What is a 'Knickerbocker'? 400-Year-Old Origin of the New York Knicks Name
Founded on June 6 of 1946, the New York Knicks are one of the most historic and iconic teams in the NBA, with a storied history going back decades. However, the team's name has a history that actually stretches back hundreds of years.
The term "Knickerbockers," which is the longer version of the team's name, traces its origin to the Dutch settlers who came to the New World and what is now New York in the 1600s, referring to a specific type of clothing article that was popular at the time.
Knickerbocker Pants
The name "knickerbocker" does not just refer to the Dutch settlers; it actually refers to a clothing item that was commonly worn by those settlers at the time.
Specifically, the name refers to the style of pants the settlers wore, which rolled up just below the knee, which became known as "Knickerbockers", or "knickers" for short.
While the name for the pants goes back about four centuries, it wasn't until the early 1800s that the term would be connected to New York forever.
Washington Irving's Legacy
Legendary author Washington Irving forever tied the "knickerbocker" name to New York when he wrote the satirical A History of New York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker in 1809.
Later known as Knickerbocker's History of New York, Irving's book was the first to use the word "knickerbocker" to signify a New Yorker who could trace their ancestry to the original Dutch settlers who settled in the city.
From there, the name grew in popularity.
"With the publication of Irving's book, the Dutch settler 'Knickerbocker' character became synonymous with New York City. The city's most popular symbol of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was 'Father Knickerbocker,' complete with cotton wig, three-cornered hat, buckled shoes, and, of course, knickered pants," the NBA wrote in its history of the Knicks name.
"At the same time, the term 'Knickerbocker' became indelibly linked to anything and everything New York…from Jacob Ruppert's Knickerbocker Beer to the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday (which starred Walter Huston and featured the haunting "September Song") to famed society gossip columnists Cholly Knickerbocker (the nom de plume used by Maury Paul and Igor Cassini) and Suzy Knickerbocker (Aileen Mehle)," the NBA's official website continues.
Eventually, the name made its way to sports, but the NBA team wasn't the first to make use of it.
Knickerbockers in Sports
As the term "knickerbockers" became widely linked to New York City, it eventually spread to sports. In fact, it was used for sports teams for about a century before the NBA team.
The Knickerbocker name had its first use in the sports world in 1845, when Alexander Cartwright founded the first organized team in baseball history The Manhattan-based baseball team was named the "New York Knickerbockers" or the "Knickerbocker Nine." Even when the team moved its operations to nearby Hoboken, New Jersey in 1846, the "Knickerbocker" name remained.
About a century later, the New York Knickerbockers were founded as a charter member of the Basketball Association of America. And it sounds like the name might have been mostly luck of the draw.
"The name came out of a hat. We were all sitting in the office one day - Irish, (publicity man) Lester Scott and a few others on the staff," Fred Podesta, the longtime Garden executive who passed away in 1999, once recalled, via NBA.com. "We each put a name in the hat, and when we pulled them out, most of them said Knickerbockers, after Father Knickerbocker, the symbol of New York City. It soon was shortened to Knicks."
Obviously, it stuck, and the Knicks have been playing in New York City ever since. Now, the team has a chance to win its first NBA Championship since 1973.
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 5, 2026, where it first appeared in the Sports section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published June 5, 2026 at 9:30 AM.