Why is New Orleans called NOLA? - Ragin Cajun Airboat Tours (2024)

FAQs

Why is New Orleans called NOLA? ›

The first letters of “New Orleans” and the state abbreviation for Louisiana, LA, combine to derive the nickname “NOLA. Put those together and you get N.O. LA or NOLA. Residents and visitors commonly use this shorthand or acronym to refer to the city.

NOLA is short for New Orleans, Louisiana.

New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or the Big Easy among other nicknames) is a consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana.

"Easy" Paced Living

While New Yorkers were perpetually running around in "The Big Apple," laid-back life in New Orleans reigned, hence, "The Big Easy." World Atlas states that a New Orleans gossip columnist Betty Guillaud coined this phrase in the late 1960s.

The tops are purple with green accents on the sleeves and sport 'NOLA' (a local acronym for New Orleans, Louisiana) across the chest in the Pelicans' signature font in gold letters trimmed in green.

Generally speaking, people who live or were born in New Orleans and vicinity are called New Orleanians.

"YAYA is an acronym for 'Young Aspirations Young Artists.

In French it was Nouvelle Orléans, then it adopted a Spanish name after France ceded it to Spain, that was simply Nueva Orleans. And finally it became New Orleans in English after being sold to the US.

No one is quite sure exactly why New Orleans was nicknamed The Big Easy. Many people hotly contest this nickname's origins. Some believe the name comes from The Big Easy Dance Hall, in operation in the early 1900s until it burned down.

Visit New Orleans' most historical Cemetery

It is also the most famous, holding the graves of several notable figures including Bernard de Marigny, Marie Laveau and Paul Morphy. Bernard de Marigny was a rowdy, ambitious nobleman who developed Faubourg Marigny east of the French Quarter.

Why is New Orleans called Sin city? ›

Throughout its history, New Orleans has always had a laissez faire attitude about things the rest of America consider sinful. Storyville, Mardi Gras, and relaxed laws on liquor consumption being prime examples. It could be argued that our French roots have heavily influenced this attitude.

New Orleans was founded in early 1718 by the French as La Nouvelle-Orléans, under the direction of Louisiana governor Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville.

The airport was originally named Moisant Field after daredevil aviator John Moisant, who died in 1910 in an airplane crash on agricultural land where the airport is now located. Its IATA code MSY was derived from Moisant Stock Yards, as Lakefront Airport retained the code NEW.

The evolution of the word “Creole”

Later legal documents indicate that descendants of early European colonists in Louisiana began to refer to themselves as “Creoles” – apparently building on the “colonial-born” connotation of the word. They did this to distinguish themselves from Europeans just arriving in New Orleans.

In the faubourgs that ringed the original city after plantations were subdivided, developers seized the privilege of the naming the new streets. Many, predictably, chose family names.