Getty Image / Al Bello
The New York Yankees aren’t just the second-most valuable sports franchise on planet Earth (worth $7.1 billion), they reach so far beyond sports to have one of the strangest brands of any business.
How they got their name is something I’ve never really stopped to ponder too much. The Yankees actually started in Baltimore as the Orioles for two seasons before moving to NYC in 1903. There they adopted the name New York Highlanders because they played at Hilltop Park which was one of Manhattan’s highest points.
But local sportswriters referred to them as the Yanks or Yankees because they played in the American League. And that’s about as far back as most people really care to learn about the name, but where the actual name ‘Yankees’ came from is fascinating: the Dutch.
How The New York Yankees Got Their Name
New York City was formerly New Amsterdam and it was settled by the Dutch while the rest of New England was primarily settled by the British. The Dutch were the ones inhabiting NYC for a long time and the British didn’t like the Dutch. They thought they were odd folks and they needed a phrase (or slur) to call the Dutch.
At this time, the two most common names among male Dutch settlers in New York were ‘Keys’ which was the Dutch version of Cornelius and ‘Jan’ which was the Dutch version of John.
@the_professor781 Sooo, the New York Yankees etymologically reverts back to Jonathan (John) and Keys (Cornelius). Whenever I see JC I think of John Connor whose character was a Christ (Jesus Christ) figure because he came to sacrifice himself for the sake of humanity. In this instance, the first thing that came to mind was Jesus Christ, Light of the world. And here in the United States, New York is synonymous with the East and the rising sun. Back in the day before social media, just about all of the trends would travel East to West. I think the name Yankee makes even more sense to me now😁 #newyorkyankees #dutch #newamsterdam #theoccultmeaningofmasonry
So the British settlers who didn’t like the Dutch combined those two most common names amongst the Dutch to make ‘Yankees’ and boom, that’s where the phrase was born. Of course, it led to the most common nickname for Americans when the British and Aussies are referring to us. It also led to the New York Yankees getting their name.
Now, there are two schools of thought on this. Some believe the name also came from the Algonquin who referred to English speakers as Yengeez but it’s most likely that term came after the British had began calling the Dutch Yankees.