Why are we called Albion?

[Rookie]

Expect this has been done before but searching produced no real results.

Always got me why we are called Albion. The definition states Archaic or poetic Britain or England so bit bemused why we are not United/Rovers or whatever (same for West Brom).
Any of our resident historians got any background as to how the name was adopted?

(Yep I'm bored)

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Apparantly we were called Albion as a nod to West Brom. Why West Brom adopted it

 

[Mr Burns]

Something to do with the Albion down near the pier??

 

[house your seagull]

a nod to our scottish founders is a theory i believe ...

 

[The Grockle]

Albion is the original name of England which the land was known as by the Romans, probably from the Latin albus meaning white, and referring to the chalk cliffs along the south-east coast of England. This is likely to have been a very old name, pre Celtic, and one of the oldest words remaining in the current English language. (English was introduced by the Anglo-Saxons in the 5th century AD. ) Albion was replaced by the Latin 'Britannia', and the Romans called the natives of England the Britons.

With the replacement of the name for the country, Albion became to be used for place names from a toponymic feature involving chalk cliffs, at least in the 19th century. In Southwick, West Sussex, there is a small white cliff (mostly now eroded and grassed over) overlooking the canal section of Shoreham Harbour, and the road that runs along the top of the cliff is known as Albion Street. Albion is a name of public houses, hotels, street names in Sussex, and is even the name of the leading football club.

So basically an old name for England and in particular areas Southern England with chalk cliffs.

West Brom and Burton obviously just copied us!

 

[Barrow Boy]

According to Paul Camillin in his book 'Brighton & Hove Miscellany' he states that quite why the Albion suffix was adopted remains open to debate. Some historians believe Albions founder and first ever manager John Jackson had close links with West Bromwich Albion. Carder and Harris's book disputes this, though;their research couldn't link Jackson to West Brom. Instead, they suggest 'Albion' was probably used because it was a popular name with a number of commercial enterprises in Brighton and Hove at the time. Around the turn of the century you could book a room at the Royal Albion Hotel or, if you fancied something stronger, sup a pint at the Albion Inn, all establishments owned by prominent figures in the early days of the club.

 

[The Grockle]

a nod to our scottish founders is a theory i believe ...

I'm pretty sure the ancient word for Scotland is Alba?

 

[The Large One]

Because to be called Palace would be SHIT.

 

[Mileoakman]

Apparantly we were called Albion as a nod to West Brom. Why West Brom adopted it

Is the right answer. Aparently the original club was called Brighton United, (1897), but they went bust in 1900 and a new club Brighton Rangers was born. They packed it in after 1 year, (mysterious circumstances), and were replaced by Brighton & Hove Albion in 1901. Interestingly they had wanted to be called Brighton & Hove United but Hove United Football Club objected so they decided on Albion. WBA play in blue and white stripes so thats also probably why we chose the same colours. In Paul Camlins book 'Albion the first 100 years' it states that it is unclear why Albion but one of the founders, John Jackson, had been involved with WBA but another possibility is that 'Albion' was used commercially around the town. Apparantly there was the Royal Albion Hotel, the Albion Hotel, the Albion Brewery, The Albion Inn, even the Albion Coffee House. Probably even an Albion Knocking Shop if you looked closely enough!

 

[Rookie]

Is the right answer. Aparently the original club was called Brighton United, (1897), but they went bust in 1900 and a new club Brighton Rangers was born. They packed it in after 1 year, (mysterious circumstances), and were replaced by Brighton & Hove Albion in 1901. Interestingly they had wanted to be called Brighton & Hove United but Hove United Football Club objected so they decided on Albion. WBA play in blue and white stripes so thats also probably why we chose the same colours. In Paul Camlins book 'Albion the first 100 years' it states that it is unclear why Albion but one of the founders, John Jackson, had been involved with WBA but another possibility is that 'Albion' was used commercially around the town. Apparantly there was the Royal Albion Hotel, the Albion Hotel, the Albion Brewery, The Albion Inn, even the Albion Coffee House. Probably even an Albion Knocking Shop if you looked closely enough!

According to Paul Camillin in his book 'Brighton & Hove Miscellany' he states that quite why the Albion suffix was adopted remains open to debate. Some historians believe Albions founder and first ever manager John Jackson had close links with West Bromwich Albion. Carder and Harris's book disputes this, though;their research couldn't link Jackson to West Brom. Instead, they suggest 'Albion' was probably used because it was a popular name with a number of commercial enterprises in Brighton and Hove at the time. Around the turn of the century you could book a room at the Royal Albion Hotel or, if you fancied something stronger, sup a pint at the Albion Inn, all establishments owned by prominent figures in the early days of the club.

So the real question is why are West Brom called Albion?!?!?

 

[Gazwag]

So the real question is why are West Brom called Albion?!?!?

Albion was a district of West Bromwich where some of the players lived or worked

Apparantly

 

[westy]

Is the right answer. Aparently the original club was called Brighton United, (1897), but they went bust in 1900 and a new club Brighton Rangers was born. They packed it in after 1 year, (mysterious circumstances), and were replaced by Brighton & Hove Albion in 1901. Interestingly they had wanted to be called Brighton & Hove United but Hove United Football Club objected so they decided on Albion. WBA play in blue and white stripes so thats also probably why we chose the same colours. In Paul Camlins book 'Albion the first 100 years' it states that it is unclear why Albion but one of the founders, John Jackson, had been involved with WBA but another possibility is that 'Albion' was used commercially around the town. Apparantly there was the Royal Albion Hotel, the Albion Hotel, the Albion Brewery, The Albion Inn, even the Albion Coffee House. Probably even an Albion Knocking Shop if you looked closely enough!

this AND our manager at the time was ex WBA and it was his idea. Easy. in short we copied WBA sadly.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

West Brom and Burton obviously just copied us!

West Bromwich Strollers formed 1878 then became West Bromwich Albion in 1880. Err no.

Dont care about Burton. More likely copied West Brom as from Staffordshire

 

[Storer68]

Albion (Greek: Ἀλβιών) is the oldest known name of the island of Great Britain. It is thought to derive from the white cliffs of Dover. Today, it is still sometimes used poetically to refer to the island or England in particular. It is also the basis of the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland, Alba. New Albion and Albionoria ("Albion of the North") were briefly suggested as possible names of Canada during the period of Canadian Confederation

The derivation of the name Albion is discussed by Eilert Ekwall in an article called "Early names of Britain" in Antiquity 1930.

The name was used by Isadorus Charactacenis and subsequently by many classical writers. By the 1st century AD, the name refers unequivocally to Great Britain. The Pseudo-Aristotelian text De mundo (393b) has:

Ἐν τούτῳ γε μὴν νῆσοι μέγισται τυγχάνουσιν οὖσαι δύο, Βρεττανικαὶ λεγόμεναι, Ἀλβίων καὶ Ἰέρνη
"the largest islands they reached were two, called the Britannic [isles], Albion and Iernē."
Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (4.16.102) likewise has:

"It was itself named Albion, while all the islands about which we shall soon briefly speak were called the Britanniae

Gallo-Latin Albiōn (cf. Middle Irish Albbu) derives from the Proto-Celtic * Alb-i̯en-, sharing the same stem as Welsh elfydd "earth, world", together with other toponyms such as Alpes. The Latin word alba is the feminine singular form of the adjective albus, meaning 'white'. French aube, Spanish and Italian alba.

 

[Everest]

Is the right answer. Aparently the original club was called Brighton United, (1897), but they went bust in 1900 and a new club Brighton Rangers was born. They packed it in after 1 year, (mysterious circumstances), and were replaced by Brighton & Hove Albion in 1901.

It was actually Brighton & Hove Rangers.

 

[perseus]

It was actually Brighton & Hove Rangers.