You'd think the origins of a name as distinct as 'pickleball' would be easy to trace. But the history of pickleball's name is fraught with contention.

Since the sport's creation in 1965, two popular theories have emerged: the boat theory and the dog theory.

• The Boat Theory states that Joan Pritchard, one of the sport's first players and the wife of one of its co-inventors, named the game after 'leftover' rowers in crew boat competitions.
• The Dog Theory refers to the Pritchard's dog, Pickles, who did exist and reportedly retrieved errant balls during some of the originators' games, but may not have been alive at the time the sport was named.

No matter who you ask about the origin of pickleball's name, they'll tell you Joan Pritchard was the first to suggest it.

Then-politician Joel Pritchard, Joan's husband, co-invented the game with his friends/neighbors Bill Bell and Barney McCallum on Bainbridge Island, Washington.

But Joel's wife is consistently credited with giving the sport it's name in almost every account. And her own son says she named the sport after Pickle Boats.

The Kitchen thinks this case is closed. Find more details in their article.