What's in a name?

The famous Shakespearean quote goes like this:

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

(Romeo and Juliet, II, ii, 1-2)

So, how did Portland get its name? It's actually an interesting story, even for a non-history buff like me. The spot where Portland rests was first known as a 640 acre spot called "the clearing", the flat area between the banks of the Willamette River and the west hills. It all started with a guy named William Overton (who, coincidentally, was from Tennessee where there are a few schools and a county named after him, among other things). Overton thought "the clearing" had great growth potential due to its proximity to the river and the Pacific Ocean, and the large amount of forests nearby. But, he couldn't afford to file a claim for the land. So, he convinced his friend Asa Lovejoy (from Boston, Mass.) to file the claim (for a whopping 25 cents) and they would share it. Tangent: I know it was only 1843, but the guy didn't have a freaking quarter? Weird.

Later on, Overton sold his share to a guy named Francis W. Pettygrove of Portland, Maine. Pettygrove and Lovejoy both wanted to name the new city after their respective hometowns, so to settle the argument they decided to do a coin toss (best 2 out of 3, in case you're curious). As you can deduce, Pettygrove won the toss and now the famous coin used for this toss is on display by the Oregon Historical Society, and is known as the "Portland Penny." (Seriously, what is it with coins in this story?)

Portland has several nicknames, too. The most common one is "The City of Roses" or "Rose City". This nickname is supposed to have started with a guy named Leo Samuel, who grew roses outside his home. He placed a pair of garden shears outside so random people walking by could cut one of his roses and take for themselves. I guess it was a big hit, and then other people started doing it, and before you know it there were roses all over the place. Portland also has an ideal climate for growing roses, and is home to the International Rose Test Garden which overlooks downtown Portland and Mt. Hood. There is also an annual Portland Rose Festival that started in 1907 and still continues (which I am personally looking forward to in 2009!)

Another nickname for Portland is "Bridgetown" for fairly obvious reasons, if you've ever been here. There are a total of eleven bridges crossing the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, and they're all really cool. One of my blog goals is to visit each one, take some cool pictures, and talk about them a bit. This only shows 7 of them, but you get the idea:


The most bizarre Portland nickname is "PDX" and I personally think this one is much more common (at least locally) than "The City of Roses". PDX, for you outsiders, is the airport code for Portland. No, I'm not kidding. The. Airport. Code. For freak's sake, what a dorky nickname! I mean, I can't imagine if Nashville just suddently started calling itself "BNA". And the thing is, it's kind of out of control. I mean, there are coffee shops, art galleries, clothing stores, bars, medical clinics, magazines, non-profits, car dealerships, craft shops, even schools that use it, for crying out loud. (For real, Portland State University's website is http://www.pdx.edu/). I do not understand it. At all.

Between 1851 and 1879 Portland grew from 800 residents to almost 18,000. During this period of phenomenal growth, people started referring to Portland as "Stumptown". Trees were being cut to make way for roads, and there was not enough manpower to go back and remove the stumps for quite a while. So, residents started painting them white, and would even sometimes use them to cross streets without sinking into the mud. In modern times, people call Portland "Stumptown" as a joke because there is a lack of tall buildings in the downtown area. I haven't heard this one too much, with the exception of Stumptown Coffee which is pretty popular here.

Another, less common nickname for Portland is "Little Beirut", because of the large amount of protesters that came out when the first George Bush would come to town. "Niketown" is another one, because the world headquarters of Nike are located here (not actually in Portland, but close enough to count, I guess.) "Rip City" is another not very common nickname. This one came from a famous Portland Trailblazers game against the LA Lakers where a Portland player ripped the net when shooting a three-pointer. I say it's not very common, but I also don't watch Trailblazer games, so maybe they use it more often.

So, what's in a name? A lot, I think... I just don't know if things would be the same, had Asa Lovejoy won the coin toss and this place was called "Boston, Oregon." What do you think? It's one of those deep, philosophical questions that will probably keep me up at night.