Gophers

North Dakota releases 842 pages of nickname suggestions

There are 1,172 unique suggestions for a new nickname for the University of North Dakota. Some are funny, some are vulgar and some are even serious. Here are 10 that caught our eye.

By Howard Sinker

May 5, 2015 at 1:34PM

North Dakota's flagship university dropped its contentious Fighting Sioux nickname for the third time Thursday, and officials expressed hope that the latest retirement — fueled by this week's overwhelming statewide vote — would finally stick. (Brian Wicker — Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

If you suggested a nickname to the committee trying to pick a new one for the University of North Dakota, it ended up on one of two lists that has been made public.

Every single suggestion is on a 214-page list of eligible nicknames -- and a 628-page list of those that won't be considered for one reason or another or another. (Go ahead, waste some minutes you'll never get back going through the lists -- although we're warning you right now that the longer list includes some stuff you don't want to read, say out loud or have young children ask about. Consider yourself warned.)

Some more context: There are 1,172 unique suggestions but the lists go on and on and on because each suggestion is listed individually. In other words, the votes on the rejected list for the abandoned nickname -- Fighting Sioux -- starts on page 32 and ends on page 160.

The Grand Forks Herald checked and reported: "Between submissions and comments, the phrase (Fighting Sioux) is mentioned 5,778 times."

In case you're wondering how names ended up on the list of those rejected, the UND website says they met one of three criteria:

*They are unavailable from a domain name standpoint,

*They cannot be used under NCAA policy or under terms of the 2007 Consent Agreement

*They contain profanity or other inappropriate language.

Here are 10 that caught our eye on the list that is eligible for consideration:

39ers: North Dakota was the 39th state to be admitted to the United States.

Aviators: One of UND's marquee programs is its aviation school.

Badlanders: In recognition of the state's geography.

BLIZZARD: Must have been an organized campaign because all submissions are in CAPITAL LETTERS. One comment in support simply said, "Because you know..."

Drillers: An oil reference. There were also a number of "Frackers" suggestions.

Flickertails: The school's previous nickname.

Mallards: Because duck hunting is big in North Dakota.

North Dakota: there are pages of votes for not choosing a nickname, which is the university's current state.

Peace Gardeners: North Dakota is the "Peace Garden State."

Zombies: The last name on the list: "We already have a green, black and pink color scheme. And zombies are cool."

What happens now? The Herald reported: "The submissions will be vetted by the university's Nickname Committee, which will use a point system to score attributes and functionality."

You can read the Herald's full story here.

And for more about the process, here's a page from the University of North Dakota web site.

about the writer

Howard Sinker

Digital Sports Editor

Howard Sinker is digital sports editor at startribune.com and curates the website's Sports Upload blog. He is also a senior instructor in Media and Cultural Studies at Macalester College in St. Paul.