John Cleves Symmes and Colonel Robert Patterson founded Cincinnati in 1788. A surveyor named John Filson named it "Losantiville", meaning "the city opposite the mouth of the Licking River." That name in itself was comprised of the French word "Ville", the Greek word "Anti", and the Latin word "Os".
In 1790, Arthur St. Clair changed the name of the settlement to Cincinnati in honor of the Society of the Cincinnati, of which he was a member.
Over the years Cincinnati has been given a number of nicknames, including "River City", "The Queen City", "The Queen of the West", "The Blue Chip City", "The City of Seven Hills", and "Porkopolis". These names are more typically associated with the professional, academic and public relations references to the city and are not commonly used by the locals. Some of the newer nicknames such as "The 'Nati" are becoming more popular and are used in different cultural contexts like the hip-hop scene and other more casual settings.
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