Well attestedNamed from the place
Baghdad by the Bay
noun · first attested 1940s
San Francisco's fondest nickname belongs to a city 7,000 miles away.
An affectionate nickname for San Francisco.
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1940s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Baghdad
- In English
Baghdad by the Bay
The columnist Herb Caen used it in the San Francisco Chronicle through the 1940s and put it on the cover of a 1949 book, meaning that the fog, the hills and the mixed crowds gave the city the feel of an exotic port. The nickname faded as Baghdad came to stand for war rather than romance.
Also pinned to Baghdad
1 more from the same place
Iraq
All 6 entries 4 more words from Iraq
muslinThe cotton is named for Mosul.MosulmousselineThe French cousin of muslin, from the same Iraqi city.MosulBabelesqueBabel is not a mythical city: it is simply the Hebrew name for Babylon, whose ruins are south of Baghdad.BabylonBabylonizeCoined for what Nebuchadnezzar did to the names of his captives.Babylon