Every team has a name they choose to call themselves and are known to everyone by that. Then some names are given to them by their fans out of love and affection. These nicknames add to the overall value of a team and motivate them to give their best performance in the game for these fans.

Like any popular sports team, a famous American baseball team called The Chicago Cubs also has so many nicknames that they have acquired over the years. Today, we will discuss all the nicknames by which the Chicago Cubs fans cheer their favorite team.

Popular Names

The Chicago Cubs is a 150-plus-year-old professional baseball team and it has a huge history. This history contributes to various stages of their journey. The team was formed with one name and slowly and gradually acquired other names based on the love they got from their fans.

The nicknames that we are going to discuss in this section are the ones that represent the various stages of the team as it evolved. The team began with the name “The White Stockings” and currently is popular as “The Chicago Cubs”. Let’s see what other nicknames fall between these two and how the Cubs became the Cubs.

Chicago White Stockings (1870–1889)

When the team was formed in 1870, it was named “The White Stockings”. At that time, their ballpark was also not the Wrigley Field but the West Side Grounds. It was the time when they newly became a charter member of the National League.

During this time, the team got some of the top baseball players, namely, Albert Spalding, Deacon White, Ross Barnes, and Adrian Anson. This helped them to become one of the top teams in the National League.

Chicago Colts (1890–1897)

During the late 1880s, Adrian Anson started acting as player-manager, as Albert Spalding retired and  William Hulbert died. Anson led the team beautifully and the team won six National League pennants only within a decade (1876-1886).

By 1890, the team began to be called the “Chicago Colts” and sometimes “Anson’s Colts” due to Anson’s leadership. This was the golden era for the team as they were winning so many games and became one of the top American baseball teams.

Chicago Orphans (1898–1902)

As mentioned in the previous part, the team began to be called the “Anson’s Colts”, so when Anson departed from the team after a long period of 22 years, the fans replaced the Colts with the Orphans. This led to them being called the “Chicago Orphans”.

The word “Orphans” suited perfectly to the situation of the team as they were under the guidance of Anson and he departed after a really long time. This gave the impression of losing a guardian. So, the fans called the team “Orphans” to represent that the team had lost someone who took care of them.

Chicago Cubs (1903–present)

During the early 1900s, there formed a rival professional league named “American Base-Ball League”. A new team formed in the south of Chicago city and joined this league. To counter the popularity of the “Chicago White Stockings”, the new team in the south adopted the nickname of the team, that is, “The Chicago White Sox”.

The fans went crazy and gave their favorite team a new name, “The Chicago Cubs”. The name, Cubs, suited the team very well because of the young team members at that time. This also led to one of the biggest rivalries of the Cubs and the White Sox.

Other Nicknames

Other than the names that the team picked up during its 150-plus-year-old journey, some nicknames are given to the team because of their various characteristics. The fans cheer the Cubs by these nicknames from time to time.

Unlike the names that are mentioned in the previous section, these names do not represent the evolution or journey of the team. They are simply based on the team’s characteristics and represent the same.

The main difference between these nicknames and the ones we discussed in the previous section is that these names are still relevant to the team, while the previous ones were adopted by the team during various stages.

For example, the team is no longer known as Chicago White Stockings or Chicago Colts, but it will be cheered as the Cubbies or the Boys in Blue from time to time. So, let’s have a look at these nicknames.

The Cubbies

The Cubs fans called them “The Cubbies” with affection. Fans love to give different types of nicknames to their favorite sports team out of affection and support. This led to the Cubs being called the Cubbies.

The word “Cubbies” sounds cuter than “Cubs”, and since the Cubs have a cute young bear logo/mascot, calling them cubbies makes them cuter. This is the reason why their fans call them cubbies to show their love and affection to them.

The North Siders

The Chicago Cubs have a long-going rivalry with the baseball team that is based in the same city as they are. That team is “The Chicago White Sox”. The origin of “The White Sox” is the main reason for this rivalry, as they copied the former nickname of the Cubs which was “The Chicago White Stockings”.

The White Sox belongs to the southern region of the city while the Cubs dominate the northern one. This leads to their another nickname, “The North Siders” as they represent the northern part of the Chicago city.

This division of region is based on their ballparks. The Cubs’ ballpark is the Wrigley Field which is located on the north side of Chicago while the White Sox’s ballpark is the Guaranteed Rate Field which is in the southern part of the city.

The Boys in Blue

The reason for this nickname is so easy to guess. The Chicago Cubs Jerseys and mlb little league uniforms are designed in red, blue, and white colors. As you might have seen the blue color is more dominant in their uniforms, this leads to the nickname, “The Boys in Blue”.

Newspaper headlines and social media posts use this nickname quite often. Though many other baseball teams wear blue uniforms such as the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago Cubs is one of the most loved teams and thus got the name for their blue color.

The Lovable Losers

The phrase “Loveable Losers” is used in sports to sympathize with a team that is constantly putting in great effort but still not able to get a win. This is what happened with the Chicago Cubs for a very long time.

The Cubs won the World Series consecutively twice in 1907 and 1908 but did not get any wins until 2016, though they tried their best. This made the fans sympathetic to the team and led to the nickname, “The Loveable Losers”.

Bottom Line

The Chicago Cubs is one of the most loved and successful American baseball teams. The team was formed over 150 years ago and thus gained a lot of fans. These fans gave the team various nicknames that we discussed above.

These nicknames represent the love and support of the fans for the team. The fans use these names to cheer for the team from time to time. These nicknames keep things interesting and help the fans stay more cheerful.