What's in a Name?

[cooker52]

roboticsguy, the only thing you should be sorry for is that I can't quote what you and kevyn both said without making this post a page long.

As not only a member of the team, but also the student leader, I believe in keeping the name. But to me, the main importance in keeping the name is the marketing. Everyone already knows the name and we just keep adding to it. The main issue is that at school, there are always those kids who will make fun of the name. I don't believe that's any reason for changing the name. My philosophy is to ignore it.

Once we step to the level of changing the theme, never in my life will I allow it to change. For the past four years, our mentors have dedicated thousands of hours in showing us the unique skills. More on topic of the theme, our engineering methods that we use flow right into the theme of our team. And more importantly, the man that brought these techniques into our team spent the last of his years making sure that he passed on his knowledge and experience. Not only was our theme based off of our engineering style, but it was also in honor of our mentor.

To me, changing our theme is to dishonor our mentors who've worked with us for so long for something they believe in and more importantly, would be like us saying to the mentor who spent his last few good years with us, that his efforts were nice, but we are ready to move on.

That's why I believe we should keep our theme.

The name comes with the package. So, it I believe it should stay, too.

Cooker52

[ksnabl]

I just joined the team this past year and I've heard both sides of the argument. What I first thought about the name was that there wasn't alot of "student thinking" going into the project. There were only ever a couple of students that I could go to who actually knew what was going on... I for one didn't think about the "negative connotation" yet I still didn't really care for the name.

And with the issue that our changing of our name "would be like us saying to the mentor who spent his last few good years with us, that his efforts were nice, but we are ready to move on" is not at all true. The students I've talked to want to keep his aviation theme going, and cooker52, if we never changed things that people in the past had established (such as our team name) we would still be fighting with swords, using dial phones, etc. and basically progress could never be accomplished.

Final Note: If we are a thundering herd of robotics using STUDENT thinking, the students should be the ones deciding if they feel comfortable with the name or not... not how popular we have become. Like some people said, they recognize us as 1501 not THRUST anyhoo

[Molten]

Kayla, I must disagree with you on many levels. Wal-mart(though I despise the store) has evolved greatly and they have never changed their name. Had they changed their name 10 years ago it would have been crippling to them. It would not be the end of them, but it would slow down their progress. Also, how is changing the name not "moving on". I may not be on the team, but I certainly think that by changing the name it will be taking you a step back. People won't remember your name and it adds to confusion. You will lose some of the reputation that you have gained from those who have passed. It is highly disrespectful to them to change the name. It is like you are removing a mark that they made on the team.
Story: I live in a town that was once run by a factory called Arvins. Then, Arvins changed it's name to ArvinMeritor(due to it being bought). Now, it is called EMCON(once again bought). Now, if someone is interested in buying mufflers from Arvins, they have to go through the trouble of figuring out that Arvins is now EMCON. Arvins, now EMCON, has had a major loss in buyers due to this.

Also, I will never remember teams like THRUST by their number. The number 1501 does not do the team justice. It is known to my team and always will be as THRUST.

One last thing, you make an analogy to that "if we never changed things that people in the past had established (such as our team name) we would still be...using dial phones". We have come a long way with our technology. We went from the dial phones you are speaking of to cell phones. But do you notice something? They are both called "phones". Why? Because it was easier and better then changing the name.

If you want to add onto the current name, that is fine. Just don't replace it. I, for one, would be offended if 1766 changed it's name from 'Temper Metal'. There is a story behind the name to be told. It allows the new members to know who we are among the FIRST comunity. We are Temper Metal.

[AndyB]

I think of 1501 as THRUST. I call them THRUST and tend to only use 1501 if the person I'm talking to doesn't understand. Team names tend to stick out more than team numbers.

Keep the name.

[JudyVandy]

OK, my 2 cents worth...

Chuck 84 has changed it's name a few times in the past. Initially we started as SWATT, an acronym from the first letters of the schools involved, and then went to WATTNESS, another acronym for the schools involved. All the while, we were best know by our robot's name, Chuck (aka Chuck R2, Chuck Pi, C IV, etc.). We soon realized we had to keep things standardized, because our identity as a team was confusing to other teams. So, we adopted Chuck 84 as the team name, from our robot an our team number, and our robot was just Chuck. It took a few years for things to catch on with other teams, but the recognition factor has taken hold and we are recognized in our area.

When you change your name, you do lose a bit of your identity for a while, but it does come back. There will be a year or two lf, 'Who are they?' You just have to decide if it's a big enough issue or not and if the end result is worth it.