The Saint Peter's Peacocks chose their athletic name in 1930 several decades after the school was founded in 1872. The name Peacocks was chosen by Father Gannon for the mythical story of the peacock who threw itself into the flames to be reborn with beauty. The school had previously been badly damaged by fire and, like this mythological peacock, came back new and improved. Women's teams once competed using the name Saint Peter's Peahens.
