Why Do the Canadiens Go by the Habs? Explaining the Unusual Nickname

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Learn the history behind the hockey team's nicknames and logo

Co-authored by Jennifer Mueller, JD

Last Updated: April 1, 2024 Fact Checked

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• Why are the Canadiens called the Habs?
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The Montreal Canadiens are a storied French-Canadian professional ice hockey team with a nickname as legendary as their sports record: Why are they called the Habs? The short answer is that it's short for the French word "habitants," but that doesn't even scratch the surface of this somewhat controversial nickname. Read on to learn all about the history behind this fabled nickname and the team that acquired it.

Why the Canadiens Are Called the "Habs"

The Montreal Canadiens are called the "Habs" because it's short for "habitants," a French word for French-descended settlers in Canada. This nickname took off as the result of a misunderstanding about the team's "CH" logo was repeated by sports reporters.

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Section 1 of 3:

Why are the Canadiens called the Habs?

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1. 1
   The nickname "Habs" is short for the French word "habitants." This is a word used for the French peasants who originally settled "New France," a territory that historically included parts of modern-day Canada and the United States. This much is not in dispute—but where this nickname came from is a different issue altogether.

   • 'The mistake:' Tex Rickard, the then-owner of Madison Square Garden, told reporters in 1924 that the "H" in the Canadiens' "CH" logo stood for "Habitants." As legend has it, the reporters picked up that mistake and the nickname continued to be used as a result.
   • 'The reality:' Turns out Rickard could be excused for believing this to be true because people had been calling the Canadiens "the Habs" for several years at that point. The first verified use of the nickname was in the February 9, 1914 issue of the French-Canadian newspaper Le Devoir.
   • Some fans and historians also believe that the term "habitants" became widely associated with the team to distinguish it from the Montreal Wanderers, an English hockey club in the same city.
2. 2
   The nickname "habitants" is controversial with modern French Canadians. Modern French Canadians have largely divorced themselves from their agricultural and Roman Catholic roots. Because of this, the word "habitants" has come to symbolize backwoods country bumpkins and is typically considered more of an insult than anything else.

   • The shortened "Habs" version, though, which only applies to the beloved hockey franchise, doesn't suffer from this same understanding. The nickname has escaped relatively unscathed from the cultural shift.
   • Despite having never been an official nickname of the NHL team, "Habs" is a common nickname and one you'll often hear repeated in regular conversation. Players and coaches don't normally use it though—at least not when talking to reporters.
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Section 2 of 3:

Montreal Canadien Logo History

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1. 1
   1909: A simple "C" The hockey club that would become the Montreal Canadiens started off in 1909 as the "Club Athletique Canadien," complete with a large "C" in blue for a simple, straightforward logo. The letter appeared on white jerseys without any additional decoration.
2. 2
   1910-1911: Old English "C" in a maple leaf With the next season, the team got a little fancier with its logo. The single "C" was still there, but now it was in a stylized Old English font and surrounded by a drawing of a maple leaf, a perennial symbol of Canada.

   • The logo was likely originally blue, as was the original 1909 logo, but it's sometimes stylized in green for retro uniforms.
   • This particular version of the Canadiens' logo looks a lot like the modern-day logo of the Toronto Maple Leafs, although that club wasn't in existence yet when the Canadiens premiered the maple leaf design.
3. 3
   1911-1912: "CAC" in a maple leaf With the 1911 season, the Canadiens kept the maple leaf but added 2 more letters to the center, standing for the full initials of the hockey club, which was still known as the "Club Athletique Canadien" at this point. The maple leaf itself was red, although the letters were blue.

   • This was the official beginning of the organization's red, white, and blue color scheme, which they carry through to the present day.
4. 4
   1912-1917: An "A" in a "C" For the 1912 season, the team debuted a logo that looks a lot like the one the NHL franchise still uses—although this one had an "A" in the center of the "C" instead of an "H." The letters still stood for "Club Athletique Canadien," with the larger outside "C" doing double duty.

   • The jerseys were white and the letters were solid red outlined by a blue pin-stripe.
   • For the 1912-1913 season, the Canadiens wore red, white, and blue striped uniforms, affectionately known as the "barber pole" uniforms.
   • The Canadiens revisited the barber pole design for the team's retro uniforms for the 2009-2010 season—although it turned out the bright stripes were pretty tough to look at on hi-def TV screens. The team only donned the uniforms once, not twice, as originally planned.
5. 5
   1917—present: An "H" in a "C" The NHL started in 1917, and the Canadiens introduced the logo that would remain with the team all the way to the present day—with a few minor tweaks here and there. The letters in the logo reflect the team's new name, "le Club de Hockey Canadien," with the "C" again doing double duty to represent both "club" and "Canadien," while the "H" stands for "hockey."

   • This logo is the source of the storied misunderstanding that many believe led to the widespread popularization of the "Habs" nickname, when the owner of Madison Square Garden told a reporter the "H" stood for "habitants."
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Section 3 of 3:

Fun Facts about the Montreal Canadiens

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1. 1
   The Canadiens have won more Stanley Cups than any other team. As of the 2023-2024 season, the Habs have hoisted the Stanley Cup after an NHL championship win 24 times. The team has appeared in the Stanley Cup final an additional 11 times, although they came just short of capturing the ultimate prize.

   • The Canadiens' total wins amount to almost a quarter of all Stanley Cup wins!
2. 2
   The Canadiens have been in operation longer than any other team. The Montreal Canadiens existed as a professional hockey club going all the way back to 1909—a full 8 years before the NHL's inaugural season. The team has changed names a couple of times as well as changed ownership hands, but it's always been in continuous operation.
3. 3
   The Canadiens have many unofficial nicknames. As you might expect with a team that's been around for so long, the Canadiens have picked up a lot of nicknames along the way. Given the team's French-Canadian roots, it's not surprising that most of these nicknames are French:

   • La Sainte-Flanelle: literally meaning "holy flannel," believed to reference the cult-like fervor of the team's fans
   • le Grand Club: simply "the great club" or "the great team"
   • le CH: short for "Club de hockey" (hockey club); also the letters of the team's logo
   • le Tricolor: "the tricolor," referring to the team's red, white, and blue color scheme
   • le Bleu Blanc Rouge: "blue white red," also refers to the team's colors
4. 4
   The Canadiens' mascot is the first to rep in 2 different sports leagues. For much of the Canadiens' history, the team lacked an official mascot. In 2004, the Montreal Expos major league baseball team moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals, leaving their beloved mascot, "Youppi," without a team to represent. He soon moved over to the Canadiens, becoming the first mascot on the continent to rep a team in both major league baseball and professional hockey.

   • During the 1980s and into the early '90s, the Canadiens had an unofficial mascot known as "Metal" (stylized as "METAL!"). He re-emerged for the team's "Reverse Retro" games during the 2022-23 season before heading off to retirement once again.
5. 5
   The Canadiens' have been owned by the same family 3 times. The Molson family owns Molson Breweries, a famous Canadian beer company. Molson Breweries, and owned the Canadiens from 1958 to 1971. The team returned to Molson hands in 1979. The Molson family sold a partial interest in the team to an American businessman in 2001 but re-bought those shares in 2009, marking the third time the brewing family held total ownership of the team.
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• Because the team is located in French-speaking Quebec, the team's official name (Canadiens) is spelled the French way rather than the English way.
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