Connecticut Guide

Connecticut's official nickname, adopted in 1959, is "The Constitution State," based on its colonial constitution of 1638–39. Unofficially (but popularly) Connecticut is also known as "The Nutmeg State". The origins of the nutmeg connection to Connecticut is unknown. It may have come from its sailors returning from voyages with nutmeg (which in the 18th and 19th centuries was a very valuable spice). It may have originated in the early machined sheet tin nutmeg grinders sold by early Connecticut peddlers. It is also facetiously said to come from Yankee peddlers from Connecticut who would sell small carved nobs of wood shaped to look like nutmeg to unsuspecting customers. George Washington gave Connecticut the title of "The Provisions State" because of the material aid the state rendered to the Revolutionary War effort. Connecticut is also known as "The Land of Steady Habits".

According to Webster's New International Dictionary, 1993, a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a "Connecticuter". There are numerous other terms coined in print, but not in use, such as: "Connecticotian" - Cotton Mather in 1702. "Connecticutensian" - Samuel Peters in 1781. "Nutmegger" is sometimes used, as is "Yankee" (the official State Song is "Yankee Doodle"), though this usually refers someone from the wider New England region. Linguist Allen Walker Read reports a more playful term, 'connecticutie.' The traditional abbreviation of the state's name is "Conn."; the official postal abbreviation is CT.