# Was there really a person named Pat Hooligan?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-really-a-person-named-pat-hooligan/159243>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 5, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-really-a-person-named-pat-hooligan/159243 "2003-03-05T14:43:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-really-a-person-named-pat-hooligan/159243/1 "2003-03-05T14:43:03Z")

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Was there really a person named Pat Hooligan? If there was why is he so famous?

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [March 5, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-really-a-person-named-pat-hooligan/159243/2 "2003-03-05T14:53:40Z")

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Well, it’s not as the origin of the word [hooligan](http://www.word-detective.com/110598.html) , if that’s what you mean.

> [@](#):
>
> As to the “Irish thug” theory of “hooligan” you heard, the answer would have to be “probably not,” but no one knows for sure exactly where “hooligan” came from. The word first appeared in England in the summer of 1898 in newspaper articles about a gang of young street toughs who called themselves “the Hooligans,” although apparently none of them was actually named Hooligan. Some authorities at the time maintained that “hooligan” was a mispronunciation of “Hooley’s gang,” but no one was ever able to trace a specific “Hooley,” so that theory remains unverified.

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**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-really-a-person-named-pat-hooligan/159243/3 "2003-03-06T01:21:11Z")

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Wasn’t he teamed up with Pat M’Groin and Paddy O. Furniture?

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [March 6, 2003, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-really-a-person-named-pat-hooligan/159243/4 "2003-03-06T19:09:28Z")

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Thanks a lot.

[sub]What about Seamus O’Detective?[/sub]