What’s in a name? Of the programs that play Division I college softball, more than 120 boast a unique nickname. You have the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, the Albany Great Danes, the Syracuse Orange, the Stanford Cardinal, and the Wichita State Shockers, just to name a few.
Along with the unique monikers across the softball landscape, there are some nicknames that are used frequently and adopted by a number of programs. In fact, a group of just fifty-one nicknames are shared across some 180 Division I programs. We went through all of Division I and found the most popular nicknames used by athletic programs.
One disclaimer: When compiling this list, we took a few liberties for the sake of generalization. For teams that use adjectives, particularly colors, in their nicknames, we classified them in the broader category of their monikers; for example, the Army “Black Knights” and Rutgers “Scarlet Knights” were included in the grouping of simply “Knights.” To stay true to our stated purpose of finding the most frequently-used nicknames, we also took a general approach to categorization of teams like the Central Arkansas “Sugar Bears” (counted in the ranks of all Bears) and the Lehigh “Mountain Hawks” (counted in the ranks of all Hawks).
Now, without further adieu… the Top 10!
Honorable Mention: Cougars, Cardinals, Bison(s), Huskies – 4
Cougars: BYU, College of Charleston, Houston, SIU-Edwardsville
Cardinals: Ball State, Incarnate Word, Lamar, Louisville
Bison(s): Bucknell, Howard, Lipscomb, North Dakota State
Huskies: Houston Baptist, Northern Illinois, UConn, Washington
T9. Spartans – 5:
Michigan State, Norfolk State, San Jose State, UNC Greensboro, USC Upstate
T9. Knights – 5:
Army, Bellarmine, Fairleigh Dickinson, Rutgers, UCF
T9. Aggies – 5:
New Mexico State, North Carolina A&T, Texas A&M, UC Davis, Utah State
T7. Panthers – 6:
Eastern Illinois, Florida International, Georgia State, Northern Iowa, Pittsburgh, Prairie View A&M
T7. Lions – 6:
Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Columbia, Loyola Marymount, North Alabama, Penn State, Southeastern Louisiana
T5. Wildcats – 7:
Abilene Christian, Arizona, Bethune-Cookman, Kentucky, Northwestern, Villanova, Weber State
T5. Hawks – 7:
Hartford, Lehigh, Maryland-Eastern Shore, Monmouth, North Dakota, St. Joseph’s, UMass-Lowell
4. Bears – 9:
Baylor, Brown, California, Central Arkansas, Maine, Mercer, Missouri State, Morgan State, Northern Colorado
3. Eagles – 10:
Boston College, Coppin State, Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia Southern, Morehead State, Niagara, North Carolina Central, Southern Miss, Tennessee Tech, Winthrop
2. Bulldogs – 11:
Alabama A&M, Bryant, Butler, Drake, Fresno State, Gardner Webb, Georgia, Mississippi State, Samford, South Carolina State, Yale
1. Tigers – 12:
Auburn, Clemson, Grambling, Jackson State, LSU, Memphis, Missouri, Pacific, Princeton, Tennessee State, Texas Southern, Towson
