'Provisional' Sinn Féin evolved from the split in Sinn Féin and the IRA that took place in the late 1960s. The leadership of both Sinn Féin and the IRA had developed a Marxist outlook that became unpopular with many more traditionalist nationalists/republicans. Things came to a head when it emerged the IRA had no guns to defend Belfast nationalists from rampaging unionist mobs and the RUC, as the leadership had sold them to Welsh separatists. Belfast republicans formed Provisional Sinn Féin and the Provisional IRA in response.

The remainder of Sinn Féin became known as Official Sinn Féin which itself subsequently evolved into the Workers Party, which became the Democratic Left, which merged with the Labour party in the 1990's.

The modern political party always terms itself simply Sinn Féin, as Official Sinn Féin has long fallen by the wayside. Provisional Sinn Féin is more usually used by their opponents, to prevent Sinn Féin drawing parallels between themselves and the Sinn Féin party that achieved independence for the south and west of Ireland in 1922. For a fuller history see the article Sinn Féin.

Supporters of Provisional Sinn Féin are pejoratively known as chuckies, a phonetic spelling of the first word of the popular republican slogan Tiocfaidh ár lá (Our day will come). Shinner is another derogatory term for a Sinn Féin supporter.