Knickerbocker (surname) explained

Knickerbocker, also spelled Knikkerbakker, Knikkerbacker, and Knickerbacker, is a surname that dates back to the early settlers of New Netherland that was popularized by Washington Irving in 1809 when he published his satirical A History of New York under the pseudonym "Diedrich Knickerbocker". The name was also a term for Manhattan's aristocracy "in the early days"^[1] and became a general term, now obsolete, for a New Yorker. The term is also used to refer to the Anglo-Dutch "old line" families of New York City, as opposed to New England "Yankee" interlopers and other newcomers.^[2]

Notable people with the surname

• Austin Knickerbocker (1918–1997), American professional baseball player
• Brianna Knickerbocker (born 2001), American voice actress ^[3]
• Bill Knickerbocker (1911–1963), American professional baseball player
• David Buel Knickerbacker (1833–1894), 3rd Protestant Episcopal bishop of the diocese of Indiana
• Harmen Jansen Knickerbocker (c. 1650 – c. 1720), Dutch colonist in New Netherland (New York)
• Herman Knickerbocker (1779–1855), United States Representative
• Hubert Renfro Knickerbocker (1898–1949), American writer and journalist
• I. B. Knickerbocker (1864–1954) American politician in the state of Washington
• Jerry Knickerbocker (born 1943), American politician in the state of Minnesota
• Charles Knickerbocker Harley (born 1943), academic economic historian

Pseudonymously

• Cholly Knickerbocker, a pseudonym used by a series of society columnists writing for the New York American and the New York Journal-American
• Diedrich Knickerbocker, a pseudonym of Washington Irving
• Suzy Knickerbocker, a pseudonym for columnist Aileen Mehle

Notes and References

1. Book: Riis, Jacob. Jacob Riis

   . How the Other Half Lives. Jacob Riis. I. Genesis of the Tenement. New York. Charles Scribner's Sons. 1890. (at Wikisource: How the Other Half Lives – Chapter I)

2. Book: Burrows . Edwin . Wallace . Mike . Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 . Oxford University Press . 978-0195140491 . Chapter 28.
3. Web site: Brianna Knickerbocker . .