sooner

A Sooner is a person who lives in the state of Oklahoma.

It is also a nickname for students and athletes at the University of Oklahoma.

Sooner means “a person who settles on government land before it is legally opened to settlers in order to gain the choice of location.” It comes from a section of the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889, which became known as the “sooner clause” and was applied to residents of modern-day Oklahoma who moved to the state before the time designated by the federal government.

The name stuck, and today it’s a demonym for all people who live in Oklahoma, which is (not surprisingly) known as the Sooner State.

The name is also used to describe the athletes at the University of Oklahoma. The school’s athletics mascot is the Sooner Schooner, a Conestoga wagon which is drawn at sporting events by two horses named Boomer and (you guessed it) Sooner.

The way Sooner is used depends on who is using it. Residents of the state may describe themselves as proud Sooners, while people outside the state may describe folks who live in Oklahoma as such.

University of Oklahoma athletes, students, and fans use the hashtags “#Sooners” and “#SoonerNation” on social media in reference to the school and its activities.

Although Oklahoma state residents who attend Oklahoma State University are technically Sooners because of where they live, they tend to avoid using the name of their sports rival.

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.