I've always called them spankies, but my junior high school coaches always called them briefs, probably because that was the "official" name they were sold under. My mom will usually call them spankies, but occasionally slip into calling them spandex (she was a volleyball player and I can't rip her from her old ways haha).

I call them spankies or bloomers or just pants. A friend and myself had a great conversation on facebook regarding spankies, was insanely stupid and out of control but such an 'in' joke and so funny to see what replies other people put on our profiles.

bloomers or spankies

Everyone I know calls them bloomers. A few girls call them spankies. But like others have said, it's probably a regional thing because my cousin from California calls them spankies.

My squad calls them bloomers, but last year at competition we wore soffe shorts with our names on them!

My daughter is an Irish Dancer and they were them under their dresses.

My daughter and I call them Bloomers or Kick Pants

We call them bloomers!

Love this post!! LOL! Briefs or bloomers, that was in the 80's.

I'm from the NYC area and we've always called them lollipops. I think its a regional thing.

I may be an unusual one to be answering a question like this as I was never a cheerleader, and I'm a guy, but I do remember from sporting goods stores in the 1950's that there were two registered brand names for these things, maybe a few more. My girlfriend wore them with tennis dresses. The two most common were "Spanky Pants" and "Lollypops." Lollypops came, like the confection on a stick, in several colors. There was also a brand called "Hug Me Tights." The older sister of the kid I hung around with when I was about 11 was a cheerleader and tennis player and her little brother who was my age would tease his sister about the "Spanky Pants" name as only little brothers could torment sisters. Alas, as an only child, I had no one to torment.

So I would expect that the names Spankies and Lollies for generic cheering brief were likely derived from these trade names. I don't know if either brand exists anymore...it's not exactly anything I would be shopping for . I would also expect that the current name "Spanx" for a line of shapewear briefs and leggings likely was inspired by the same name. The name "bloomer" is derived from the 19th century feminist, Amelia Bloomer, who was among the first to popularize (and perhaps invent) the bifurcated (two legged) undergarment, which actually was knee length or longer aat first and which was also adapted for outerwear for bicycling. When it first appeared, calling them "Bloomers" was actually intended to be derisive. "Huggies" probably derived from "Hug Me Tights" although that name later became a trade name for commercial diapers for infants. Spandex (and Lycra) are registered trade names for elastic fabric which is woven from synthetic thread to provide stretchability. Many types of garments are made from this fabric. Earlier stretchable garments were made from fabric wound around thin rubber threads with the trade name Lastex (from elastic and latex.) Spandex and Lycra had the advantage of not having any rubber in them since the rubber quickly deteriorated and the tiny threads also broke easily. Swimwear when I was a kid for both males and females was made from elastic and would quickly lose their stretch from being in the sun or from chlorine in pools and quickly became droopy. They were also rather heavy.

Granny pants (or panties) is a modern term for any sort of underwear which comes higher up on a body than a bikini. Underwear for both men and women always came up to the natural waist. So since this was the norm up to the 1960's/70, they literally were the sort of underwear your grandmother would have worn everyday. No other type was available. As my wife and I are grandparents, I know this factoid first hand.

Jon

Spankies!!! Probably not the technical term im sure but that'swhat we've always called them! x

I call them spankies

I have sat through 3 hours of Cheerleading every week for the last two years and I have never heard them called anything but spankies I like lollies beter through think our team should re name them

My squad called them guy shorts/Boy Shorts.

I don't do cheerleading, but I'd like to say that I've always heard dancers call them trunks (although some dancers call them booty shorts). Therefore, I've always assumed that cheerleaders too call them trunks.