I’ve always called it a cabbie cap.
Only if made of leather.
It’s a Hogan cap. Named after Ben Hogan who regularly wore one.
Channeling my Grandmother on the subject:
I had to hit the search button, and didn’t find anyone else who knows it as a “Derby.” Which I find exceedingly odd, as I thought everybody knew there were three primary types of men’s hat: Derby, Fedora, and Homborg, with there being no discernible difference between the last two.
Of course, you could include bowler and cowboy, but no serious person has worn either since the 1950’s. Then there’s caps, which include baseball and golf. “Golf cap” is what you call a baseball cap when it’s been made out of natural fibers.
I have heard the occasional reference to a Derby as being a Tweed Cap. But that’s just a nickname, slightly pejorative but kindly meant. Snap brims also exist but are meant as costumes for children, with adults insisting upon the brim being properly sewn to the crown.
I have only heard Derby as synonymous with bowler.
Yes, definitely a bowler, not a flat cap.
For me, the flat cap is synonymous with the English working classes of the late 19th/early 20th century. You can see it in all its popularism in old photos of football crowds, like this one. For this reason it’s also tres popular with hipsters.
There’s a very popular British gansgter drama series, set in the turn of the 20th century in Birmingham, England, based on a real crime gang known as the Peaky Blinders - their distinctive dress included flat caps with razor blades in the peaks, hence the nickname (true story).
My dad (aged 90) still wears a flat cap. Not as a fashion statement.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned “duffer hat”. A Google search shows that this a term for such a hat. Oddly, the first link is to the Wikipedia article on flat hats … which does not contain the word “duffer”.
I know this was the common term back in the late 60s thru 70s.
This thread prompted me to dig around into the history of the flat cap, which points us to 14th century Northern England, when it was known as a bonnet. So I’m going with ‘bonnet’ just to confuse people.
D’Oh! You’re absolutely right. Memory glitch - not the Derby, but the Ascot. It’s an Ascot cap. Wrong horserace.
Also, in New England sometimes called aScally cap (pronounced “scully.”) But those are shaped a little differently. They are more of a teardrop shape on the sides.
I suggested to my husband that he ought to get one, because I associate them with driving around in snappy sports cars in the English countryside.
But he said he’d feel more like the cabbie in Sherlock, and declined.
Oh, and I’ve always called them “English driving caps”.
I’m thirding Scally cap
In the US, there is a 75% chance that the wearer is on his way to a Dropkick Murphys show.
In England, a 75% that he is standing next to a rangy dog
Maybe. Some dispute that. It is the dominant theory, and the interpretation used by the show.
Yeah, the Ascot has a bulgy top that the flat doesn’t.
I thought they were called Paddy caps.
I had one in 8th grade…a Jeff.
I think the Ascot cap is hard-ish? Like a smooth, hard felt.
Ascot, of course, is a famous race track in England. Flat caps and their ilk have long been favoured by racegoers and trainers in England.
Nah then. You’re forgetting that Andy Capp is supposed to be a monkey-hanger.
I call them flat caps, or Don hats in honor of my sister’s SO who has a lot of them.
Honestly (since you asked), in elementary and high school I called them by their shape: cow pie hats.
Tams don’t have brims.
This sure is an unexpected thread to get bumped.
It made my day–I re-read the brief anecdote I had postedand forgotten about an event with my kids back when they were tweens, and it put a smile on my face.
I miss those days.