[Ads-l] Antedating of "Buckeye" and "Buckeye State"

[Shapiro, Fred]

The citations I have found are earlier than those mentioned in articles and books by Ohio historians.

Fred Shapiro


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From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2025 9:27 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Antedating of "Buckeye" and "Buckeye State"

George H. Scheetz coined the term "demonym," meaning a name for natives or residents of a particular geographical location.  The most prominent demonyms for people in particular U.S. states are probably "Hoosier" (Indiana) and "Tarheel" (North Carolina).  Third place might go to "Buckeye" (Ohio).

The Oxford English Dictionary has an entry for "Buckeye" (sense 2.a.) with an earliest citation dated 1823, but that and other early citations in the OED and the Dictionary of Americanisms appear to refer broadly to American backwoodsmen rather than specifically Ohioans.  The following citations are the oldest I have been able to find for the specific Ohio denotation:

1832 Saturday's Advertiser (Liverpool, England) 18 Aug. 262/3 (Newspapers.com)  The lasses of Ohio are called "buck-eyes."

1833 Lafayette (Indiana) Free-Press, and Commercial Advertiser 27 July 1/6 (Newspapers.com)  An Ohio Editor says that what follows is an extract from a speech delivered by a member of the legislature of Indiana; but some of our 'Hoosher' Editors contradict the "Buck-eye."

The first of those citations is a very surprising one, in two different ways.  It appeared in a British newspaper, and its reference was solely to women.

The OED does not have an entry for the Ohio state nickname, the "Buckeye State."  The Dictionary of Americanisms has an entry for this, dated 1837.  Here is the earliest antedating I have found:

1835 Telegraph (Painesville, Ohio) 6 Mar. 3/2 (Newspapers.com)  There are but few, if any, among us, who would be willing to exchange our connexion with the Buck-eye State for the doubtful fortunes of our acquisitive neighbors.

Fred Shapiro



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