HOOLIGAN, the generally accepted modern British term for a young street ruffian or rowdy, first applied to the young street ruffians of the south-east of London about 189o. The most proba ble source was a comic song popular in the late '8os or early '9os, which described the doings of a rowdy family named Hooligan (i.e., Irish, Houlihan). A comic character with the name "Happy Hooligan" has been the central figure in an American comic strip.