Boston Celtics (NBA)
Celtic as we define it is “a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, including especially Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton, which survive now in Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Wales, and Brittany.” The team’s website credits team founder Walter Brown with this name.
Apparently, he and a Boston Garden publicity staffer were discussing team names in the summer of 1946. Among the names tossed around were Whirlwinds, Unicorns, and Olympics. (The Boston Unicorns?) Anyway, Brown threw out the name Celtics, and it stuck. “Boston is full of Irishmen. We’ll put them in green uniforms and call them the Boston Celtics.”, he said on the site. And, so they did.
