New Orleans, in a borrowing from Silicon Valley, has been called a “Silicon Bayou” or (less frequently) “Silicon Swamp.” “‘Silicon swamp’ forming” by Jane Menard—referring to Lafayette, Louisiana—was printed in the Daily World (Opelousas, LA) on July 29, 1984.
   
An Associated Press story in August 1996 about a New Orleans company that created a CD-ROM game referred to the city as a “Silicon Swamp.” “‘Silicon Swamp’ Is Latest Tag” was printed in The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA) on August 10, 1997. “New Orleans calls itself the Silicon Bayou. Rouland mistakenly referred to it as Silicon Swamp. way better. #cybercon15” was posted on Twitter by Urvaksh on August 20, 2015.
   
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,” “Paris of America,” “Queen City,” “Saint City,” “Silicon Bayou” and “Sweet Lady Gumbo.”
       
 
Wikipedia: New Orleans
New Orleans (/njuː ˈɔːrli.ənz, -ˈɔːrˈliːnz, -ˈɔːrlənz/, or /ˈnɔːrlənz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [la nuvɛlɔʁleɑ̃]) is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana.
 
29 July 1984, Daily World (Opelousas, LA), “‘Silicon swamp’ forming” by Jane Menard, 1-D, col. 5:
The Lafayette area has gone fishing for high tech industries to build in an industrial park near Carencro and is getting some good nibbles, said Mike Olivier of the Lafayette Harbor, Terminal and Industrial Development District.
 
15 August 1996, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), pg. E1:
SILICON SWAMP? A YOUNG NEW ORLEANS COMPANY IS TAKING A GARAGE APPROACH TO COMPUTER GAMES, AND MAY BE ON THE LEADING EDGE OF A VIRTUAL MOVEMENT
By Renee Peck
   
20 August 1996, Crowley (LA) Post Signal, “New Orleans team creates CD-ROM game,” pg. 8, col. 1:
NEW ORLEANS (AP)—Move over, Silicon Valley, and make way for…Silicon Swamp?
 
New Orleans may not yet be a hotbed of geekdom, but at least one young company president maintains that local computer talent can compete with the big boys.
   
10 August 1997, The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), pg. F1:        ‘
SILICON SWAMP’ IS LATEST TAG
 
16 September 1997, The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), “‘Silicon Swamp’ boots up; Computer center means 1,500 jobs” by Joe Gyan Jr., pg. 1C, col. 5:
NEW ORLEANS—Look out California’s Silicon Valley. Here comes Louisiana’s “Silicon Swamp.”
 
Local, state and federal officials broke ground Monday at the University of New Orleans on a state-of-the-art software center created to develop and consolidate all information and personnel systems for the U.S. Navy.
   
Google Groups: novell.community.chat
brainshare question
Jared L Jennings
4/16/03
BLAAAAA,
New Orleans does not strike me as Silicon Swamp
   
HuffPost
Diane Smith, Contributor
Advisory Board Member, Mobile Future
Welcome to Silicon Everywhere
11/08/2013 03:11 pm ET Updated Jan 23, 2014
The tech world has changed a lot in recent years - instead of looking toward Silicon Valley, we’re seeing innovations happening closer to home. From Silicon Alley in lower Manhattan, to the Silicon Swamp in Florida, across the Silicon Prairie, and down on the Silicon Bayou in New Orleans, wireless broadband is driving entrepreneurship and empowering innovators in every corner of our nation.
 
Twitter
Leviton Automation
@LevitonSA
We’re hiring in New Orleans!  Come on down to the Silicon Swamp and work with our automation business unit.
5:54 PM - 15 Jan 2015
 
Twitter
Urvaksh
@Urvaksh
New Orleans calls itself the Silicon Bayou. Rouland mistakenly referred to it as Silicon Swamp. way better. #cybercon15
4:56 PM - 20 Aug 2015 from Atlanta, GA
     
22 January 2017, Indianapolis (IN) Star, “Indiana is no Silicon Prairie (it’s better),” pg. D2:
Every American city with a marketing budget wants to brand itself as a tech hub. If it’s not Silicon Prairie, then it’s Silicon Alley (New York), Silicon Mountain (Denver) or Silicon Swamp (Gainesville, Fla.). Don’t forget about Silicon Bayou (New Orleans) or Silicon Harbor (Charleston, S.C.).
 
Twitter
Michelle Pierce
@michelleleighp
Replying to @treehouse @EmSchw
Silicon Swamp?? I live in the New Orleans, Louisiana area. 😊
11:49 PM - 13 Jun 2017
     
Biz—New Orleans (July 2017)
New & Notables
JEFFERY JOHNSTON
(...)
Leviton came to town in 2012, when the company acquired New Orleans-based Home Automation, Inc. (HAI). Rhoades’ own New Orleans history was a bit longer – he arrived in 2002 to study at Loyola and worked as a concert photographer and social media developer before joining HAI, where he helped build the company’s brand. When Leviton acquired HAI, says Rhoades, “it was really with the intent of leveraging the talent and the creativity that was down here in the Silicon Swamp… they use our talent for all of their apps and cloud development.”
 
Twitter
Grant Martin
@grantkmartin
Replying to @ambntn @ea_sportz
I still maintain that Silicon Swamp in New Orleans is the best place to invest right now.
Plus it sounds so majestic.
11:48 AM - 20 Mar 2018