The history of the word “Sea-Tac” (or “Seatac,” or “SeaTac”) as an abbreviation for “Seattle-Tacoma” can feel a little murky sometimes.
As far as anybody knows, the name “Seatac” was first applied to a ship built in Tacoma and launched on July 28, 1926 – and that plied local waters for decades. In the late 1930s, the Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding Corporation was nicknamed “SeaTac” by newspaper writers, and possibly by the company and its employees, too. And as far as the aviation world is concerned, the exact phrase “The Sea-Tac Airport” appears to have first been used in a newspaper – The News Tribune of Tacoma – on Jan. 3, 1943.
