Why were Michiganders first called Wolverines?

December 29, 2025

By Scott Henry

The nickname has nothing to do with the University of Michigan. It came first.

Long before it was a sports symbol, “Wolverine” emerged from conflict. One widely cited origin traces back to the 1830s during the Toledo War, a fierce border dispute between Michigan and Ohio.

Accounts suggest that Ohioans began calling the people of Michigan “wolverines,” not as a compliment but as an insult. They were describing what they saw as a gluttonous, aggressive, and stubborn group of people who refused to back down from the fight.

But Michiganders did what they do best. They leaned into it. They took an animal known for being small but fearless, a creature famous for standing its ground and driving much larger animals away from a kill, and made it their identity.

By the time George Armstrong Custer led the Michigan Brigade into the Civil War with the cry, “Come on, you Wolverines,” the name was no longer an insult. It was a badge of grit and resilience.

Whether or not wolverines ever roamed Michigan in large numbers matters less than what the name came to mean. It became shorthand for a people known for being stubborn, resilient, and famously hard to defeat.

Names like this stick because they fit. And this one did.