Pop Quiz: Do You Know All of Louisiana’s Nicknames?
Louisiana is known for many things, including its abundance of nicknames.
Nicknames, for the most part, are cool. Of course, you can't give yourself a nickname. No, no... nicknames are given by others. Hopefully, the name you are given is based off of something legendary you did or, at the very least, is an abbreviation of your original name. I've had a lot of nicknames in my day; Jess, Jessi, Sunshine (while I was working in NYC), Gus Gus, Jiggy... Not all of them have been my favorite, but at least I felt like people loved me enough to give me a pet name.
States have their own nicknames as well.
In fact, Louisiana has several nicknames. Many know that Louisiana is the Pelican State or the Bayou State, but there are more than just those two. NetState.com actually lists eight different nicknames.
The Pelican State - because of the abundance of Brown Pelicans found along the coast
The Bayou State - named after all of the small, slow-flowing streams found in the lowlands and marshes down south
The Sugar State - aside from cotton, rice and sweet potatoes, Louisiana produces a large sugar cane crop and also has a lot of refineries
The Child of the Mississippi - the Mississippi River deposits a lot of silt and over time that silt has become the land mass of Louisiana
The Creole State - this comes from the French and Spanish people and the culture they have cultivated in Louisiana
Sportsman's Paradise - wildlife, hunting, trapping, and fishing is coupled with the number of sports found in Louisiana like football, horse racing, golf, baseball, and even ice hockey
Fisherman's Paradise - because some of the best fishing can be found in Louisiana
The Holland of America - because of Louisiana's waterways and trucking industry