Nicknames of Vancouver

"Saltwater City" redirects here. For the book, see Saltwater City: An Illustrated History of the Chinese in Vancouver.

There are many nicknames for the city of Vancouver, the largest city in British Columbia and third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Some reflect the city's history, climate, geography, economy, and demographics. Others have their origins in cultural aspects of the city and its inhabitants.

History

The first non-aboriginal settlement in the area was known as Gastown. This name continues today as a nickname for Vancouver, although more specifically for the original core of the city, which is part of the Downtown Eastside.

Geography and climate

• Rain City (or Raincouver or the Wet Coast) – Vancouver receives on average 1,199 mm (47.2 in) of rainfall a year (YVR). ^[1] Especially during the winter months, the city has a reputation for wet weather.
• Terminal City – refers to Vancouver (or specifically Gastown) being the western terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway. ^[2]
• Saltwater City (Chinese :鹹水埠) – name for Vancouver used by early Chinese immigrants to the city. ^[3]

Industry

• Hollywood North ^[4] – the city is home to the third-largest film and television production industry in North America, after LA and New York. ^[5]
• The Big Smoke – Vancouver's heavy fogs in combination with the many sawmill burners and other industrial pollution produced thick smog. Common as slang and in casual usage. ^{[6] [7] [8]} It is also used outside of BC for Toronto, London, Sydney and other places. Very common in use within BC, especially in the BC Interior, for both Vancouver and the Lower Mainland in general.

Culture

• Vansterdam – like Amsterdam, Vancouver has a reputation for relaxed attitudes towards recreational drug use, specifically marijuana. ^[9]
• Lotusland – coined by Vancouver Sun writer Allan Fotheringham, Lotusland refers to Homer's Odyssey, in which the hero, Odysseus, visits a land whose inhabitants are befuddled by a narcotic lotus (the "Land of the Lotus-Eaters"). It sometimes is used to describe all of British Columbia. ^[10]
• City of Glass – taken from the title of a Douglas Coupland book, this name reflects the dominant steel-and-glass architectural aesthetic of the city's downtown. ^[11]
• No Fun City (or Nofuncouver) – long-time nickname ^[12] which can refer to a variety of things depending on use and context. It can refer to some of the city's cultural policies that result in a less lively local music scene, ^[12] to a perceived "lame" nightlife. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16]}
• Blandcouver – similar to 'No Fun City,' this nickname ^[17] is often used self-deprecatingly by locals who think Vancouver's cosmopolitanism is over-hyped. ^{[18] [14]}
• The 604 – 604 is an area code used in Vancouver that locals occasionally use as slang for Vancouver. ^[19]

Demographics

• Hongcouver and Vankong – names with xenophobic connotations, it came into use in the 1980s and 1990s. Although Vancouver has had a large Chinese community from its earliest days, the Chinese population surged as large numbers of Hong Kong citizens immigrated prior to the British handover of that city in 1997. ^[20]

Diminutives

• Downtown – common inside of BC to refer to the whole of actual Vancouver
• The V – contemporary moniker originating in the Canadian hip hop community
• Van – common outside the city proper and as an abbreviation
• V-town – virtually unused in BC, but in moderate use within Alberta
• East Van – not common outside of BC, but most residents of East Vancouver use this
• Vancity – originated in the Canadian hip hop community, has since come into popular usage in and outside of BC (Vancity is also the name of a local credit union)

See also

• List of city nicknames in Canada
• Lists of nicknames – nickname list articles on Wikipedia
• Left coast

References

1. "Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2000". Environment Canada. 2009-04-30. Archived from the original on 2008-12-11. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
2. "Editors' Picks: City history and landmarks". Georgia Straight. 23 September 2009. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
3. By Any Other Name: Salt Water City Archived 2013-12-02 at the Wayback Machine , Vancouver is Awesome, 6 December 2011
4. "B.C. Facts". Province of British Columbia. Archived from the original on February 16, 2014. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
5. BC Film Commission Archived 2010-06-05 at the Wayback Machine
6. Attention Vancouver: INCOMING!, Raincoaster Media, 2 May 2014
7. Moving to the Big Smoke, Shari van Spronsen
8. "The Big Smoke", Mooie, Third Gardener blog
9. Hampson, Sarah (October 22, 2007). "Prince of pot or dope of Vansterdam?". Toronto: Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
10. Grant, Kelly; Mehler Paperny, Anna. "How cities grow – up is in". Toronto: Globe and Mail. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
11. Rowe, Dan. "A career spent being curious about Vancouver". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on December 16, 2013. Retrieved July 28, 2010.
12. James, Melissa. "No Fun City – About". No Fun City. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
13. Moxley, Mitch (5 October 2012). "Welcome To Vancouver: 'No Fun City'". Huffington Post. Retrieved December 6, 2012.
14. Quan, Douglas (2017-02-25). "'Blandcouver' does it again: New logo ridiculed as lame attempt to rebrand the city for lowest bid". National Post. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
15. "Why Must Lovely Vancouver Be So Boring?". HuffPost. 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
16. "Opinion: Here's how Vancouver can leave its "no fun city" reputation behind | Urbanized". dailyhive.com. Retrieved 2022-11-07.
17. "Blandcouver". Scout Magazine: Vancouver Lexicon. 4 February 2013. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
18. "Blandcouver (@blandcouver)" . Retrieved January 5, 2015.
19. Hannah (2023-02-10). "19 nicknames for Vancouver BC used by locals" . Retrieved 2023-04-26.
20. Cernetig, Miro. "Chinese Vancouver: A decade of change". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved July 28, 2010.