The term Sooners was used to describe settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands, located in the current state of Oklahoma, before President Benjamin Harrison officially proclaimed them open to settlement with the Indian Appropriation Act of 1889 on March 2, 1889.

The name derived from the “sooner clause” of the Indian Appropriation Act, which stated that no one should be allowed to enter and occupy the land prior to the opening time and that such people would be denied rights to illegally-claimed land.

I’ve heard a few. I don’t love all these names, but I included all that I could think of. -Gregory with the nickname Grey instead of Greg (suggested by another user) -Genevieve with the nicknames Neve or Vivi (the first is the name of a friend, the second I just like; -Neve from Irish Naimh and Vivi from Vivian.) -Margaret with the nickname “Pearl”, as Margaret means “pearl”. -Miriam with the nickname “Mira”. Miriam is related to Mary, whereas Mira is the latin for “amazement” and shows up in Miranda. -Arthur with the nickname Thor (a friend’s son, who is a very big baby; Thor was a Scandinavian god who was very strong.) -Marina/Merina (not sure which spelling the person used) with the nickname Mina (from Wilhelmina). -Nathaniel with the nickname Tate. I always thought Tate was an accepted nickname for Nathaniel, but behind the name says otherwise. I suppose Tate is more expected as a nickname for Tatum. -Veronica with the nickname Nicky (a friend’s name). The -ica part in Veronica comes from a different Greek root than the “Nic-” in names like Nicole. -Louise, Louisa, Heloise, Eloise with the nickname Lucy. ( I particularly like Louisa and Lucy but don’t care for Lucinda or Lucille.) -Maddox (from Welsh Madoc) with the nickname Max, originally for such Latin names as Maximus, Maximilien, Maxentius etc. “Max” does show up in Welsh in names like Maxwell though.) -Romilly with the nickname Lily. -Calliope with the nickname Poppy (name of another y!a user’s daughter) -Silvia with the nicknames Liv or Livy, which are unrelated. (Silvia means “of the forest”, while Livy comes from a Latin term for envy or the color blue) -Vivian with the nickname Annie (the -an in Vivian is unrelated to the name Anne.) -Charles with the nickname Arlo (my husband’s uncle is a Charles Jr. and he’s had the nickname Arlo since he was a child.)