through the Houston Shi ...

is the main waterway flowing through the city and has a significant place in Texas history, not only due to the founding place of the City of Houston, but also because the final battle for Texas Independence was fought along its banks. Other major bayous in the city include

White Oak Bayou White Oak Bayou is a slow-moving river in Houston, Texas. A major tributary of the city's principal waterway, Buffalo Bayou, White Oak originates near the intersection of Texas State Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 290 (the Northwest Freeway) and mea ...

, Brays Bayou and Sims Bayou.

H-Town

"H-Town" is a widely popular modern nickname for Houston. It is commonly used in reference to the city both locally and internationally, especially within the entertainment community. In addition, the H-Town Blues Festival is a

music festival A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or ho ...

held each year in the city, and the H-Town Arena Theatre has hosted a variety of performing artists from around the country since the 1970s. H-Town (with the "H" standing for Houston) is also the name of an R&B and hip hop band from Houston that was formed in 1992.

Hustle-Town

"Hustle-Town", another popular local nickname for Houston, is often proudly used to reference the city's significance as an international center of commerce, trade, and more recently, music, art, and a rapidly growing population center that 'never seems to rest'. Houston is sometimes compared to larger, older cities and pop-cultural centers, sometimes being referred to as the "New York' or 'L.A' of the South", and is actually the fourth largest city in the United States, in terms of population size. The term 'Hustle-Town' was heavily popularized by Houston rapper SPM, following the release of ''' Hustle-Town in 1998, directly utilizing the term in the name of the song, which was followed with a large rise in the usage of the term in hip-hop music and culture in the Houston scene. The term is also often used by sports teams, corporations, slogans, or groups in Houston, such as the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after s ...

, with the phrase '''Welcome to Hustle Town''', which can be seen painted on the south side o
Minute Maid Park

Sport Nicknames

Clutch City

The nickname of "Clutch City" was given to the city of Houston after the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

won the 1994 and 1995 NBA championships. The moniker was adopted in response to a front-page headline in the ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With i ...

'' declaring Houston to be "Choke City". It was revived in 2005, as the Houston Astros had a late-season rally to win the pennant and clinch their first-ever

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the Worl ...

appearance, and again in 2006, when the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establish ...

won the

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

in their inaugural season. The Rockets' mascot, " Clutch the Bear", was named the 5th-most recognizable mascot in sports by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'' in February 2005, and was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in 2006.

Crush City

Crush City is a nickname that derived from the 2015 Houston Astros season. "Crush" is a reference to the high number of home runs delivered by the

, as the team ended with the second most home runs in MLB.

Historic nicknames

Magnolia City

"Magnolia City" is one of the earliest of Houston's many nicknames. ''The Texas World'', a newspaper first published in 1900, is said to have labeled Houston "the Magnolia City", but the nickname had been in use among the locals since the 1870s. Areas of east Houston, particularly

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in ...

and Magnolia Park, were once natural Magnolia forests that were wiped out by

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

by the 1920s. The nickname is still sometimes used in media stories about the city. Magnolia City Houston

Capital of the Sunbelt

The nickname "Capital of the

Sunbelt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered to stretch across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the 36th parallel. Several climates can be found in the region — des ...

" (also "Golden Buckle on the Sun Belt") appeared during the

boomtown A boomtown is a community that undergoes sudden and rapid population and economic growth, or that is started from scratch. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, althou ...

years when the city experienced rapid growth. In the late 1970s, Houston was experiencing a population increase, as people from

Rust Belt The Rust Belt is a region of the United States that experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s. The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been in decline since, impacting certain regions an ...

states moved ''en masse'' into Texas. The new residents mostly came for the numerous employment opportunities in the petroleum industry, resulting from the

Arab Oil Embargo The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...

The Big Heart

The "Big Heart" is a nickname Houston earned in 2005–06 among many of the storm victims from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...

and other affected areas who sought refuge there in the aftermath of

. Angelo Edwards, vice chair of the ACORN Katrina Survivors Association, said, "No other city really provided the resources and assistance Houston has." Houston housed, fed and mended more than 150,000 survivors in an effort that won acclaim throughout the United States, mounting what is believed to be the biggest shelter operation in the country's history, including

Mobile Army Surgical Hospital Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals were U.S. Army field hospital units conceptualized in 1946 as replacements for the World War II-era Auxiliary Surgical Group hospital units, which had become obsolete. MASH Units were in operation from the Korean ...

(MASH)-like mega-clinics that took on problems ranging from emergency care to eyeglass prescriptions. "This has been a real success story", said Houston Mayor Bill White. "So many Houstonians stepped up to help our neighbors from Louisiana. It was humbling, and it showed the world the big heart and the incredible talent of our city."

Subculture and groups

City of Lean

The "City of Lean" nickname (also "Lean City") refers to the enjoyment of

codeine Codeine is an opiate and prodrug of morphine mainly used to treat pain, coughing, and diarrhea. It is also commonly used as a recreational drug. It is found naturally in the sap of the opium poppy, ''Papaver somniferum''. It is typically ...

-laced cough syrup, sometimes called

purple drank Lean, also known as purple drank, purp, sizzurp, syrup, wock, oil, joy juice, and several other names, is a recreational drug beverage, prepared by mixing prescription strength cough or cold syrup containing codeine and promethazine with a ...

, that has been popular in Houston and is associated with some rap artists. Houston rap artist Big Moe used this nickname for the title of his 2000 album '' City of Syrup'', whose cover featured an image of purple ooze being poured over the Houston skyline. Drip City is another name for City of Lean

Houstone

“Houstone” is generally used to refer to members of the

prison gang A prison gang is an inmate organization that operates within a prison system. It has a corporate entity and exists into perpetuity. Its membership is restrictive, mutually exclusive, and often requires a lifetime commitment. Prison officials and ot ...

“ Tango Blast”. However, “Houstone” is also used amongst them to claim

as their city as a form of identification.

Mutt City

Coined by food writer

John T. Edge John T. Edge (born December 22, 1962) is a writer, commentator, and, since its founding in 1999, director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, an institute of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. He has wr ...

in ''

Oxford American The ''Oxford American'' is a quarterly magazine that focuses on the American South. First publication The magazine was begun in late 1989 in Oxford, Mississippi, by Marc Smirnoff (born July 11, 1963). The name "Oxford American" is a play on '' ...

:'' "... a name that combines the city's embrace of the variety and splendor of the foods from our immigrant communities and our penchant for crossing the lines and boundaries between not only different cuisines but between high-dollar and low-brow fare."

Ozone City

"Ozone City" is a more recent nickname used in Punk, Alternative, and art circles. Its exact origins are unknown, but likely in reference to Houston's high Ozone count and air pollution.

Screwston

"Screwston" is a popular modern nickname for the city of Houston. It is widely known by fans of local hip-hop artist

DJ Screw Robert Earl Davis Jr. (July 20, 1971 – November 16, 2000), better known by his stage name DJ Screw, was an American hip hop DJ based in Houston, Texas, and best known as the creator of the now-famous chopped and screwed DJ technique. He ...

and his style of music, known as "

chopped and screwed Chopped and screwed (also called screwed and chopped or slowed and throwed) is a music genre and technique of remixing music that involves slowing down the tempo and deejaying. It developed in the Houston hip hop scene in the early 1990s by D ...

Marketing slogan

The Energy Capital of the World

Houston is considered by many to be "The Energy Capital of the World," because the city is home to more than 5,000

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of ...

-related firms. The city is a leading domestic and international center for virtually every segment of the oil and gas industry—exploration, production, transmission, marketing, service, supply,

offshore drilling Offshore drilling is a mechanical process where a wellbore is drilled below the seabed. It is typically carried out in order to explore for and subsequently extract petroleum that lies in rock formations beneath the seabed. Most commonly, the t ...

, and technology. Greater Houston Partnership
2005 – 2015 Strategic Plan
, page 27. Houston dominates U.S. oil and gas exploration and production and is unrivaled in the American energy industry. It is home to more than 3,600 energy-related establishments. Houston is also home to 13 of the nation's 20 largest

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

transmission companies, 600

exploration Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and production firms and more than 170 pipeline operators. Houston also hosts the annual

Offshore Technology Conference Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) is a series of conferences and exhibitions, focused on the exchanging technical knowledge relevant to the development of offshore energy resources, primarily oil and natural gas. It was founded in 1969. There a ...

which is the world's largest energy-related trade show.

References

External links

City of Houston official website

Greater Houston Convention & Visitors Bureau
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicknames Of Houston

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

Culture of Houston