Changing a team name

[fhobart]

I would echo the sentiments that now would be the optimal time to make a change. We changed our name after our rookie season from PC (Prosthetic Cougars) Robots to Las Pumas--our school mascot is the cougar, an animal never once found in the state of Indiana.

The team chose to make the change and I cautioned them at the time to choose wisely (shades of Indy Jones 3) because they will have to live with it for a long, long time. While I am sure it has happened more than once, an annual name change would give the feel of wishy-washiness.

Your current name and logo are appealing, yet I can see the allure of Ninjaneers. For what it's worth, when we switched to Las Pumas, my big name ideas were either the Grease Monkeys or Bad Wolf Robotics--neither of which had anything to do with my school corporation.

It's like marriage; make sure you can stand the name five years down the road.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by fhobart

I would echo the sentiments that now would be the optimal time to make a change. We changed our name after our rookie season from PC (Prosthetic Cougars) Robots to Las Pumas--our school mascot is the cougar, an animal never once found in the state of Indiana.

The team chose to make the change and I cautioned them at the time to choose wisely (shades of Indy Jones 3) because they will have to live with it for a long, long time. While I am sure it has happened more than once, an annual name change would give the feel of wishy-washiness.

Your current name and logo are appealing, yet I can see the allure of Ninjaneers. For what it's worth, when we switched to Las Pumas, my big name ideas were either the Grease Monkeys or Bad Wolf Robotics--neither of which had anything to do with my school corporation.

It's like marriage; make sure you can stand the name five years down the road.

I wouldn't be so sure about that.... see this picture...
Greene County Indiana from 2010

I am a born and raised Hoosier... there have been reports of cougars for many years... especially in the more rural counties in southern Indiana... I think you have a really great name ...

[fhobart]

I stand corrected. I omitted Northwest from Indiana. No cougars up here!

[Chris is me]

We changed our name from Bionic Bison (trying to play off team 60) to Terminal Velocity (not sure what we were thinking) to Shaker Robotics, with few problems. If you change your name mid season, be sure to let the emcee and announcers know at every regional you attend. Changing your image is fine, as long as your new one is better.

[pfreivald]

We changed our name from "The Green Machine" (our school mascot) to "The Grapes of Wrath" to celebrate the transformation of our team when Bausch + Lomb 'adopted' us.

[Aw_Fiddlesticks]

Team 3098 took up our school's name and colors When we formed back in '09. The captain logo has become a significant part of our brand since.

One thing that really helped our branding was when we integrated our captain head into the claw mechanism for our '10 bot (it helped us win an imagery award in Ann Arbor). But I've seen a few other teams do even cooler things with their bots. I'll always remember The Desperate Penguins' (1504) '09 bot; they made a pretty darn good looking penguin out of it. And I hear stories about a buzzing sound around team 33 The Killer Bee's robots. It's not just about the name and the logo; it's what you do with it that makes your team memorable.

[1986titans]

If you're going for a unique name, I suggest using https://my.usfirst.org/frc/scoring/i...?page=teamlist, as it's a list of all the teams that competed this year. It's much easier on the eyes if you use Excel and input it using "Paste Special" and "Unicode Text". The "team_name_short" column seems to have fallen out of use since 2009, "team_nickname" is what most teams go by.

[dodar]

Atleast for me, one of the easiest ways to get a unique and catchy name is to think of an acronym that your team likes. a.k.a Team 67, the "HOT" team, Heroes Of Tomorrow.

[Triple B]

The Pink Team was originally Space Coast Robotics.
Seems we have always been known as The Pink Team and then in 2006 when we helped start a team @ Space Coast High School and it was only logical for them to be Space Coast robotics, we officially changed our name.
In 2008, Team 1875 found their own identity and changed their name to Purple Haze.
I personally like the "Ohm" thing.
mike d

[JesseK]

Speaking of PINK, they have an interesting story of how they chose their new name. It's no longer findable on their website, but the internet archives have a copy you can wade through. It's an enjoyable read.

[Wayne Doenges]

How about a play on words that Al suggested?
Ohm's Law - Ohm Slaw