Pennsylvania State Names

Pennsylvania Name Etymology and State Nicknames

Appalachia

• Keystone State

• Quaker State

• The Commonwealth

• Independence State

• Coal State

• Steel State

Origin of Pennsylvania State Name

In honor of Adm. Sir William Penn, father of William Penn. It means "Penn's Woodland."

The name Pennsylvania was specified in the charter given to William Penn by England's Charles II in 1680. The Latin Sylvania meaning "woodlands" was added to Penn to create "Penn's woods."

Pennsylvania American colony, later U.S. state, 1681, lit. "Penn's Woods," a hybrid formed from the surname Penn (Welsh, lit. "head") + L. sylvania (see sylvan). Not named for William Penn, the proprietor, but, on suggestion of Charles II, for Penn's late father, Admiral William Penn (1621-70), who had lent the king the money that was repaid in the form of land for a Quaker settlement in America. Penn wanted to call it New Wales, but the king's secretary, a Welshman of orthodox religion, wouldn't hear of it. Pennsylvania Dutch is attested from 1824. Pennsylvanian in ref. to a geological system is attested from 1891.

sylvan 1565, "deity of the woods," from M.Fr. sylvain, from L. silvanus "pertaining to wood or forest" (originally only in silvanæ "goddesses of the woods"), from silva "wood, forest, grove," of unknown origin. Adj. meaning "of the woods" is attested from 1580. Silvanus was used by the Romans as the proper name of a god of woods and fields, identified with Pan. Spelling with -y- infl. by Gk. hyle "forest," from which the L. word was supposed to derive.

Nicknames

Keystone State:

The word "keystone" comes from architecture and refers to the central, wedge-shaped stone in an arch, which holds all the other stones in place. The application of the term "Keystone State" to Pennsylvania cannot be traced to any single source. It was commonly accepted soon after 1800.

At a Jefferson Republican victory rally in October 1802, Pennsylvania was toasted as "the keystone in the federal union," and in the newspaper Aurora the following year the state was referred to as "the keystone in the democratic arch." The modern persistence of this designation is justified in view of the key position of Pennsylvania in the economic, social, and political development of the United States.

The Commonwealth:

Pennsylvania shares with Virginia, Kentucky and Massachusetts the designation "Commonwealth." The word is of English derivation and refers to the common "weal" or well-being of the public. The State Seal of Pennsylvania does not use the term, but it is a traditional, official designation used in referring to the state, and legal processes are in the name of the Commonwealth. In 1776, our first state constitution referred to Pennsylvania as both "Commonwealth" and "State," a pattern of usage that was perpetuated in the constitutions of 1790, 1838, 1874, and 1968. Today, "State" and "Commonwealth" are correctly used interchangeably. The distinction between them has been held to have no legal significance.

Quaker State:

Philadelphia is known as "The Quaker City", a name which was sometimes been transferred to Pennsylvania itself as the Quaker State.

Coal State and Steel State:

The industry of Pennsylvania once gave it the nicknames of the Coal State and Steel State, but these have long drifted into oblivion.

Slogans

(formerly Memories Last a Lifetime),

You've Got a Friend in Pennsylvania

America Starts Here

Pennsylvania Postal Code

PA

Pennsylvania Resident's Name

Pennsylvanian