Names of Buenos Aires - Formal and Informal Names

Formal and Informal Names

In the 1994 constitution, the city was given autonomy, hence its current formal name: Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (Autonomous City of Buenos Aires).

To differentiate the city from the province of the same name, it is common to refer to the city as Capital Federal ("Federal Capital"). This name was used extensively in road signs, for postal addresses, and in everyday speech (shortened to Capital or even la Capi), but usage of that name has been in decline since 1994.

• The abbreviations Bs. As. and Baires are sometimes used, the first one mostly in writing and the second one in everyday speech. The abbreviation BUE gained currency since the 1990s.
• The city is sometimes called la Reina del Plata ("Queen of the Plata") in a nod to its being the largest city in the Río de la Plata estuary.
• Some songs have given alternative names to Buenos Aires, such as Soda Stéreo's la ciudad de la furia ("city of fury"). The oft-used expression mi Buenos Aires querido ("my beloved Buenos Aires") is the name of both a song popularized by tango singer Carlos Gardel and an eponymous movie.
• Because of its European influence, the city is sometimes referred to as "The Paris of the South".
• Sometimes, the importance of Buenos Aires casts a heavy shadow over the rest of the country and impedes its development. This caused writer Ezequiel Martínez Estrada to refer to the city as la cabeza de Goliat ("Goliath's head").
• A popular expression says that "Dios está en todos lados, pero atiende en Buenos Aires" ("God is everywhere but he serves in Buenos Aires"), referring to the political centralism that the city represents.