“thug; hoodlum，”首次在1898年夏季的英国报纸警察法庭报告中发现，几乎可以肯定来自爱尔兰姓氏 Houlihan 的变体形式，该姓氏在1880年代和1890年代的音乐厅歌曲和报纸中作为典型的喜剧爱尔兰名字出现。
1899年出版的书籍 The Hooligan Nights，声称是对一个年轻流氓生活的真实新闻报道，将其归功于 Patrick Hooligan。
For in the [Irish Court] Patrick Hooligan lived a portion of his ill-spent life, and gave laws and a name to his followers; in the latter, the same Patrick was to be met night by night, until a higher law than his own put a period to his rule.
Moreover, my companion was one on whom a portion at least of Patrick Hooligan's mantle had fallen; a young man -- he was scarcely more than seventeen -- who held by the Hooligan tradition and controlled a gang of boys who made their living by their wits, and were ready for any devilry if you assured them of even an inadequate reward. [Clarence Rook, "The Hooligan Nights" 1899.]
因为在[爱尔兰法庭]，Patrick Hooligan 生活了他一部分挥霍的生命，并为他的追随者制定了法律和名字；在后者中，直到一个比他自己更高的法律结束了他的统治，同样的Patrick将一个个夜晚地被遇见。
此外，我的同伴是一个至少部分继承了Patrick Hooligan斗篷的人；一个年轻人——他几乎不超过十七岁——他遵循Hooligan传统，控制着一群靠智慧谋生的男孩，如果你向他们保证即使是不足的奖励，他们也准备好任何恶作剧。[Clarence Rook, "The Hooligan Nights" 1899.]
Old Bailey 的记录确实列出了一个Patrick Hooligan，生于1862年，1897年2月因盗窃被定罪；尽管无法确认他是否是书中提到的同一个人，或他是否是真正的词源。
As an "inventor" and adapter to general purposes of the tools used by navvies and hodmen, "Hooligan" is an Irish character who occupies week by week the front of a comic literary journal called Nuggets, one of the series of papers published by Mr. James Henderson at Red Lion House. Previous to publication in London, "Hooligan" appears, I believe, in New York in a comic weekly, and in London he is set off against "Schneider," a German, whose contrainventions and adaptations appear in the Garland (a very similar paper to Nuggets), which also comes from Mr. Henderson's office. "Hooligan" and "Schneider" have been running, I should think, for four or five years. [Notes and Queries, Oct. 15, 1898]
作为一个“发明者”和将工具适应于泥瓦工和搬运工一般用途的人，“Hooligan”是一个爱尔兰角色，他每周占据一本名为 Nuggets 的喜剧文学期刊的封面，这是Mr. James Henderson在Red Lion House出版的一系列报纸之一。在伦敦出版之前，我相信“Hooligan”在纽约的一本喜剧周刊中出现，而在伦敦，他与“Schneider”对立，后者是一个德国人，他的反发明和适应出现在 Garland（一本与 Nuggets 非常相似的期刊）中，该期刊也来自Mr. Henderson的办公室。我认为“Hooligan”和“Schneider”已经连载了四五年。[Notes and Queries, Oct. 15, 1898]
在20世纪的共产主义 rhetoric 中国际化为俄语 khuligan，对“违法者、政治异议者”等的蔑称。
