Q. I am unable to find a ruling on state nicknames in my Chicago manual. Am I overlooking it? Is it “aloha state,” “Aloha state,” or “Aloha State”?
A. Write “Aloha State.” It’s essentially a proper name because it is a nickname for the proper entity Hawaii (nicknames for people are capitalized). And according to CMOS 8.48, popular names for places and epithets are usually capitalized. See that paragraph for examples.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Should I capitalize “the states” when used alone (referring to the United States)?
I’m copyediting a novel in which the author capitalizes “the States”
when used alone. I think it would be lowercased.
A. Actually, “the States” is capped when it means the United States. It’s
only when referring to individual states collectively that you should lowercase: “Each of the states
elects two senators,” as opposed to “I’m going back to the
States.”
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]