Edited by Azizi Powell
Latest update- June 14, 2026
This is Part I of a three part pancocojams series on the English language recreational rhyme "Dr. Knickerbocker Number Nine" (and similar titles).
This post presents information about the origin and meaning of the words "knickerbocker". "Knickerbocker Number nine", and "Knicks" (the name of the National Basketball Team").
The Addendums to this post presents information about and examples of the phrase "number 9" in United States' culture and in British culture.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/examples-of-dr-knickerbocker-number.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents some (word only) examples of the rhyme "Dr. Knickerbocker Number Nine".
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/doctor-knickerbocker-number-9-videos.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That post showcases some YouTube videos of the song/rhyme "Dr. Knickerbocker Number Nine".
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The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and folkloric purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
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THE ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE WORD "KNICKERBOCKER"
From https://www.nba.com/knicks/history/knickerbocker NBA presented by Chase
[This is a complete reprint from Chase Banks. No publishing date is given. I retrieved this post on Oct. 9, 2025.]
"The term "Knickerbockers" traces its origin to the
Dutch settlers who came to the New World - and especially to what is now New
York - in the 1600s. Specifically, it refers to the style of pants the settlers
wore...pants that rolled up just below the knee, which became known as
"Knickerbockers", or "knickers".
In 1809, legendary author Washington Irving solidified the
knickerbocker name in New York lore when he wrote the satiric A History of New
York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty under the
pseudonym Diedrich Knickerbocker. Later known as Knickerbocker's History of New
York, Irving's book introduced the word "knickerbocker" to signify a
New Yorker who could trace his or her ancestry to the original Dutch settlers.
With the publication of Irving's book, the Dutch settler
"Knickerbocker" character became synonymous with New York City. The
city's most popular symbol of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was
"Father Knickerbocker", complete with cotton wig, three-cornered hat,
buckled shoes, and, of course, knickered pants.
At the same time, the term "Knickerbocker" became
indelibly linked to anything and everything New York...from Jacob Ruppert's
Knickerbocker Beer to the 1938 Broadway musical Knickerbocker Holiday (which
starred Walter Huston and featured the haunting "September Song") to
famed society gossip columnists Cholly Knickerbocker (the nom de plume used by
Maury Paul and Igor Cassini) and Suzy Knickerbocker (Aileen Mehle).
The Knickerbocker name had its first use in the sports world
in 1845, when Alexander Cartwright's Manhattan-based baseball team - the first
organized team in baseball history - was named the "New York
Knickerbockers" or the "Knickerbocker Nine." The Knickerbocker
name stayed with the team even after it moved its base of operations to Elysian
Fields at Hoboken, NJ in 1846. (The baseball link may have prompted Casey
Stengel to joyously exclaim, "It's great to be back as the manager of the
Knickerbockers!" when he was named pilot of the newborn Mets in 1961).
Thus, the Knickerbocker name had been an integral part of
the New York scene for more than a century when the Basketball Association of
America granted a charter franchise to the city in the summer of 1946. As can
best be determined, the final decision to call the team the
"Knickerbockers" was made by the club's founder, the legendary Ned
Irish.
The late Fred Podesta, the longtime Garden executive who
passed away in 1999, once recalled, "The name came out of a hat. We were
all sitting in the office one day - Irish, (publicity man) Lester Scott and a
few others on the staff. We each put a name in the hat, and when we pulled them
out, most of them said Knickerbockers, after Father Knickerbocker, the symbol
of New York City. It soon was shortened to Knicks."
In keeping with another New York tradition, the team's
colors have always (except for the years from 1979-80 through 1982-83) been
orange, blue and white...the official colors of New York City.
So now you know."
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WHY WAS THE 'KNICKERBOCKER NINE" AN EARLY NICKNAME FOR NEW YORK'S KNICKERBOCKER BASKETBALL TEAM?
From https://hooptactics.net/premium/basketballbasics/bb8rulesevolution.php
"Originally, there was no set rule on the number of
players. The idea was that the game could be played by any number of players.
However, that did not work out. After experimenting with teams up to 50
players, early games were primarily played by nine players on each side - the
reason being that 18 students showed up for Naismith's class. In 1897 five
players became the mandatory team size."
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WHEN WAS THE SONG/RHYME "DOCTOR KNICKERBOCKER" (ALSO KNOWN AS
DOCTOR KNICKERBOCKER NUMBER NINE" FIRST DOCUMENTED?
from AI Overview
"The exact historical origin and first documented print date of the "Dr. Knickerbocker Number Nine" folk rhyme remain unrecorded, as it originated as an unauthored, oral schoolyard clapping and jump-rope chant. However, its cultural pieces and modern commercial releases provide a clear timeline of how it developed:"...
-snip-
This write-up continues with history about the New York Knickerbockers basketball team and indicates that "The
song ["Doctor Knickerbocker"] achieved massive global fame when it was covered by the Australian kids'
group The Wiggles on their May 2008 album You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2025/10/doctor-knickerbocker-number-9-videos.html for Part III of the pancocojams series on "Dr. Knickerbocker" children's rhymes for a 1973 sound file of a version of that song that was sung by African American children from the Gullah culture of St. John's Island, South Carolina.
This may be the earliest documentation of that song/rhyme.
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ADDENDUM #1- SOME OTHER EXAMPLES OF THE PHRASE "NUMBER NINE" IN AMERICAN CULTURE
QUOTE #1 - "CLOUD NINE"
From https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/2iy68n/eli5_where_did_the_saying_im_on_cloud_nine_come/ "Where Did The Saying "I'm On Cloud Nine Come From?"
[deleted], 2014
"Whenever a phrase includes a number, like the whole nine
yards, at sixes and sevens etc., then attempts to find its derivation usually
focus on the number. 'On cloud nine' is no exception. A commonly heard
explanation is that the expression originated as one of the classifications of
cloud which were defined by the US Weather Bureau in the 1950s, in which 'Cloud
Nine' denotes the fluffy cumulonimbus type that are considered so attractive.
Another explanation is that the phrase derives from Buddhism and that Cloud
Nine is one of the stages of the progress to enlightenment of a Bodhisattva
(one destined to become a Buddha).
Neither of these explanations holds water. To begin with,
both the cloud classifications and the Buddhist stages to enlightenment have
ten levels. To single out the last but one stage of either is rather like
attributing the source of the 'whole nine yards' to American Football, where it
is ten yards rather than nine that is a significant measure. Also, the fact
that nine is far from the only number that has been linked with clouds, argues
against those origins. Early examples of 'cloud' expressions include clouds
seven, eight, nine and even thirty-nine.
It seems that it is the clouds themselves, rather than the
number of them, that were in the thoughts of those who coined this phrase. The
imagery was originally of a 'cloud cuckoo land' or 'head in the clouds'
dreaminess, induced by either intoxication or inspiration, rather than the
'idyllic happiness' that we now associate with the phrase. The early references
all come from mid 20th century USA and the earliest that I've found is in Albin
Pollock's directory of slang, The Underworld Speaks, 1935:
"Cloud eight, befuddled on account of drinking too much
liquor."
'Cloud nine' comes a little later, for example, in The
Oxnard Press-Courier, August 1946:
"I think he has thought of everything, unless the
authorities pull something new on him out of cloud nine."
Around the same period we find clouds seven and thirty-nine,
in The San Mateo Times, April 1952 and Ross’s Hustlers, 1956, respectively:
"Mantovani's skilled use of reeds and strings puts this
disc way up on Cloud Seven."
"That stuff is way up on Cloud Thirty-nine."
The early favourite was 'cloud seven' and many of the oldest
citations use that form, as in this piece from The Dictionary of American
Slang, 1960, which was the first printed definition of the term
"Cloud seven - completely happy, perfectly satisfied;
in a euphoric state."
This early preference for seven as the significant number
may have been influenced by the existing phrase 'seventh heaven'.
Since the 1980s or so, 'cloud nine' has become predominant.
That has probably been influenced by the use of 'cloud nine' in popular music -
George Harrison adopted the term as the title of his 1987 album and, more
notably, The Temptations' 'psychedelic soul' album of the same name, in 1969."
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QUOTE #2 - 'SOUL SISTER NUMBER 9"
From AI Overview (as a result of my October 13, 2025 Google Search question "What does Soul Sister #9 mean?")
"Soul sister number nine" means a
"superlative soul sister" in playground rhymes, suggesting the person
is the best of the best. The phrase combines "soul sister," a term
for a close female friend, with "number nine," a spiritually powerful
number that represents enlightenment, universal love, and completion. The
implication is that she is an exceptional soul sister with the highest
qualities.
Soul sister: Originally used to describe a Black woman, the
term has evolved to mean a close female friend who deeply understands you and
shares a deep connection, similar to a soulmate but without a romantic
connection.
Number nine: This is considered a spiritually significant
number across many cultures and religions, symbolizing completion, spiritual
enlightenment, universal love, and inner strength.
"Number nine" in rhymes: In the context of
playground rhymes, "number nine" is used to show a superlative or
exceptional quality. It's a way of saying that the person is the ultimate or
the best."
-snip-
Click https://cocojams2.blogspot.com/2014/11/soul-sister-number-9-in-childrens.html for the 2014 post " "Soul Sister Number 9" In Children's Playground Rhymes". Here's one example of the words "Soul sister number 9" in children's playground rhymes:
"I'll be. be
Walking down the street,
Ten times a week.
Un-gawa. Un-gawa {baby}
This is my power.
What is the story?
What is the strike?
I said it, I meant it.
I really represent it.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me down.
Take a cool cool Black to knock me out.
I'm sweet, I'm kind.
I'm soul sister number nine.
Don't like my apples,
Don't shake my tree.
I'm a Castle Square Black
Don't mess with me."
- John Langstaff, Carol Langstaff Shimmy Shimmy Coke-Ca-Pop!, A Collection of City Children's Street Games & Rhymes {Garden City, New York, Double Day & Co; p. 57; 1973}
-snip-
Another widely known children's recreational rhyme that includes the phrase "number nine" is "Engine Engine Number Nine". However, in that rhyme, it appears that the words "number nine" are the train or trolley's name and don't refer to how exceptional that train or trolley is.
Here's an excerpt from a page that features several examples of the rhyme "Engine, Engine Number Nine"
https://www.firstcry.com/intelli/articles/engine-engine-number-9-nursery-rhyme/ "Engine Engine Number 9 Nursery Rhyme For Kids" by Angela Naik, November 19, 2022
"Here’s the most popular version of the Engine Engine Number
Nine poem used by kids to pick an ‘It’:
Engine, engine number nine,
Going down Chicago line,
If the train goes off the track,
Do you want your money back?
Yes, no, maybe so!
Y-E-S Spells Yes And You Are It!
Or
N-O Spells No And You Are It!"
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ADDENDUM #2- THE USES OF THE PHRASE "DOCTOR'S ORDERS NUMBER NINE" IN BRITISH CULTURE
From https://www.reddit.com/r/wiggles/comments/1bn1fhb/dr_knickerbocker_9/
r/wiggles
Proof-Creme-1133, 2024
Dr. Knickerbocker #9
Music
What is the meaning of this song and the significance of the
number 9 can someone explain?""
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Past_Cut_7986, 2025
"In the uk we say “doctor’s orders, number 9” during the game
of bingo. A doctor asks you to say “nine” while they check your tonsils as it
moves your throat just right. Maybe Dr Knickerbocker is asking to look in
peoples throats 😂"
-snip-
The first commenter in that discussion shared information about the first basketball team in history- New York City's Knickerbocker Nine".
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This concludes Part I of this pancocojams series.
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