When Did Black Friday Start? Origin of the Name
Explore Black Friday history, its Philadelphia origins, how the name spread and why the popular profit-ink explanation is incomplete.
When Did Black Friday Start? Origin of the Name
Updated: November 1, 2026 • U.S. shopping guide
The shopping-related term 'Black Friday' is most strongly associated with Philadelphia traffic and crowds around the day after Thanksgiving in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It did not originally mean the day retailers finally moved from losses to profits. The phrase itself is older and appeared in other negative contexts, including financial crises. This guide separates the origins of the name from the much later development of the nationwide retail sales event.
Philadelphia, police and the shopping crowds
Philadelphia police officers faced unusually heavy traffic around the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush. Visitors also arrived for the Army–Navy football game that was often played in the city. Reports from the period connect 'Black Friday' with congestion, pedestrian crowds and additional police duties. A 1961 public-relations account discusses the local use of Black Friday and Black Saturday and merchants' attempts to improve the days' negative image.
The details of first spoken use cannot be established with a single universally accepted date, so it is more accurate to say that Philadelphia usage is documented around 1960–61 than to claim one person invented the term on a precise day.
Was Black Friday named for profits?
The familiar accounting story says businesses recorded losses in red ink and profits in black, making the post-Thanksgiving shopping rush a turning point. It is a memorable marketing explanation, but historical accounts show the traffic-related Philadelphia usage came earlier. The profit-ink story became popular later, particularly as merchants embraced the expression nationally.
This distinction is not a criticism of present-day retail marketing; it is simply a matter of chronology. A later explanation can become widespread without having been the original source of the phrase.
Earlier uses of the same words
'Black Friday' was used for calamities long before the modern U.S. shopping event. The September 24, 1869 gold-market crash, for example, was labeled Black Friday. That financial use is distinct from the Philadelphia shopping context almost a century later. Reusing the same phrase for different negative events is common in English and does not by itself establish a direct line of naming.
Readers should therefore distinguish 'the first use of these words' from 'the origin of the holiday shopping label.' They are not the same historical question.
How it became a national sales tradition
By the 1980s and 1990s, retailers and news organizations increasingly used Black Friday to describe the start of holiday shopping beyond Philadelphia. Longer store hours, doorbuster offers, and eventually online shopping made the name central to seasonal promotions. The development was gradual, not a single official launch imposed by the government.
Cyber Monday is a separate, later marketing label for the Monday after Thanksgiving. Its role in online commerce is another reason today's promotional period can extend beyond one Friday.
What the history tells shoppers now
The name has shifted from a warning about crowds to a symbol of bargains. Knowing the origin does not determine whether a current offer is a good deal: modern shoppers still need actual price comparisons, return terms, and seller verification. A history page should not be repurposed into a list of current discounts, just as a deal page should not repeat the entire history lesson.
Why several origin stories circulate
Different writers are sometimes answering different questions. One story refers to an early negative use of 'Black Friday' in financial or industrial news; another refers to the name used in Philadelphia around Thanksgiving shopping; a third explains why modern retailers eventually liked the term. Blending those histories together can produce a simple but false account. A careful chronology identifies what each source actually documents and avoids treating a popular later slogan as proof about the 1960s.
The Philadelphia explanation is also more specific than 'people were shopping.' Traffic pressures were intensified by visitors and the city's Army–Navy game connection. That context helps explain why officers and transport workers used a negative phrase while retailers were motivated to make the day sound appealing.
Frequently asked questions
When did Black Friday shopping begin? The term was associated with post-Thanksgiving Philadelphia crowds by around 1960–61; shopping traditions predate the modern name.
Who named Black Friday? There is no single conclusively established inventor; evidence points to Philadelphia police and local usage.
Was the name about stores making profits? That is a later popular explanation, not the leading documented origin of the shopping term.
Did Black Friday refer to a stock-market event? The same phrase was used for the 1869 gold-market crash, a separate earlier context.