Headlines and Titles of Works

Q. I am unable to find a ruling on state nicknames in my Chicago manual. Am I overlooking it? Is it “aloha state,” “Aloha state,” or “Aloha State”?

A. Write “Aloha State.” It’s essentially a proper name because it is a nickname for the proper entity Hawaii (nicknames for people are capitalized). And according to CMOS 8.49, popular names for places are usually capitalized. See that paragraph for examples.

[This answer relies on the 18th edition of CMOS (2024) unless otherwise noted.]