Many city nicknames roll off the tongue like it's second nature. New York City is, of course, the Big Apple. Paris is the City of Love. Los Angeles is the City of Angels.
They're a given at this point. But we'd also venture to guess not too many people know how those nicknames came about.
Online travel guide and flight finder "Just The Flight" created a simple infographic with brief origin stories for some of the more high-profile city nicknames. Here are a few that grabbed our attention.
According to The New York Times, the earliest mention of NYC as the "Big apple" comes from an excerpt in Edward S. Martin's "The Wayfarer in New York" in 1909.
It reads: "Kansas is apt to see in New York a greedy city. ... It inclines to think that the big apple gets a disproportionate share of the national sap." (Video via Expedia)
While that might be the earliest reference, many believe the nickname really didn't become common parlance until about the 1920s when a sports writer started using it in horse racing stories.
Next up, a city nickname with a story that fools a lot of people. Chicago is often called the Windy City but that moniker's origins might have a richer story than just gusts whipping off Lake Michigan.
Some believe the nickname actually refers to political rivalries between Chicago and Cincinnati. One writer basically accused some Chicago politicians of being full of hot air.
And we'll wrap up with Las Vegas. Sin City got its name from an area of the city called Block 16, which was a popular haven for selling alcohol and for offering prostitution. (Video via YouTube / ivan castro)
The whole area would be destroyed during World War II, but somehow the Sin City nicknamed was never forgotten and stayed with Vegas to this day.
To read more city nickname origins, head over to the Just The Flight website.
This video includes images from Getty Images.
