New Orleans was once a French city, and it has frequently been called the “Paris of America.” The nickname “Paris of America” was printed in The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA) on March 26, 1837. A book titled Souvenir of New Orleans, “The Paris of America” was published by the St. Charles Hotel in 1920.
 
“New Orleans, ‘Paris of the South’” was printed in a 1937 newspaper, but “Paris of the South” has been used much less frequently.
 
Other New Orleans nicknames include “America’s Most Interesting City,” “Baghdad-on-the-Bayou,” “Big Crescent,” “Big Easy,” “Big Greasy,” “Big Sleazy,” “Birthplace of Jazz,” “Chocolate City,” “Chopper City,” “City of a Million Dreams,” “City of Yes,” “City That Care Forgot,” “City That Forgot to Care,” “Convention City,” “Crawfish Town,” “Creole City,” “Crescent City,” “Erb City,” “Gateway of the Mississippi Valley,” “Gumbo City,” “Hollywood South,” “Jump City,” “Mardi Gras City,” “Metropolis of the South,” “N’Awlins,” “Necropolis of the South,” “Nerlins,” “No Orleans” (after Hurricane Katrina), “NOLA,” “Northernmost Banana Republic,” “Northernmost Caribbean City,” “Old Swampy,” “Queen City,” “Saint City,” “Silicon Bayou,” “Silicon Swamp” and “Sweet Lady Gumbo.”
         
 
Wikipedia: New Orleans
New Orleans (/nuː ˈɔːrlᵻnz, -ˈɔːrli.ənz, -ɔːrˈliːnz/, or /ˈnɔːrlᵻnz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃] ( listen)) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The population of the city was 343,829 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. The New Orleans metropolitan area (New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area) had a population of 1,167,764 in 2010 and was the 46th largest in the United States. The New Orleans–Metairie–Bogalusa Combined Statistical Area, a larger trading area, had a 2010 population of 1,452,502.
 
The city is named after the Duke of Orleans, who reigned as Regent for Louis XV from 1715 to 1723, as it was established by French colonists and strongly influenced by their European culture. It is well known for its distinct French and Spanish Creole architecture, as well as its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage.
 
26 March 1837, The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA), pg. 2, col. 3:
New Orleans City Worthies.—No. III.
Thos. Jefferson Benj. Franklin Stubbs.
(...)
His advent into this Paris of America was hailed by no supernatural omens ...
 
28 January 1841, New-York (NY) Commercial Advertiser, pg. 1, col. 4:
NEW ORLEANS, Dec. 29th, 1840.
(...)
In very many respects it is the Paris of America.
 
15 May 1846, Christian Watchman (Boston, MA), pg. 1, col. 7:
“THE PARIS OF AMERICA.”
We are not infrequently kindly reminded by our brethren at the North, of the great amount of wickedness which exists in New Orleans.
(...)
—N. O, Protestant.
 
24 July 1860, Charleston (SC) Mercury, pg. 1, col. 4:
Correspondence of the Mercury.
NEW ORLEANS, July 16.—The Crescent City, in the summer time, would hardly be recognized as the gay “Paris of America” which it is during the carnival time of the winter season.
 
6 November 1866, New York (NY) Times, pg. 8, col. 1:
LIFE IN NEW-ORLEANS.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND APPEARANCE OF THE CITY.
The Streets—The Population—Marriage Customs—Thugs—The Dead, &c.
From Our Own Correspondent.
NEW-ORLEANS, La., Monday, October 29, 1866.
The Crescent City, the great business centre of the South, the miniature Paris of America, New-Orleans, is one of the dirtiest, filthiest places in the country.
 
4 June 1869, The Courier-Journal (Lousiville, KY), pg. 3, col. 7:
THE CRESCENT CITY.
New Orleans As It Is—The Paris of America—The Children Streets and Parks—The Late Convention—A Picturesque Letter.
 
28 June 1897, The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA), pg. 10, col. 5:
PARK COMMISSIONERS
Hope to See New Orleans the Paris of America.
 
7 January 1909, The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, LA), pg, 6, col. 4:
THE PARIS OF AMERICA.
A correspondent, who writes elsewhere about the proposition to make this city the Paris of America, fully understands what is meant by it.
     
OCLC WorldCat record
Souvenir of New Orleans, “the Paris of America.”
Publisher: New Orleans, Alfred S. Amer & Co., 1920]
Edition/Format:   Print book : English : [5th ed
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Souvenir of New Orleans, “The Paris of America”
Author: St. Charles Hotel (New Orleans, La.)
Publisher: New Orleans? : Amer?], 1925.
Edition/Format:   Print book : English : 10th ed
 
21 March 1937, Milwaukee (WI) Journal, “U.S. Riviera on Gulf Coast” by Brownie, pt. 2, pg. 5, col. 4:
... and finally to New Orleans, “Paris of the South.”
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The bachelor in New Orleans; a handbook for unattached gentlemen and ladies of spirit visiting or resident in the Paris of America.
Author: Robert Kinney; Eugenia Riley; Bob Riley
Publisher: New Orleans, Bormon House [1946]
Edition/Format:   Print book : English
 
15 December 1963, Chicago (IL) Tribune, sec. 6, pg. 6, col. 1:
New Orleans Called the ‘Paris of America’
   
PaulVargas.com
December 20th 2015
The City That Care Forgot
(...)
The title “The Paris of America” was one that New Orleans disputed with Cincinnati, San Francisco, and even Boston. If the Crescent City can lay absolute claim to this title, then it won because of artist’s depictions of the French Quarter as quaint and exotic and because of the reputation of its cuisine.