The Cincinnati Dealer - Cincinnati's Names

Cincinnati's Names - A History Lesson

By Burt Safer | Dealer staff writer

Wed, Oct 12, 2005

The Cincinnati Dealer is providing this helpful guide to the history of Cincinnati's various names. This is a public service to Cincinnati's seventh grade students as they begin their first quarter of "Ohio Studies".

Even before Cincinnati was "Cincinnati", it was Los Antiville, The City of Antipathy, as Spanish settlers in 1788 first named it, to express their scorn towards the region.

In 1811, British novelist Jane Austen came to Los Antiville to promote her first novel Sense and Sensibility. Although Los Antiville's first settlers only spoke Spanish, Austen offered to teach them English so she could then sell her "textbooks" throughout Los Antiville.

In honor of Jane Austen, the new English-mumblers renamed their city after her textbook: "Sensenansenanbity". Since few residents had an actual copy of Austen's textbook, the name soon evolved into its current form,"Cincinnati".

Although the name "Cincinnati" has stuck through the ages, the city has taken on several unique nicknames.

- In 1895, during the height of the Gay 90's, Cincinnati was known as the Drag Queen capital of the midwest, earning its nickname "The Queen City".
- In 1967, Cincinnati became the "Blue Chip City" due to the popularity of Cincinnati's famous Blue Corn Chips.
- In 1972, Cincinnati was called "The City of Seven Hills" after a King's Island roller coaster, The Racer, premiered with seven hills.
- In 2001, Cincinnati was dubbed "Porkopolis", in honor of Cincinnati Police Officer Stephen Roach.
- In early 2005, Cincinnati was branded "Cincinnati USA", which still confuses many historians to this day.

Quick Poll

After Ike's damage to Cincinnati, how are you taking precautions against future hurricanes?

	Purchasing a windbreaker
	Cutting down every tree within 150 feet of my house
	Practicing dialing Duke Energy's phone number in the dark
	Looking for Duke Energy technicians who are willing to accept bribes
	Reading "Fixing Broken Power Lines For Dummies"
	Making sure my Bengals season tickets next year will be far away from the "wind tunnel" section
	Moving to the Gulf Coast, where people are actually warned in advance about hurricanes

What Grinds Your Gears?
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