Why do we call them "piggy banks"?

Piggy banks likely received their name from the type of clay with which they were originally made.

During the Middle Ages, people used to collect materials in wide-necked jars made from an orange clay called "pygg." The name of "pig jar" was eventually coined and stuck well after the pots were no longer made of this clay! By the time the practice had reached England in the 1700s, the jars were often used to collect money and were naturally called "pig banks."

These jars were ceramic and had no hole in the bottom, so they had to be smashed to retrieve the money inside. It is not hard to imagine the progression that followed - "piggy" banks that were shaped like actual pigs!