List of English football club nicknames

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This is a list of nicknames for English football clubs. All the nicknames are usually preceded by 'The'. The origins of some nicknames are unclear with various stories being put forward.

The usual basis for nicknames are:-

Local industry
Colour(s) of home strip
Name of club
Name of area or ground
Logo

Nickname	Club(s)	Reason
Addicks	Charlton Athletic	A corruption of the word 'haddocks', named after a local fish and chip shop
Baggies	West Bromwich Albion	Acquired when the players played in long shorts (debatable - see the club's article for more details)
Bantams	Bradford City	A reference to the claret and amber colours of the club's strip ^[1]
Bees	Barnet	Based on colour of home strip
Bees	Brentford	Misinterpretation of an 1890s chant "Buck up Bs"
Black Cats	Sunderland	Named after the Black Cat battery gun that was where the stadium is now on the bank of the River Wear^[2]
Blades	Sheffield United	Local links with steel and cutlery. Used to be the nickname of Sheffield Wednesday until they became The Owls in 1899
Bluebirds	Cardiff City	Colour of home football kit & possibly named after 1909 children's play 'Blue Bird'
Blues	Birmingham City	Colour of home football kit
Blues	Chelsea	Colour of home football kit
Blues	Chester City	Colour of home football kit
Blues	Ipswich Town	Colour of home football kit
Boro	Middlesbrough	Short version of name
Brewers	Burton Albion	Local links to the brewing industry
Brummagem	Birmingham City	Local pronunciation of "Birmingham"
Bulls	Hereford United	After the local breed of cattle
Canaries	Norwich City	Home strip is same colour as bird, used in logo
Cardinals	Woking	Colour of the Cardinal Red in the home kit
Chairboys	Wycombe Wanderers	Local links to the furniture making industry
Cherries	Bournemouth	Colour of strip described as 'cherry stripes'
Citizens	Manchester City	Developed from 'City'
Clarets	Burnley	Colour of home strip
Club	Sheffield F.C.	Due to the fact they were the "Original Football Club"
Cobblers	Northampton Town	Local links to the shoe making industry
Cottagers	Fulham	From club's ground, Craven Cottage
Cumbrians	Carlisle United	From Cumbria, the county the club are from.
Daggers	Dagenham & Redbridge	Based on club name
Dale	Rochdale	Short version of name
Diamonds	Rushden & Diamonds	Short version of name
Dolly Blues	Lancaster City	Derived from the fact that team originally played in the same colour as the 'Dolly Blue' washing tablets
Dons	Milton Keynes Dons	Short version of, and homage to Wimbledon FC (MK Dons was formed when Wimbledon F.C. owners attempted to translate Wimbledon's footballing history to Milton Keynes. MK Dons has since acknowledged that those honours rightly belong to Wimbledon F.C.and the community of Wimbledon.)
Dons, The	A.F.C. Wimbledon	Derived from Wimbledon have an ancient, football playing school in the area.
Eagles	Crystal Palace	Club logo features eagles
Fleet	Ebbsfleet United	Short version of name
Foxes	Leicester City	Hunting tradition of the county ^[3]
Gas (unofficial)	Bristol Rovers	Old ground next door to a Gasworks
Gills	Gillingham	Short version of name
Glovers	Yeovil Town	Local links to the glove making industry
Grecians	Exeter City
Gulls	Torquay United	Seaside link
Gunners	Arsenal	Local links to military arsenal
Hammers	West Ham United	Although this may initially appear to be based on a simple shortening of the name, observation of the club's crest will reveal crossed metalworking hammers, indicating the club's origins as the football team of Thames Ironworks.
Harriers	Kidderminster Harriers	Short version of name
Hatters	Luton Town	Local links to hat making industry
Hatters	Stockport County	One of Cheshire's and Britain's main hatting industry towns
Irons	West Ham United	Originated as Thames Ironworks football team (see also "Hammers")
Hoops	Queens Park Rangers	Design of home strip
Hornets	Watford	Colour of strip
Imps	Lincoln City	Legend of the imp statue in Lincoln Cathedral (also "Red Imps")
Iron	Scunthorpe United	Local links to the iron industry
Irons	West Ham United	Indicates the club's origins as the football team of Thames Ironworks (see "also Hammers").
Lambs	Tamworth	Team plays at The Lamb Ground, named after a local pub
Latics	Oldham Athletic	Short version of name
Latics	Wigan Athletic
Lillywhites	Preston North End	Colour of home strip
Lions	Millwall	Featured on badge
Magpies	Newcastle United	Based on colour of home strip
Magpies	Notts County	Based on black and white colour of home strip ^[4]
Mariners	Grimsby Town	The club is based on the coast
Mighty Whites	Leeds United	Based on the colour of the home strip
Millers	Rotherham United	Based on ground name (Millmoor)
Minstermen	York City	York Minster is a famous landmark in the city
Monkey hangers	Hartlepool United F.C.	During the Napoleonic wars the citizens of Hartlepool allegedly hung a monkey believing it to be a French spy.^[5]
O's	Leyton Orient	Initial of name
Owls	Sheffield Wednesday	Based on name of local area (Owlerton), after a visitor to the city drew a cartoon depicting Sheffield Wednesday as an owl.
Pensioners	Chelsea	Originates from the Chelsea pensioners, based at the nearby Royal Hospital Chelsea
Pilgrims	Boston United	Local links to the pilgrims who went to the New World
Pilgrims	Plymouth Argyle	Local links to the pilgrims who went to the New World
Pirates	Bristol Rovers	Local links to shipping
Pompey	Portsmouth	The nickname for the city
Pool	Hartlepool United	Short version of name
Pool	Liverpool	Short version of name
Posh	Peterborough United	Believed to derive from former manager Pat Tirrel proclaiming that he was looking for: "Posh players for a posh team" ^[6]
Potters	Stoke City	Local links to the pottery industry
Quakers	Darlington	Local links to religious movement
Rams	Derby County	Folk song "The Derby Ram", and by extension an emblem of the city ^[7]
Rebels	FC United of Manchester	The club having been formed by disaffected fans after the takeover of Manchester United by Malcolm Glazer.
Red Devils	Manchester United	Nickname originally belonged to nearby rugby league team Salford
Red Devils	Crawley Town
Red Dragons	Wrexham	Featured on logo
Red Imps	Lincoln City	Colour of home kit and legend of the imp statue in Lincoln Cathedral
Reds	Liverpool	Colour of home kit
Reds	Nottingham Forest	Colour of home kit
Railwaymen	Crewe Alexandra	Local links to railways
Riversiders	Blackburn Rovers	After a side of the ground adjacent to a river
Robins	Cheltenham Town	Colour of home kit same as a robin's chest
Robins	Swindon Town	Colour of home kit same as a robin's chest
Robins	Bristol City	Colour of home kit same as a robin's chest
Robins	Wrexham	Colour of home kit same as a robin's chest
Robins	Altrincham	Colour of home kit same as a robin's chest
Rovers	Blackburn Rovers	Shortened name
Rovers	Doncaster Rovers	Shortened name
Rovers	Tranmere Rovers	Shortened name
Royals	Reading	The town is in the Royal County of Berkshire.
Saints	Southampton	The club was originally known as Southampton St. Mary's
Saints	St Albans City
Saddlers	Walsall	Links to the saddle making industry
Sandgrounders	Southport
Seasiders	Blackpool	Based on coast
Seagulls	Brighton & Hove Albion	Other than the obvious, a response to the similar sounding nickname 'Eagles' of their arch rivals Crystal Palace
Shakers	Bury	Club's first chairman, JT Ingham, said before a Lancashire Cup game with Blackburn, "We will shake them. In fact, we are the Shakers." ^[8]
Shaymen	Halifax Town	Originates from the club's ground
Shots	Aldershot Town	Short version of name
Shrews	Shrewsbury Town	Short version of name
Shrimps	Morecambe	Possibly related to the fishing/shrimping industry in the region
Shrimpers	Southend	A historic local industry; alliterative
Silkmen	Macclesfield Town	Local links to the silk industry
Sky Blues	Coventry City	Colour of home strip
Sky Blues	Manchester City	Colour of home strip
Spireites	Chesterfield	Due to famous crooked spire in the town
Spurs, Lilywhites	Tottenham Hotspur	Short version of name, Colour of home strip
Stags	Mansfield Town
Stanley	Accrington Stanley
Super Hoops	Queens Park Rangers	Based on the pattern of the home strip
Swans	Swansea City	Short version of the name
Terras	Weymouth	Club plays in a terracota coloured kit
Terriers	Huddersfield Town	Named after the Yorkshire Terrier breed of dog
Tigers	Hull City	Colour of home strip
Tigers	Gloucester City	Colour of home strip
Toffees	Everton	Unknown. Possibly named after a local toffee shop, or the nickname for the local Irish population ^[9]
Toon	Newcastle United	Local pronunciation of 'Town', meaning City Centre where the ground is situated
Tractor Boys	Ipswich Town	Local links to agriculture
Tricky Trees	Nottingham Forest
Trotters	Bolton Wanderers	In the 19th century, one of their pitches was adjacent to a piggery and clearances often end up in there. Players had to 'trot' through the pig-pens to retrieve the balls.^[10]
Tykes	Barnsley	Colloquial name for a Yorkshireman.
U's	Cambridge United	Initial of name
U's	Colchester United	Initial of name
U's	Oxford United	Initial of name
Valiants	Port Vale	Based on official name
Vics	Northwich Victoria	Based on shortening of official name
Vikings	Doncaster Rovers
Villans	Aston Villa	Based on official name
Wolves	Wolverhampton Wanderers	Based on shortening of name
Yellows (unofficial)	Cambridge United	Colour of home kit