Michigan State Nickname
The Great Lakes State
MI is the Two-letter or Postal Abbreviation and Mich. is the Traditional or Standard Abbreviation for the State of Michigan. The nickname for Michigan is the “Great Lakes State.”
Michigan’s shores touch four of the five Great Lakes, and Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes. In Michigan, you are never more than 6 miles from an inland lake or more than 85 miles from a Great Lake. From 1969 to 1975 and from 1977 to 1983 Michigan’s automobile license plates featured the legend, GREAT LAKE STATE.
Some people believe that Ohioans gave Michigan the other nickname for Michigan, “The Wolverine State” around 1835 during a
dispute over the Toledo strip, a piece of land along the border between Ohio and Michigan. Rumors in Ohio at the time described Michiganians as being as vicious and bloodthirsty as wolverines. This dispute
became known as the ToledoWar.