About Celtic | Foundation

Celtic - The club name

Defn: Celtic Oxford Dictionary: Sound: /keltik, sel-/ Defintion: noun a group of languages including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Manx, and Cornish. adjective relating to Celtic or to the Celts.

The Background

Celtic is easily one of the most recognisable names in world football. Say Celtic, and the first thing that most people will identify with the word is our grand old football club.

So how did the name come about? In the earliest days of the club's history, the priority was obviously to simply set up a football club that was to play and attract crowds to help out the local charities. Anyhow, but a name was required. An obvious idea was to emulate Hibs and name ourselves Glasgow Hibernian (Hibernian is an archaic Latin term for Ireland). However, this was not going to be popular with some from Edinburgh, and it was decided to choose Celtic to reflect not only the Irish heritage of the club but also the Scottish origins and foundations. Celtic's ethos was to be an ecumenical institution, and the historical ties of Scotland and Ireland were to be reflected in our name, and no word better captured that than "Celtic".

It was at the inaugural meeting to set the club up, that the name was suggested by Brother Walfrid, and warmly received it was too. Celtic has since been a proud icon for the Celtic diaspora around the globe to take pride from in their roots. After centuries of oppression (both in the Highlands as well as in Ireland itself), this was a beginning for a rehabilitation to put the pride back into the name "Celtic", and the club has more than done the name proud.

It is likely that there is a less romantic truth to the choice of name as well. Celtic was chosen primarily in order to highlight the heritage of the founding people of the club (of that there is no doubt), however, it is likely the name was partly chosen for more practical reasons as well. At the time of the foundation of the club, Irish roots were looked down upon by the establishment in Scotland. There had been a number of other Irish-themed sides in existence already, such as Hibs, Dundee Harp and even a couple of other clubs called Celtic. Most of those clubs had openly complained of lack of exposure from contemporary sports journals of the time, of which some of them even ignoring the respective club's fixtures. Hibernian (Hibs) had themselves complained of discrimination against them from various sections of society, tensions exacerbated by their recent success in the Scottish Cup (1887). Attendants at the inaugural meeting in St Mary' RC Church are likely to have had this in mind, some of them having possibly already been organisers of prior football sides, so they will have been well aware of the significance of the club's name and its impact.

"Celtic" was thus a (slight) re-working on the Irish aspect in order to broaden our appeal to the Scottish communities, as well as to attract a bit more acceptance (or less resentment?) from certain sections in Scottish society. Ironically, early games against Queen's Park (then Scottish football's establishment club and top gunners) were being billed as "Scot v Celt" (sic!) by one journal, so unbelievably the "Celtic" name didn't end up making enough of a difference in some quarters! In any case, Celtic's significant patronage and financial backing enabled the club to be able to hold it's own and not be bullied by various sections of the sporting establishment in Scotland as had been the case with other Irish-tinged clubs and associations.

Another aspect to the name is possibly from the following (as taken from the "Not the View" Celtic fanzine). John Glass (first Celtic President) helped to organise several political rallies at which Michael Davitt (an Irish republican campaigner) addressed Scottish Highland crofters. The question must therefore be asked: did the name 'Celtic' originate in part from this popular political influence of the day, and did Brother Walfrid and John Glass see in this name a method to celebrate Irish-ness, symbolise Irish-ness, yet simultaneously join hands with Scottish Celts? After all, historically speaking, the peoples of Ireland and Scotland were one and the same - Celts!

The formation of the name was likely derived from various sources, and we can only theorise now about the significance of each. Maybe we are making too much of it, but regardless, "Celtic" was the name chosen and it's romantic heritage and overtones have helped to play as important a part in our club's history as any brick or mortar in the foundations of our fine stadium has ever done.

Glasgow Celtic

Commonly in European games, you will hear us being referred to as "Glasgow Celtic" (or even "Celtic Glasgow" [e.g. in games against German teams]). Makes it easier for fans from abroad to know where the club is from. However, the club's official name does not include "Glasgow" in it. It's simply "The Celtic Football Club".

"Glasgow Celtic" is just for simple reference as used by various media for reference, and has stuck with us whenever we play in Europe. Maybe in time as we play in Europe in the Champions League more regularly then the "Glasgow" bit will become unnecessary and we'll become referenced throughout the European game simply as "Celtic" just as we are domestically.

Actually, one of the first public postings of Celtic attributed us as "Glasgow Celtic". The sporting journal "The Scottish Umpire" announced the founding of our club as in the below quote, so maybe Glasgow Celtic isn't so wrong after all. Properly, we are simply "The Celtic Football Club".

"We learn that the efforts which have lately been made to organise in Glasgow a first-class Catholic football club, have been successfully consumated by the formation of the "Glasgow Celtic Football and Athletic Club", under influential auspices. They have secured a six-acre ground in the east-end which they mean to put to fine order. We wish the "Celts" all success." Scottish Umpire and Cycling Mercury (1887)

Articles

• "Celtic" - Pronunciation (why "Sel-tic" and not "Kel-tic")