How Sports Teams Got Their Names

Team names are valuable and unique. When you're in Little League your team debates for hours about what the name of your team should be, the Blue Tigers, the Hot Shots, the Yankees, the Mets, the No Names, and pretty much every other name that can pop into a child's head. However, most professional team names today came about because of geographic location or an influential person or animal in the area in which that team now or once played. Here are five teams and the origin behind their name.

New York Mets - Mets is actually shortened for Metropolitans. One of the reasons they are called the Mets is well it could fit easier on a newspaper headline, as most team names seemed to have come about. The Metropolitans are named after the city where they reside, New York City, and the shortened name gives them a crisper image and a better looking jersey. The colors remind you of another New York team? The colors of the Mets' trace back to when New York was occupied by the Dutch and the Dutch flag flew high with orange and blue colors.

Minnesota Twins - Named after the twin cities in Minnesota. Most people actually know this one and can usually name at least one of the twin cities, Minneapolis. But can you name the other? The other is actually the capital of the state, St. Paul. The name Twins represent the two cities and give the state a proud team name they can respond to.

Tampa Bay Rays - Originally in 1998 they were called the Devil Rays because of the inhabitant in the sea down near one of Florida's most famous cities. They changed their name to the Rays at the end of the 2007 season because they wanted a name that better reflected the state of Florida, they also wanted to give the boot to the Devil part of their name because they thought it brought them bad luck. Maybe they were right, the next year they exploded out of the cellar of the AL East and won the pennant.

New York Giants - The New York football Giants took the name of the baseball team that left for the west coast. They thought the name signified the city as a whole and wanted to keep the name in place.

San Fransisco 49ers - Most people know why they are called the 49ers but a surprising amount do not. San Fransisco was a gold mining town in the 1800's and when gold was finally discovered the great gold rush began. The year this all happened? 1849.