What's in a name?

This is not an official deal, but, just for the fun of it, I would like to have a McCook nicknaming contest.

The contest, which has no sponsors and is sanctioned by no one other than this writer, will begin Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, and conclude Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016.

To enter, all you have to do is send your suggested nickname to: McCook Nickname Contest, % Morris on Norris, P.O. Box 1268, McCook, NE 69001. Or, if easier, you may e-mail me at my Gazette e-mail address: adsales4@mccookgazette.com.

Please include your name, address and phone number so I can give proper credit to you should you be selected as the winner.

I have yet to decide what the grand prize will be, but I'm giving strong consideration to a large shake or soda and-or a delux ehamburger at a McCook eating establishment of the winner's choosing.

I'll be selecting the judging panel soon. Among the people under consideration for this prestigious job are Walt Sehnert, the esteemed writer of the weekly "From Days Gone By" column in the Gazette; Cloyd Clark, a long-time leading figure in the Buffalo Commons Storytelling Festival; Tacie Fawver, executive director of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce; Candy Crosby, public relations director of Community Hospital; and Jeff Gross, coach of the McCook High School Bison football team.

Surely, two or three of them will consent to help pick a winner.

To jump-start the McCook nicknaming competition, I'll share a few words and phrases which have been tried in years past, some with brief, others with extended use.

As I've told you before, one of the first nicknames for McCook to be used extensively was "Magical City of the West." This is a title which was coined in the 1890s to illustrate how quickly McCook grew from a tree-less place on the Plains, to a bustling city, busily building homes and businesses to accommodate the hundreds of people who moved here to fill the jobs which emerged when a site near the former community of Fairview was chosen as a Division Point on the new Burlington & Missouri rail line.

Through the years, that title was shortened to "Magic City."

In later years, McCook was known for a while as "The OK City," based on the fact that McCook ends with the letters o and k.

Next came "It's All Here," not really a nickname but a claim which accompanied all McCook promotional events.

Then for a while during the time that Citizen's Band radios were the vogue, the term "Cookietown" became a much used nickname for this place on the prairie.

The area around us also has had many nicknames, including Great Plains, High Plains, Golden Plains, Tri-State Region and Buffalo Commons.

Can you top those monikers? Will the nickname you come up with go down in history as a fitting description of this town which truly is where the real West begins?

As an added bonus for the winner, I will ask if you can appear at one of the monthly meeting of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors to present your McCook nickname in person.

Gosh, I'm excited. This is going to be fun. And, just think: you can become kind of a local celebrity, known to all as McCook's Unofficial But Still Greatly Appreciated Nicknaming Champion!