Celtic Slang | About Celtic | Celtic’s Foundation
Details
Reference to: Nickname for Celtic players & fans relating to Celtic’s Irish origins
Derivations: Bhoy, Bhoys, Bhoyettes, Ghal, Ghals
Started: 19th Century
Description
‘Bhoys‘ was a self-reference and nickname common among Irish emigrants on themselves, and has since become synonymous with Celtic.
The extra letter was an attempt to capture the Irish accent, as well as probably signifying a sense of their own cultural identity. It is thought the extra letter in ‘boys‘ was added to phonetically represent the Irish pronunciation of the word, with a soft inflection of the ‘h‘.
The ‘Bhoys‘ term is thought to have been generated in New York (USA) during the 19th Century and passed back over the Atlantic (see link). ‘Bhoy‘ is believed to have originated in New York in around the 1840s, and is from the Irish pronunciation of boy, and relates to rowdy working class folk. Note, the female version was not a ‘Ghirl‘, but a ‘Ghal‘.
The additional ‘h‘ is believed to also have roots following a trend by people during the Victorian era who added a ‘h‘ to titles (e.g. place names etc) which helped to make them appear/read as Gaelic.
Promotional stuff on Celtic goods from the earliest days even refer to ‘The Bould Bhoys‘. A postcard (as posted below) from the turn of the 20th century which refers to the Celtic team of the time as ‘The Bould Bhoys’ is currently believed to be the oldest written Celtic reference.
So the term and name stuck, and it became the de facto nickname for Celtic, the fans and all related groups.
If anything, the ‘Bhoys‘ is an endearing reference for the Celtic support which easily helps to reflect the cultural ties with the club’s heritage in a simple way.
According to Alan Lugton who wrote “The Making of Hibernian [FC]“, the term ‘The Bhoys‘ was a nickname that was even used to refer to Hibs in their early days:
“At the time of their founding, Hibernian had various nicknames such as “representatives of the Emerald Isle” or “the Bhoys”, but the most popular nicknames were “the Green Jerseys” and the Irishmen.”
Appears that in the 19th Century, it often was used to refer to just about any ‘Irish‘-linked football side. For example, in The Motherwell Times (Saturday 1st October 1892) it has local football side Carfin Shamrocks known as the ‘Bhoys‘. Carfin has historically had a strong Irish Catholic heritage.
Ridiculously, Sevco supporters add a ‘h‘ to terms in a pejorative way to describe Celtic fans (e.g. ‘mhanks‘), but then again it reflects the impact of the Irish aspect to the Celtic FC culture.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then interestingly & curiously some Belgian football fans (with sympathies to Celtic) created an imitation group of the Celtic Ultra groups at l’Union Saint-Gilloise (or Royale Union Saint-Gilloise as they are more formally known). They named their new Ultra group as “Union Bhoys“, obviously in honour of their counterparts at Celtic. A curious title as an ultra group at TheRangers is named “Union Bears” (unintentional coincidence), and caused some humour when the two sides faced each other once in Europe.
External Links
Debate on origin/source of “bhoy” – this from late 1899 or early 1900
A very early promotional postcard from the turn of the 20th Century, currently believed to be the oldest reference to ‘Bhoys’ wrt Celtic.
.
