Nicknames of San Francisco

There are many nicknames of San Francisco, California that have been used throughout the city's history.

• San Fran – Used by non-native residents and those outside of the Bay Area. Curtis Sparrer from Bospar gives the reasons why it is not acceptable to say 'San Fran'.
• Baghdad by the Bay – title of a book of essays by Herb Caen, and a nickname he used for the city because of the cosmopolitan cultural diversity it shares with the medieval city of Baghdad
• Fog City / "City of Fog" – in reference to San Francisco's famous fog
• Frisco – also the nickname of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, disparaged by Herb Caen and some locals. The word is still used today particularly by San Francisco's Black community.
• Gay Mecca
• Golden Gate City – in reference to the Golden Gate strait which is spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge
• SF
• SFC (San Francisco City)
• Sunset City
• The city – used by native San Franciscans and people in the Bay Area
• The city by the Bay – refers to San Francisco Bay
• The City of Love – as seen in Cool, Gray City of Love by Gary Kamiya and in the lyrics of "San Francisco" by German eurodance group Cascada
• The City that Knows How
• The Golden City – in reference to the California Gold Rush and golden brown grass on hillsides in the dry season
• The Paris of the West – popular in the early 1900s, but no longer in common use
• The City of Neighborhoods

References