How Did Aston Villa Get Its Unique Name?

By and large, sports team names are grounded in their location. The Los Angeles Lakers, for example, are no longer surrounded by water, but they once called Minnesota home. The Dallas Cowboys play in Texas, the land of longhorns and ranches (at least pop-culturally). The same trend follows through in soccer, where Location United or City rule the roost.

But what about Aston Villa? That sounds like a soccer club that should be on the shores of Spain, not in Birmingham.

As with most things, the answer can be found in history. And, with that in mind, let's take a walk down memory lane and explore how Aston Villa got its unique name.

Aston Villa Comes From a Literal Villa

In North America, teams like the New York Yankees boast a rich history. English soccer clubs, however, trace their heritage a great deal further back.

"Villa were founded in 1874," a Birmingham Live story explained. "Members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel cricket team wanted to play a sport in the winter. Having watched a rugby match and regarded it too rough, they decided to form a football team. Their meeting took place under a gas lamp at the top of Heathfield Road in Aston."

And while that tells part of the story, the "Aston" and "Villa" parts of the club's name can both be traced even further back.

"Well, the area of Lozells where Villa Road, Lozells Road and Heathfield Road joined was known as 'Aston Villa' - so-called after a large Georgian house of that same name, which stood at the junction of Lozells Road and Heathfield Road," the club's website states.

The aforementioned Aston Villa Wesleyan Chapel drew upon that local name when it was established in 1850. And, when the rugby team started playing football, the name crossed sporting lines.

And from there, the rest is history.

Aston Villa Has Some Curb Appeal

And while uniqueness can sometimes be isolating, there are benefits to standing out from the crowd. In Aston Villa's case, the club name has resonated with at least one notable fan.

Tom Hanks, for example, has shared the story of a promotional trip to England, during which he heard the day's soccer scores being recounted on TV. Amid a mass of United and City names, the Birmingham-based club stood out.

"Then, all of a sudden, Aston Villa came up," he explained in 2012, according to the club's official website. "I thought - what a lovely name."

During a 2019 conversation with James Cordon, though, the actor added a bit more detail.

"And I thought 'Aston Villa,' what a lovely vacation spot! Aston Villa ... It's a beautiful villa, you throw open the French doors, there's the beautiful port of Aston down below you," Hanks said. "And it turns out it's in Birmingham. There's nothing wrong with that, nothing wrong with Birmingham. But it's not a town for [the] light-hearted, I tell you that. So I'm a dedicated Aston Villa fan since then."

But the name's appeal goes beyond Hanks. The club website cites "Famed journalist Richard Whitehead thinks it's 'heartstoppingly lovely.'" Elsewhere, "Former skipper Johnny Dixon only accepted a trial because of it. While best-selling author Lee Child think [sic] it makes us sound like a 'swaggering bunch of pirates.'"

Although it can sound cynical, branding is an important part in the increasingly global sports world. And, on that front, Aston Villa probably has a leg up on the competition.