What's in A Nick Name

This entry may be the essence of the title of the blog.  Truly, insignificant yet interesting, to me, information about to be presented.

 This past weekend I spent at WIU in Macomb hanging out with my friend JB and remembering our departed friend Coach.  As we were talking about this, that, and everything as one does with old friend, the topic came up about the Westerwinds nickname that the women athletic teams used to have. After a cursory search, we found that the name came about not long after Title IX passed in 1977.  My assumption is that at the time, Leathernecks was seen as too masculine and not feminine enough.  I could be wrong about that, but that is my best guess. If I am incorrect, please correct me in the comments.  Anyway, in 2009 the Westerwinds name was retired and all athletes at WIU are now Leathernecks.

This conversation had me asking this question, what other college teams have a distinct name for their men’s and women’s teams.  Off the top of our heads, we came up with nothing and I thought it needed to be researched.  However, I pointed out to JB that I would have some caveats to this discussion:

1. I was auto-ruling out any school that just had Lady in front, i.e. Tigers vs. Lady Tigers. No disrespect to the schools that have done this, but it just seems lazy and ridiculous, perhaps a bit patronizing. “Oh, it’s the Lady Tigers…” said in a condescending voice sort of way.  I was surprised to find that there were only about 30 give or take a few that actually followed this naming convention anyway.  I thought there would be more.

     2.  I was auto-ruling out any school that just put -ette at the end of the name.  Much to my happy surprise, there were only 2 schools I found that did this and I will give them mention here.  

Kentucky State University Thorobreds and Thorobrettes

Mississippi Valley State University Delta Devils and Devilettes

 

As we continue, generally, I will respect the no Lady stipulation, but I do want to point out some just plain odd ones with some commentary:

Bluefield State University Big Blues and Lady Blues (I suppose calling them Big Lady Blues would be inappropriate)

Illinois College Blue Boys and Lady Blues (Blue Girls to easy?)

Delta State University Statesmen and Lady Statesmen-(States Women is right there!)

Motlow State Community College Bucks and Lady Bucks (this is just funny… and isn’t there a whole community fighting against Lady Bucks.)

Western Kentucky University Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers (they don’t even get to be Lady Hilltoppers, just Toppers.)

Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College Golden Norsemen and Lady Norse (I got nothing for this one.)

 

All right, now there are some derivatives of that naming convention, but they make sense from a gender perspective, so not as lazy in my opinion:

Centenary College of Louisiana Gentlemen and Ladies

El Paso Community College Tejanos and Tejanas

UMass Minutemen and Minutewomen

Oberlin College Yeomen and Yeowomen

University of Puerto Rico at Humacao Buhos and Buhas

Saint Peter’s University Peacocks and Peahens (although it seems they are all called the Peacocks now.)

Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College are all the Stags and Athenas

Hardin Simmons University, McNeese State U, New Mexico Highlands U, Oklahoma State U, University of Wyoming are all the Cowboys and Cowgirls

 

Next, the ones that just seem unnecessarily pointless:

University of Central Missouri Mules and Jennies (a jenny is a female mule.)

McLennan Community College Highlanders and Highlassies

Northland College LumberJacks and LumberJills

Stephen F Austin State University Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks

University of Central Arkansas Bears and Sugar Bears (what’s the point of the Sugar, just the same as Lady.)

University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine (Wahine is Hawaii for woman/women.)

Montana State University – Northern They are the Lights and Skylights (I didn’t know lights need to be genderfied. Going by the Northern Lights is a pretty cool name though.)

Kaskaskia College Blue Devils and Blue Angels (What, women can’t be devils, men can’t be angels. I’m sure no one would agree with that?)

 

After getting those out of the way, we are at the heart of the question.  I found five that truly fit the answer to the question where the names are truly distinct.  I present to you these five schools: (men’s names are first, women’s are second0

University of Arkansas-Monticello Boll Weevils and Cotton Blossoms

California Lutheran University Kingsmen and Regals

Louisiana Tech University Bulldogs and Lady Techsters (I know, I know it has a Lady in front, but the names are so different to be unique names in my opinion.)

Xavier University of Louisiana Gold Rush and Gold Nuggetts

Arkansas Tech University Wonder Boys and Golden Suns – (I found this information fascinating as to why they are different and probably plays into the Westerwind as an idea narrative: “Tired of being referred to as the Wonder Girls or Wonderettes, the female athletes of Arkansas Tech held a contest in the spring of 1975 to determine what their new mascot would be. Several names were nominated, but in the end, the athletes selected Golden Suns as their new nickname”.)

 

Next, I came across some names that I think are funny context to using them for males or females… partially because I’m immature:

Toros – That is Spanish for bull, but I suppose calling the women Cows would be bad.

Colts – It is a male horse, but I suppose calling the women Mares would be bad.

Beavers – I mean c’mon, there was a whole bit about it in The Naked Gun

Cougars – I know it is referring to the animal, but there is also the meaning of an older lady into younger men.  So, I purpose that those men teams become the Sugar Daddies.

 

These two are just interesting because from what I can tell they are male, but there have not been any efforts to change them and in fairness it looks like the are from when the were all male schools:

Heidelburg University Student Princes

Providence College Friars

Also, this all women school that is still all women have this name which is think is awesome:

Sweet Briar College Vixens

 

Lastly, I leave you with the Rhode Island School of Design and this entry from their Wikipedia page: “RISD has many athletic clubs and teams.^[40] The hockey team is called the "Nads", and their cheer is "Go Nads!"^[41] The logo for the Nads features a horizontal hockey stick with two hockey pucks at the end of the stick's handle.

The basketball team is known simply as "The Balls", and their slogan is, "When the heat is on, the Balls stick together!"^[41][42] The Balls' logo consists of two balls next to one another in an irregularly shaped net.^[43]

Lest the sexual innuendo of these team names and logos be lost or dismissed, the 2001 creation of the school's unofficial mascot, Scrotie, ended any ambiguity. Despite the name, Scrotie is not merely a representation of a scrotum, but is a 7-foot tall penis.”

 

 

There you have it.  Highly Insignificant. One last tidbit that I think is fun is that the USC women's team go by the Trojans, but they are also recognized as the Women of Troy. That is pretty badass. 

 

*I’m not going to do a full citation because this isn’t an academic paper, but this is where I pull my information from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_college_team_nicknames_in_the_United_States

 

**Also, I will add any corrections to any other school if necessary.