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The origin of Hoosier is most likely an alteration of hoozer, an English dialect word recorded in Cumberland, a former county of NW England, in the late 19th century and used to refer to anything
unusually large including "a big, burly, uncouth specimen; an individual; a frontiersman, a countryman". As a nickname, Hoosier was one of a variety of disparaging terms for inhabitants of various
states arising in early 19th century & were usually fighting words. Texas Beetheads, Alabama Lizards, Nebraska Bug-eaters, S. Carolina Weasels, Pennsylvania Leatherheads, Missouri Pukes, Ohio
Buckeyes, N. Carolina Tarheels and Oklahoma Okies. Many are now sources of defiant pride akin to American colonists who turned the derisive term Yankee into a moniker for spirit of rebellion.