State History Guide

State Symbols: Official State Name Designations of the 50 States

State Names

Kansas Symbols, State Names

Browse the state's symbols; state animal, state bird, state flower, state flag, state fossil, state insect, state motto, state seal, state tree, color, dance, fish, mammal, music, nut, reptile seal, and miscellaneous designations, emblems, and mascot of each state with pictures. Find origin of the state name. View the state almanacs, state timelines and peruse state facts and stats such as the capitol, location, and date admitted to the union.

Nick Name

Great Plains

• 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, U.S.A. - 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 - Originated in the tense years leading up to the Civil War and as the territory was being considered for statehood.

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

Origin of Name

From a Sioux word meaning “people of the south wind”

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.

Postal Code

KS

Resident's Name

Kansan

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