Nicknames of San Francisco

There are many nicknames of San Francisco, California that have been used throughout the city's history.^[1][2]

• San Fran – Used by non-native residents and those outside of the Bay Area. Curtis Sparrer from Bospar gives the reasons why it is not acceptable to say 'San Fran'.^[3][4]
• Baghdad by the Bay – title of a book of essays by Herb Caen, and a nickname he used for the city because of the cosmopolitan cultural diversity it shares with the medieval city of Baghdad^[1]
• Fog City / "City of Fog" – in reference to San Francisco's famous fog^[1]
• Frisco – also the nickname of the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway,^[1] disparaged by Herb Caen and some locals. The word is still used today particularly by San Francisco's Black community.^[5][6]
• Gay Mecca^{[7][8][9][10]}
• Golden Gate City – in reference to the Golden Gate Bridge^[11]
• SF
• SFC (San Francisco City)
• Sunset City
• The City – used by native San Franciscans and people in the Bay Area^[1]
• The City by the Bay – refers to San Francisco Bay^[12]
• The City of Love – as seen in Cool, Gray City of Love by Gary Kamiya^[13] and in the lyrics of "San Francisco" by German eurodance group Cascada^[14]
• The City that Knows How^[15]
• The Golden City – in reference to the California Gold Rush and golden brown grass on hillsides in the dry season^[1]
• The Paris of the West – popular in the early 1900s, but no longer in common use^[1]
• The City of Neighborhoods ^[16][17][18]