How They Got Their Name: Minnesota Vikings

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The year was 1960 and Minneapolis was preparing to be the newest city with an American Football League (AFL) team.  But then at the last second, the rival NFL made an offer to the city for it to be the host of a new expansion franchise in its league.  Gladly, Minneapolis accepted the offer and became the newest member of the National Football League.  In August of 1960, the team brought in Bert Rose, who was a public relations manager of the Los Angeles Rams, to be the new general manager.  One of his very first moves was choosing a name for the team.

From the start, the name seemed to be a pretty obvious choice to Rose.  He wanted the name to reflect the large Scandinavian (Nordic, Swedish, and Danish peoples) influence on the state of Minnesota.  Today, there are over 1 million people in Minnesota that can trace their ancestry back to Scandinavia.  So, what better name than the Vikings to represent these people?  The fact that the Vikings were fierce, ruthless, and tough fighters while attacking different parts of the world from the 700s-1100s, made for a perfect fit for Minnesota’s new football team.  Also wanting to incorporate the entire state of Minnesota rather than just a city, the name Minnesota was chosen for the team instead of Minneapolis.  The Minnesota Vikings were born, and began play in 1961.

Garett