Polka Dot

The polka dot is a pattern of evenly sized, evenly spaced filled circles, usually set in an offset half-drop grid. It was named during the mid-nineteenth-century craze for the polka dance, when merchants attached the popular word to many goods. Regular machine printing was what finally made the perfectly even dot possible at scale.

Illustration: a crowded mid 19th century dance hall during the polka craze, dancers a swirling blur at a distance, one dotted dress catching the lamplight, musicians in the corner — A crowded mid 19th century dance hall during the polka craze, dancers a swirling blur at a distance, one dotted dress catching the lamplight, musicians in the corner.

Named for

Named after the polka, the dance craze of the mid-nineteenth century. The name comes from the fashion for the dance, not from any feature of the dots.