List of city nicknames in Arizona

This partial list of city nicknames in Arizona compiles the aliases, sobriquets and slogans that cities in Arizona are known by (or have been known by historically), officially and unofficially, to municipal governments, local people, outsiders or their tourism boards or chambers of commerce. City nicknames can help in establishing a civic identity, helping outsiders recognize a community or attracting people to a community because of its nickname; promote civic pride; and build community unity.[1] Nicknames and slogans that successfully create a new community "ideology or myth"[2] are also believed to have economic value.[1] Their economic value is difficult to measure,[1] but there are anecdotal reports of cities that have achieved substantial economic benefits by "branding" themselves by adopting new slogans.[2]

Some unofficial nicknames are positive, while others are derisive. The unofficial nicknames listed here have been in use for a long time or have gained wide currency.

• Apache Junction
  • Home of the Superstition Mountains[3]
  • Gateway to Legends, Lakes, Leisure, and Lost Treasure[4]
• Ash Fork – Flagstone Capital of the United States[5]
• Chandler – High-Tech Oasis of the Silicon Desert[6]
• Flagstaff
  • City in the Pines[7]
  • City of Seven Wonders[7]
  • The Staff[7]
  • Flag[7]
  • Flag Town (C. W. McCall)[8]
• Jerome – America's Most Vertical City[6]
• Kingman – Heart of Route 66[9]
• Phoenix – Arizona's Urban Heart[10]
• Phoenix metropolitan area
  • The Big Saguaro
  • Silicon Desert[11][12]
  • Valley of the Sun[13]
• Prescott – Everybody's Home Town[14]
• Scottsdale – The West's Most Western Town[15]
• Sedona – Red Rock Country[16]
• Show Low – Named for the Turn of a Card[13]
• Sierra Vista – Hummingbird Capital of the United States[17]
• Tombstone – The Town Too Tough To Die[13][18][19]
• Tucson
  • The Old Pueblo
  • Dirty T.[13][20][21]
  • Optics Valley[22]
  • The Sunshine Factory[21]
• Wickenburg – The Dude Ranch Capital of the World[23]
• Yuma – Experience Our Sense of Yuma[13]

See also

• List of city nicknames in the United States

References

1. Muench, David "Wisconsin Community Slogans: Their Use and Local Impacts" Archived 2013-03-09 at the Wayback Machine, December 1993, accessed April 10, 2007.
2. Alfredo Andia, Branding the Generic City :) Archived 2008-05-21 at the Wayback Machine, MU.DOT magazine, September 10, 2007
3. Apache Junction Ride Choice Archived 2007-11-03 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 30, 2007. "© 2004 City of Apache Junction, Arizona Home of the Superstition Mountains "
4. Arizona Government Web Sites, accessed March 30, 2007. "City of Apache Junction, Arizona. Gateway to legends, lakes, leisure and lost treasures."
5. Claims to Fame - Rocks Archived 2008-02-18 at the Wayback Machine, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
6. U.S. City Monikers, Tagline Guru website, accessed January 5, 2008
7. Flagstaff Arizona Archived 2011-10-02 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 29, 2007. "Flagstaff is sometimes called "The City in the Pines" because the town sits in the middle of a Ponderosa Pine stand in the Coconino National Forest. The town is also called "The City of Seven Wonders" because of its proximity to the Grand Canyon, Oak Creek Canyon, Walnut Canyon, Wupatki National Monument, Sunset Crater National Monument and the San Francisco Peaks."
8. Song A' Th' Week Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, The Legend-News, January 21, 2002. "By golly, it's clean clear to Flag Town, c'mon. => On the highway between Rubber Duck's location and Flagstaff, Arizona ("Flagtown"), there are no reports of police activity."
9. Kingman Area Chamber of Commerce, accessed March 29, 2007. "Kingman, Arizona: The Heart of Route 66 and gateway to the Hoover Dam, Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon!"
10. Jahna Berry, Downtown Phoenix donning a new label to lure locals, tourists, The Arizona Republic, March 2, 2009
11. Soper, Taylor (February 11, 2015). "Silicon Desert: How Phoenix is quickly — and quietly — becoming a hub for innovation". GeekWire. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
12. Brown, Eliot (March 3, 2015). "Silicon Desert? Developer Bets on Scottsdale as a Tech Hub". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
13. Tagline Guru City Branding Survey, Tagline Guru website, accessed August 18, 2009
14. Quick Facts about Prescott Archived 2014-11-01 at the Wayback Machine, Prescott, Arizona. Accessed May 17, 2007. "Called the "mile-high city" at an elevation of 5,400 feet"
15. Scottsdale Arizona profile, accessed March 30, 2007. "The first mayor was Malcolm White. He also coined the city slogan, 'The West's Most Western Town.'"
16. Red Rock Country^[usurped]
17. Claims to Fame - Birds Archived 2008-01-10 at the Wayback Machine, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
18. The City of Tombstone's Official Web Site, accessed March 29, 2007. "The Town too Tough to Die," Tombstone was perhaps the most renowned of Arizona's old mining camps.
19. Claims to Fame - Braggadocio Archived 2007-12-17 at the Wayback Machine, Epodunk, accessed April 16, 2007.
20. A Look at the "Old Pueblo"--Tucson, accessed March 30, 2007. Archived October 16, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
21. My opinion Debbie Kornmiller : TV listings' headaches fixed today, Arizona Daily Star, March 18, 2007. "The Sunshine Factory" won a Tucson nickname contest in the 1980s as a replacement for the "Old Pueblo."
22. "AOIA.org – Arizona Optics Industry Association". Retrieved October 8, 2012.
23. History Archived 2011-11-27 at the Wayback Machine, Wickenburg Chamber of Commerce website, accessed November 20, 2011: "The construction of the Phoenix to California highway (Highway 60) brought even more tourists, making Wickenburg the Dude Ranch Capital of the World."