As you can probably guess, working at the Houston Press, a writer can get a little tired of typing "Houston" over and over again. It's a fine city name, but it becomes repetitive. Well, recently I learned that our city actually has way more nicknames than I'd ever known. Let's look at a few.

10. H-Town Probably the most used nickname is H-Town...which only shortens your typing by one character so it's not all that much of a time saver. The nickname apparently came into national play in the 1990s. That's when Kevin and Solomon Conner and their friend Darryl Jackson formed an R&B group of the same name and the Arena Theatre was referred to as the H'Town Arena. It had been an established nickname in the city for years before then, used mainly by the rising rap movement.

9. Magnolia City Houston was known nationally as the Magnolia City all the way back to the turn of the last century. Usage of the term dates back to the 1870s and referenced the natural magnolia groves that flourished in east Houston. These were all plowed under by the 1930s in the name of urban development, though the term remained in use sometimes to refer to the prominent Magnolia Brewery. Interestingly enough, while we were known as the Magnolia City, Galveston was called the Oleander City for the same reason.