What is the origin of the word 'Yankee'? When was the first usage of that nickname?

Answer 1

Merriam Webster says it has an unknown origin.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?sourceid=Mozilla-search&va=yankee

Answer 2

The origin of Yankee has been the subject of much debate, but the most likely source is the Dutch name Janke, meaning "little Jan" or "little John," a nickname that dates back to the 1680s.

Perhaps because it was used as the name of pirates, the name Yankee came to be used as a term of contempt. It was used this way in the 1750s by General James Wolfe, the British general who secured British domination of North America by defeating the French at Quebec.

The name may have been applied to New Englanders as an extension of an original use referring to Dutch settlers living along the Hudson River.

Whatever the reason, Yankee is first recorded in 1765 as a name for an inhabitant of New England. The first recorded use of the term by the British to refer to Americans in general appears in the 1780s, in a letter by Lord Horatio Nelson, no less.

Around the same time it began to be abbreviated to Yank. During the American Revolution, American soldiers adopted this term of derision as a term of national pride. The derisive use nonetheless remained alive and even intensified in the South during the Civil War, when it referred not to all Americans but to those loyal to the Union.

Now the term carries less emotion—except of course for baseball fans.

Answer 3

One of the earliest theories on the word derivation is from the Cherokee word "eankke" for coward as applied to the residents of New England. Also, as the Northeastern Native American approximation of the words English and Anglais.

The most plausible origin to be that it is derived from the Dutch first names "Jan" and "Kees". "Jan" and "Kees" were and still are common Dutch first names, and also common Dutch given names or nicknames. "Jan" means "John" and may have been used as a reference to the settlers of New-York (New-Amsterdam at the time) who were Dutch. The word Yankee in this sense would be used as a form of contempt, applied derisively to Dutch settlers in New England and New York.

Answer 4

I was told it originated in China, in reference to the British who
were there, meaning "foreign dog." Read that somewhere?
I guess when James Cagney sang "Yankee Doodle Dandy"
It may have become American. May-bee, may-bee not? <}:-})

Answer 5

i learned from my 5th grade teacher that the british soldiers taught it to some american soldiers as a joke, but then it kinda backfired.