Short version: a woman named Joan Pritchard came up with the name in the summer of 1965, and she borrowed it from rowing — not from a dog. The dog story is the one most people repeat, and it has it backward. So why is it called pickleball? Here is where the name actually came from, why the dog myth took hold, and how the record finally got set straight.
If you have ever stood on a court and wondered who decided to name a paddle sport after a pickle, this one is for you. The answer has nothing to do with the food and everything to do with a crew race. That is really what people are getting at when they ask why is it called pickleball — there is a reason, and it is a good one.
The Short Answer
If you only want the one-line version of why is it called pickleball, here it is.
Pickleball is called pickleball because Joan Pritchard, wife of co-founder Joel Pritchard, named it after the “pickle boat” in crew racing — the boat crewed by the leftover rowers who did not make the top boats. She thought the new game, thrown together from badminton, table tennis, and a plastic ball, looked like the same kind of mismatched leftovers. The name stuck, and it has been pickleball ever since.
Who Named Pickleball?
Credit goes to Joan Pritchard. In the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington, her husband Joel and his friend Bill Bell cobbled together a new backyard game to keep the kids busy. Within days, Joan had a name for it: “pickle ball.”
Her son Frank, who was 13 that summer, remembered it this way: to hear his mother tell it, the leftover non-starter oarsmen were thrown together into these pickle boats, and she thought pickleball threw bits of other games into the mix — badminton, table tennis — so “pickle ball” was an appropriate name. For decades, Joan got far less credit than she deserved for naming the sport. The pickle boat story is hers.
What Is a “Pickle Boat”?
Joan grew up in Marietta, Ohio, and went to Marietta College, which had one of the strongest crew programs in the country at the time. She was a rowing fan long before she named a sport.
In crew racing, the best rowers fill the top varsity boats. After those races, the rowers left over — the spares, the non-starters from different schools — would get thrown together into one boat and race for fun. That mixed-up, leftover crew was the pickle boat. The term goes back decades in rowing circles, long before anyone bounced a plastic ball on a badminton court. Joan saw the same thing in the new game: a little badminton, a little table tennis, a plastic ball, all mashed into one. A pickle boat of a sport. To Joan, who knew her rowing, the comparison was obvious the moment she watched them play, and the name landed before anyone had a better one.
There is one more layer to it. In old fishing fleets, the “pickle boat” was the last boat back to port — the one that stayed out long enough to brine, or pickle, its catch before landing. The rowing term likely borrowed from there. Either way, the thread is the same: leftovers, latecomers, and odds and ends thrown together. For a game built from spare parts, the name fit perfectly.
Was Pickleball Named After a Dog?
No — and this is the part that trips up almost everyone. The popular story says the game was named after the Pritchard family dog, a cockapoo named Pickles, who supposedly chased the ball around the court. It is a charming story. It is also out of order.
The dog came second. USA Pickleball dug into dog records, old photos, and interviews with people who were there, and confirmed that Pickles was born in 1968 — three years after the game was invented and named. The puppy actually showed up the same summer one of the Pritchard kids brought it home from a litter down the road. So the dog was named after the sport, not the other way around.
So Where Did the Dog Story Come From?
Blame a good interview. Sometime around 1969, Joel Pritchard sat down with a reporter from a national publication who wanted to give the game some real coverage. Asked where the name came from, Joel told the true pickle boat story — then, as a joke, suggested they print that the game was named after the dog because it was cuter and easier to remember. The reporter loved it and ran with the dog version.
When the locals who knew the real story heard about it, they were not thrilled. Joel’s response became legend: he shrugged it off as just a funny story that would never stick. It stuck. Co-founder Barney McCallum told the dog version for the rest of his life. That is how a throwaway line outran the truth for half a century.
When and Where Was Pickleball Invented?
The game started in the summer of 1965 on Bainbridge Island, just across the water from Seattle. Three men get the credit: Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum. They had a badminton court but no full set of rackets, so they grabbed table tennis paddles and a perforated plastic ball, lowered the net, and started playing. Barney lived a few doors down and built better paddles, and the rules came together from there.
If you want the full rundown of what pickleball is and how to play pickleball, we break both down step by step. The short version: it is a paddle sport played on a smaller court, with an underhand serve, a no-volley zone called the kitchen, and games to 11.
The game grew fast after that first summer. The founders formed a corporation in 1972 to protect the sport, the first known tournament ran in 1976, and a national rulebook followed in 1984. By 1990, all 50 states had players. The name they argued over in a Bainbridge backyard ended up on courts across the country.
Why the Name Stuck
A weird name is a feature, not a bug. When someone asks why is it called pickleball, the honest answer is part history, part happy accident — and that mix is exactly what makes it memorable. The name makes people stop and ask, and asking is half the fun. It is easy to say, impossible to forget, and it carries a real story once you know it.
Plenty of sports have dry, descriptive names. This one has a crew race, a family argument, and a dog who got the credit for years. That is a name worth keeping.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called pickleball?
Because Joan Pritchard named it after the “pickle boat” in crew racing in 1965. The new game was built from leftover pieces of other sports, just like a pickle boat is crewed by leftover rowers.
How did pickleball get its name?
Joan Pritchard named it after the pickle boat in crew racing — the boat made up of leftover rowers — because the new game was stitched together from pieces of other sports.
Who was pickleball named after?
No single person — it was named after a thing: the pickle boat, the leftover crew in rowing. The family dog, Pickles, was named later, after the game already had its name, which is how the dog myth got started in the first place.
Was pickleball really named after a dog?
No. The dog Pickles was born in 1968, three years after the sport was invented and named in 1965. The dog story came from a joke Joel Pritchard told a reporter.
Where did the name pickleball come from?
From rowing. The “pickle boat” is the crew of leftover, mismatched rowers — and that is exactly what the new game looked like to Joan Pritchard when she watched a little badminton, a little table tennis, and a plastic ball get mashed into one sport.
Come Play at Picklr
Now you know why it is called pickleball, and you can settle the dog debate at your next open play. The better way to learn the story, though, is to pick up a paddle. At Picklr, you play on climate-controlled indoor courts all year, with leagues, clinics, and open play built for every level — first-timers and 4.0s alike.
Bring a friend, tell them the pickle boat story, and settle it on the court.
