Derby is the American name for a version of the dome-shaped, felt hat that the English call a bowler. The man it honors also has the English Derby at Churchill Downs named for him. The twelfth early of Derby, Edward Stanley, who died in 1834, came from a family that traced its origins to William the Conqueror. He had a great interest in horse racing but little in his wife – a mutual feeling – and so, devoted most of this time to the improvement of the breed. Races had long been held at Epson Downs, but in 1780 the earl started a series of annual contests for three-year-olds. The races were named in his honor because he suggested them and because he was such a convivial host each season at The Oaks, a house near the course that had belonged to his uncle; General “Johnny” Burgoyne. The Derby became so popular that almost a century later, in 1875, the Kentucky Derby adopted part of its name. After the Civil War, American spectators at the “Blue Ribbon of the Turf” noticed that English sportsmen often wore odd-shaped bowler hats. A few were brought back home, where it is said that a Connecticut manufacturer made a stiff felt, narrow-brimmed version that an unknown New York store clerk sold as “hats like the English wear at the derby.” In any event, the Derby became mot only the American term for “bowler,” but the most popular headwear for men up until the 1920s.