Beacon Hill tries on a new nickname: "BeHi"

The 'hood's nickname doesn't roll off the tongue as easily as, say, SoHo or SoDo, but believers swear the moniker will sound second nature with repetition.

Everybody, now: "BeHi," as in Beacon Hill.

A Seattle police squad car sports a "BeHi" bumper sticker around the south precinct. Beacon Hill students use that nickname in hallways and cafeterias. It's often heard in local coffee shops.

At least in the last four months, BeHi has become a part of this south Seattle neighborhood, but not everyone is pleased.

Some think the name makes the neighborhood sound like a marijuana colony. Others find the name too gimmicky or forced, and not as witty as "Allentown" for Paul Allen's South Lake Union, or logical for brevity, like "ID" for International District.

"To BeHi or not to BeHi" recently became a discussion topic on a popular community Internet message board.

One person wrote: Can we please not be "BeHi" residents? It just sounds so wrong. It almost makes me want to go out and buy paint for the graffiti guys or something to preserve the neighborhood's old character.

Flippantly yours, John

Another wrote: It just looks silly and sounds too much like "beehive."

One resident quipped that Beacon Hill already has a nickname: "Georgetown Heights"

Another resident said: "I've lived on Beacon Hill for 19 years ... and to me Beacon Hill will always be Beacon Hill — a community named after a famous landmark and community in Boston, Ma."

Another resident added: "Well,it sure sounds like a marketing gimmick — that is how SoDo and NOMA came to be. It is Beacon Hill for me." Because the neighborhood is known as north, south and middle Beacon Hill, one resident posted that perhaps the proper terminology should be NoBeHi, SoBeHi and MiBehi.

Architect George Robertson, 63, who has lived in the area since 1992 and prefers Beacon Hill, believes BeHi is "a generation thing" that speaks to the gentrification of his neighborhood. "The population that is arriving is younger and, I think, some ways, they are taking possession of the hill for themselves and putting their own stamp on the politics and culture of the place. Maybe this 'BeHi' is a part of that. It's almost like a generational tag."

No one knows how or when BeHi got started, but Eric Spivack, a local business owner and NoBeHi resident of 12 years, is often mentioned as its promoter.

The 42-year-old licensed Thai masseur and acupuncturist began selling BeHi bumper stickers for $3 on his Web page www.soaringcranemassage.com/behi after he heard the nickname bandied about the neighborhood a year ago.

Spivack said he's not out to make money but rather to promote a neighborhood that is never mentioned in the same breath with cool neighborhoods such as Capitol Hill, Fremont or Queen Anne.

He got the BeHi bumper-sticker idea after spotting "Visualize Ballard" stickers around the city.

"I don't know what the hell that means. But it put Ballard on the map in people's minds," he said. "Now they have a farmers market and a hip walking village with enough Wi-Fi cafes to keep the entire Microsoft staff on a caffeine buzz."

So, he figured, why not Beacon Hill ... uh, BeHi?

Not every neighbor likes the nickname, he admits, but BeHi "seems to tap into a younger, hipper, urban crowd who lives on Beacon Hill — people who have a sense of humor and don't take life too seriously."

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com