How did Pitbull get their name?

Answer 1

The dog was bred first to bait bulls and bears. When bear-baiting and bull-baiting were deemed inhumane, rat-baiting and dog fighting became more popular. The APBT Breed was used in both sports, and its prevalence in being put in pits with rats, or other dogs led to "pit" being added to its name.

Answer 2

the term pit bull comes from the dogs past as a bull baiting dog. in the 1700-1800's a larger tenacious dog was bred in England to help bring down bulls for the butcher to kill this was known as a bulldogge. the dogs would bring down the bulls making the work for the butcher easier. that is where the term bulldog comes from. After slaughtering bulls became more industrialized the hardowrking dogs were used for dog fighting and blood sports. as far as the common word "pitbull" the dog fighters of the past used this term to champion their best fighting bulldog a "bully in the pit" or a "pitbull".

Usually the older bulldogg of antiquety where skinnier leaner and more agile than those we call bulldogs today. the dog fighters bred a tenacious terrier breed into the stock of bulldogs to make a more tenacious animal that also was fast agile and strong creating the pitbull terrier.