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Kansas State Names

Kansas Name Etymology and State Nicknames

Great Plains

• Sunflower State

• Wheat State

• Cyclone State

• Midway, USA

• Jayhawk State

• The Central State

• The Grasshopper State

• Garden of the West

• The Squatter State

• Bleeding Kansas

• The Battleground of Freedom

Origin of Kansas State Name

The state of Kansas was named after the river. The Kansas River was named by the French after the Kansas, Omaha, Kaw, Osage and Dakota Sioux Indian word "KaNze" meaning, in the Kansas language "south wind." The state name for Arkansas shares its origins with Kansas.

From a Sioux word meaning "people of the south wind"

Nicknames

Kansas itself officially favored the more demure Sunflower State, which is the official nickname (and the sunflower is the state flower.

Sunflower State

A reminder of the wild sunflowers that grow in profusion across the state, the Sunflower is also the official State Flower and Floral Emblem of Kansas.

Cyclone State

Weather conditions conducive to the generation of tornadoes, or cyclones, earned Kansas this nickname.

Midway, USA

Located close to the middle of the contiguous 48 states.

Wheat State

One of the nation's leading agricultural states.

Jayhawk State

This historical nickname, sometimes phrased as "The Jayhawker State," traces it's history back to 1856 and the conflicts between Kansas and Missouri during the time when Kansas earned the name "Bleeding Kansas" Missourians became known as "bushwhackers."

The Central State

Located close to the middle of the contiguous 48 states.

The Grasshopper State

Nicknamed for the 1874 Grasshopper (Rocky Mountain Locusts) Plague, when the lush landscape of Kansas was denuded by swarms of Rocky Mountain Locusts that swept into the state in July.

Garden of the West

Also referred to as "The Garden State," for the beauty of the landscape and the fertility of the soil.

The Squatter State

New settlers that flocked into the new territory establishing claims to the land. Early squatters were from the slave state of Missouri.

Bleeding Kansas

Bleeding Kansas, sometimes referred to in history as Bloody Kansas or the Border War, was a series of violent events, involving Free-Staters (anti-slavery) and pro-slavery "Border Ruffian" elements, that took place in the Kansas Territory and the western frontier towns of  Missouri roughly between 1854 and 1858. “Bleeding Kansas” was a term coined and used by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune to describe the violent hostilities between pro and antislavery forces in the Kansas territory during the mid and late 1850s.

The Battleground of Freedom

During the violent period of conflict before the Civil War, Kansas was sometimes referred to as "The Battleground of Freedom."

Slogans

Kansas, as big as you think

Kansas Postal Code

KS

Kansas Resident's Name

Kansan

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