I believe that you should keep your name. Anyone that is in FIRST and has come across your team will recognize you as 1501 THRUST. They go together. If you take them apart you cause confusion and the possibiliby of actually going unrecognized. I admire your team and I do not associate any negative connotations with it.
Personally, I think that the students on your team should be stronger than those small-minded people who are making fun of something that is going to bring out the best of the kids on the team. Changing your name is succumbing to their immature antics. Please help your team members to rise above the negative connotation comments and see that being in FIRST and being on team 1501, on Team THRUST, is an honor.
The members on your team are there for a reason. They want to indulge themselves in a world of math, science, and technology, and learn skills to prepare them for careers in those types of fields. Their friends or peers should be proud of what they are accomplishing. They should be jealous. They should want to be involved themselves. Those people are not worth changing your name over.
Rise above the immature people who need some sort of self-control over what comes out of their mouths.
Keep your name.
