Why is New York City Called The Big Apple? New York City has
been called many things—“The Great American Melting Pot,”
“Gotham,” “The City that Never Sleeps”—but its most famous
nickname, without a doubt, is “The Big Apple.” But where did
this now ubiquitous moniker come from? Making A Big Apple There
have been many ideas about how New York came to be called “The
Big Apple.” Some say it comes from the former well-to-do
families that sold apples on New York City streets to make ends
meet during the Great Depression. Another account says that the
term comes from a famous nineteenth century brothel madam named
Eve whose girls were cheekily referred to as her “Big Apples.”
But the nickname actually springs from a catchphrase used in the
1920s by New York Morning Telegraph sports writer John J. Fitz
Gerald in his horse racing column, “Around the Big Apple.”
Starting on February 18, 1924, he began the every column with
the header, “The Big Apple. The dream of every lad that ever
threw a leg over a thoroughbred and