HATTIESBURG, Miss.-Call them Hattiesburgers, even if historians are choking on that mouthful.
Rick Taylor, who heads tourism efforts in the Mississippi Pine Belt city of Hattiesburg says that name for city residents won out over other suggestions including "Hub Citian" and "Hattiesburgan."
The winner was announced Wednesday at the city's annual tourism luncheon.
But at least one local historian finds "Hattiesburger" unappetizing. Hattiesburg Area Historical Society member Ursula Jones, in a letter to the Hattiesburg American (http://hatne.ws/24ujZuv), says city residents have been called Hattieburgans since as early as 1908. She says one 97-year-old society member has called herself a Hattiesburgan since about 1920.
Taylor, whose group ran the contest in part to encourage local involvement in tourism efforts, says times have changed and he's sticking with Hattiesburger.