Why are Middlesbrough nicknamed “Boro”?

El Guapo said:
Deliberately so we’d have only 13 letters in our name thus cursing us to an enternity of underachievement and lack of success.


Re the nickname Boro, it’s because it would be stupid for us to have the nickname ‘the penguins’ (which, I’m led to understand was the other option on the table)
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Ironsiders was our "official" nickname. If you can say official
 
'Boro' has to be pronounced 'bo-reh' with the 'o' sounding like the 'o' in 'orange' as opposed to a 'u' sound.

For added authenticity there's a slightly nuanced rolled 'l' sound in the middle too, so it's almost 'bo-leh'
 
If you can see this, it’s the football fixtures from 1885….. references Middlesborough
 

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Redwurzel said:
19 century typo - someone left out an o

;)
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My understanding is exactly this.
When I was younger, I was taught that, for a long time, Middlesbrough was actually Middlesburgh, like Edinburgh.
In the interests of english nationalism, it was ordered that the name be reverted to the more english 'borough'
Unfortunately, this was misspelled and we did miss an 'o' and ended up, officially, Middlesbrough.
Simples.
 
MoggasDog said:
My understanding is exactly this.
When I was younger, I was taught that, for a long time, Middlesbrough was actually Middlesburgh, like Edinburgh.
In the interests of english nationalism, it was ordered that the name be reverted to the more english 'borough'
Unfortunately, this was misspelled and we did miss an 'o' and ended up, officially, Middlesbrough.
Simples.
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It is likely that Middlesbrough means the middlest -brough - or burgh - ie middlest fortified place. Possibly Roman or saxon.
It always had an S and never an extra O. Historians have now looked back over 1000 years to find the proof in religious charters etc from Tudor times back to Norman times.
This is the latest finding. Talk of mispellings by a town clerk in the 1850s have been found to be urban myths.
There are loads of Broughs as well as Boroughs in the north. But not in the south.
I was sent a research article about this recently as some friends and colleagues have been looking into the history of St Hildas.
 
MoggasDog said:
My understanding is exactly this.
When I was younger, I was taught that, for a long time, Middlesbrough was actually Middlesburgh, like Edinburgh.
In the interests of english nationalism, it was ordered that the name be reverted to the more english 'borough'
Unfortunately, this was misspelled and we did miss an 'o' and ended up, officially, Middlesbrough.
Simples.
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We've had several posts already that show this is just an 'urban myth' with written records showing that there was never any misspelling and there was never an extra 'o' in the name.

The spellings of place names in England have always evolved over time and as far as I'm aware, pretty much all of the changes came about naturally (rather than by being ordered) in the same way that most words in the English language have changed their spellings, naturally over time.
 
fmttmadmin said:
It is likely that Middlesbrough means the middlest -brough - or burgh - ie middlest fortified place. Possibly Roman or saxon.
It always had an S and never an extra O. Historians have now looked back over 1000 years to find the proof in religious charters etc from Tudor times back to Norman times.
This is the latest finding. Talk of mispellings by a town clerk in the 1850s have been found to be urban myths.
There are loads of Broughs as well as Boroughs in the north. But not in the south.
I was sent a research article about this recently as some friends and colleagues have been looking into the history of St Hildas.
Click to expand...
Ok. I was lied to. :oops:

:ROFLMAO:
 
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