The State of Abraham Lincoln

That's what at least one man would like to see as a new name for Illinois. Jim Nowlan, director of the civic leadership fellows program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and former Illinois legislator has this op-ed in the Chicago Tribune:

The opening of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in
Springfield this month can become the launch for an initiative to change the
name of Illinois to that of the State of Abraham Lincoln.

I'm serious.

Few in the world know what or where Illinois is. Some have heard of
Chicago. Yet the world knows Abraham Lincoln--the Great Emancipator; the rock
who kept our Union of diverse peoples from fragmenting; the homespun, virtuous,
self-educated man of the heartland; a hero, indeed, to all in the world who
yearn to be free.

[snip]

In modern parlance, Illinois is a weak brand name, a brand few residents
use when traveling abroad. "Near Chicago" is more likely our identifier. Nor do
we rally 'round our brand the way Texans do.

No better brand exists than Abraham Lincoln.

The name change would be especially good for Downstate Illinois. With only
a third of our state population (albeit spread across most of our 44,000 square
miles), Downstate Illinois has become largely irrelevant to politicians,
big-city media and economic development

In contrast, our citizens have never really resonated to "Illinois," the
name of a feckless confederation of tribes of so-called superior men, who in
fact fled time and again--and indeed out of our state--before smaller bands of
raiding Iroquois.

Of course, this name change would require the U of I to finally give up Chief Illiniwek and replace him with a dancing Native American dressed in authentic 19th century garb from European setters in South Dakota. All to honor the white settlers and pay homage to their culture.