knickerbockers

Knickerbockers is a term with several related uses in clothing, culture, and history. Historically, it denotes knee-length trousers worn by men in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the garment is usually loose-fitting and gathered at the knee, worn with long stockings and garters, and often associated with sports, riding, and casual dress.

In a different sense, Knickerbockers is a demonym for inhabitants of New York, especially those of Dutch descent from the former colony of New Netherland. This usage originates in literature: Washington Irving popularized the term in The History of New-York (1809), where he authored the fictional figure Diedrich Knickerbocker. Through Irving and subsequent writers, "Knickerbocker" came to symbolize New York’s Dutch heritage and, more broadly, a New York cultural identity.

In American sports and branding, the name Knickerbockers was used by the professional basketball team founded in 1946 in New York, originally known as the New York Knickerbockers; the name was soon shortened to Knicks, which remains the team's nickname today. The term also appears in other historical and cultural contexts as a marker of New York urban identity and its early Dutch roots.