# Naming clothing after Channel Islands
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [May 17, 2005, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217 "2005-05-17T11:46:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2005, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/1 "2005-05-17T11:46:09Z")
In the U.K. (and in America I believe) it is common to refer to the top of a sporting kit as the Jersey, such as NBA Jerserys and rugby jerseys. However, recently my brother was looking at Australian websites at the kits used by the teams in Australian Rules Football and found that they are referred to as Guernseys. You can see an example of this [here](http://shop.afl.com.au/eagles/category.asp?catalog%5Fname=Product%5FCatalog&category%5Fname=Guernseys&Page=1) .
In my mind it can’t be a mere coincidence that the names of islands with such close [proximity](http://www.mapquest.co.uk/cgi-bin/ia_find?link=school/worldatlas_index&uid=ucu93dm2x2qck7qa:2556r5g4z5&atlas=channel) provided the names for sporting tops so what is the reason for this? Could it have been the result of a conversation along the following lines in Australia:
Guy#1: What shall we call these sporting tops then?
Guy#2: Well, in the U.K. they named them after one of the Channel Islands I think.
Guy#1: Was it Guernsey?
Guy#2: That sounds about right, let’s go with that.
As unlikely as it sounds it’s the only reason I can think of for why Australians chose to name their sporting kits after a one of the Channel Islands, but chose a different one to the U.K. and America.
What’s the Straight Dope on this?
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2005, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/2 "2005-05-17T22:27:49Z")
I don’t know the answer. However, to confuse the issue even further, I’ve always referred to those sporting tops as footy _jumpers_, although \*jersey \* is also common here in NSW. I think \*guernsey \* is more of a southern state (and hence AFL) term.
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### Author:  [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2005, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/3 "2005-05-17T22:34:18Z")
> [@Cunctator](#):
>
> I don’t know the answer. However, to confuse the issue even further, I’ve always referred to those sporting tops as footy _jumpers_, although \*jersey \* is also common here in NSW. I think \*guernsey \* is more of a southern state (and hence AFL) term.
footy? the only footy i know are children’s pajamas.
not to confuse the issue further, or anything. 😉
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/4 "2005-05-18T00:20:17Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#):
>
> footy? the only footy i know are children’s pajamas.
I call them Alderneys 🆒
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### Author:  [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/5 "2005-05-18T04:01:28Z")
> [@Manduck](#):
>
> I call them Alderneys 🆒
No need to be Sarkastic.
I too have often wondered about this topic but there doesn’t seem to be any distinction between the two terms as used here; in fact [here](http://www.smh.com.au/news/League/Country-boy-chips-away-and-gets-a-jersey-to-diet-for/2005/05/02/1114886315557.html?from=moreStories) is a news story that uses \*\*Jersey \*\*in a photo caption but \*\*Guernsey \*\*in the text.
There is a local saying “to get a guernsey” which means to be chosen for something, presumably coming from the act that if you get chosen in a state or national football team you get to wear the relevant prestigious garment. I don’t recall seeing jersey used in that context.
But I suspect the OP is right - some local confusion between the two similar-sounding and close islands.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/6 "2005-05-18T08:36:19Z")
Strictly speaking, both Jersey and Guernsey (Gansey in dialect – around here anyway) refer to different styles of thick knit fisherman’s sweaters. [Have a look here for specifics.](http://www.manorhouse.clara.net/knitwear/history.htm) It seems that both words have shifted from the specific to the generic, but in different places.
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### Author:  [@max\_power](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/max_power)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/7 "2005-05-18T10:01:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Strictly speaking, both Jersey and Guernsey (Gansey in dialect – around here anyway) refer to different styles of thick knit fisherman’s sweaters.
geansaí (pronounced gansey) is the irish for jumper… not sure what the etymology of the word is… It could be the source of your dialect word, perhaps.
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/8 "2005-05-18T10:44:59Z")
My understanding is that jersey was, before being a synonym for pullover, a weave, or possibly a fabric, originally developed on the island of Jersey, from which pullovers were traditionally made. Presumably guernsey, which I’ve never heard with reference to clothing, is a similar fabric or garment, named in imitation of jersey the fabric/garment. (It might also be worth noting that three of the five main milch cattle breeds are named after the three larger Channel Islands: Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney.)
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### Author:  [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/9 "2005-05-18T10:46:12Z")
In NZ at least, a jersey is part of your rugby gear, but it’s also the word for what Americans would call a sweater - which, confusingly, can also be jumpers, although that’s less common: however, they’re not interchangeable, as you’d never talk about a “rugby jumper”
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### Author:  [@Ponster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponster)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/10 "2005-05-18T10:47:32Z")
And to add to **max power** ’s post, _jumper_ is what the Irish call a jersey.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/11 "2005-05-18T11:22:00Z")
I think your conjecture is on the mark, **mittu** ; in California they’re called [anacapas](http://www.nps.gov/chis/). 🙂
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/12 "2005-05-18T12:03:21Z")
The OED on _jersey_ in the sense of a top for an athletic event:
> [@](#):
>
> 1. a. A woollen knitted close-fitting tunic, with short or long sleeves; applied esp. to that worn as a sole covering of the body in athletic exercises and sports; also, to a similar woollen garment worn either as an outer tunic by seamen, children, etc., or as an under-shirt or under-vest; also, to a close-fitting knitted tunic or jacket worn by women.
>
> 1836-48 B. D. WALSH Aristoph., Knights 215 But though you saw poor People here…had no flannel-waistcoat, ne’er Have you given him a jersey. 1857 HUGHES Tom Brown I. v, Now each house has its own uniform of [football] cap and jersey, of some lively colour.
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### Author:  [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/13 "2005-05-18T14:11:35Z")
> [@max power](#):
>
> geansaí (pronounced gansey) is the irish for jumper… not sure what the etymology of the word is… It could be the source of your dialect word, perhaps.
It could, though I seem to recall reading that there is a similar Scandinavian word that could be a source for both – the Norse having settled in North East England, Scotland (where gansey also appears) and Ireland in the past.
Or they could all simply be derived from Guernsey – the original Guernsey sweater was purpose-designed clothing for fishermen, after all, and it would be natural for the word to travel with the fishermen around the coast of Britain and across the Irish Sea as they followed the fish.
I think this may be the reason for both words coming to mean sweater – Jersey, from the Middle Ages, apparently, had a thriving export trade in knitwear, and so any knitted sweater came to be called a “jersey” (and fine knitted fabric came to be called “jersey material”). In coastal fishing areas, though, the windproof, water repellent Guernsey pattern pullover was most highly prized, so that became the word of choice.
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/14 "2005-05-18T15:50:35Z")
This discussion makes me wonder whether the names “Jersey” and “Guernsey” themselves might be cognates.
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### Author:  [@max\_power](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/max_power)
#### Post date: [May 18, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-clothing-after-channel-islands/304217/15 "2005-05-18T15:54:53Z")
after a quick google, came up with [this](http://www.barrys-tea.com/ireland/crafts/aran_sweaters.html)… It agrees that guernsey is the source of geansai and gansey.
Although, I don’t how authoritative the barry’s tea website is when it comes to word origins…