George Washington University Changes Nickname to Revolutionaries

George Washington University Changes Nickname to Revolutionaries

George Washington University has announced they will adopt the “Revolutionaries” nickname for their athletic teams ahead of the 2023-24 academic year. The new name was selected following a months-long feedback process: “Moniker Madness.” This allowed for representation from students, faculty, staff, and alumni while offering focus groups and surveys to eventually settle on a new nickname.

BREAKING: Officials have selected Revolutionaries as GW's new moniker, replacing the nearly century-old Colonials nickname

— The GW Hatchet (@gwhatchet) May 24, 2023

In the announcement, GWU president Mark S. Wrighton had this to say:

“This is an exciting day for the George Washington University Revolutionaries. I am very grateful for the active engagement of our community throughout the development of the new moniker. This process was truly driven by our students, faculty, staff and alumni, and the result is a moniker that broadly reflects our community—and our distinguished and distinguishable GW spirit.”

The new moniker replaces the “Colonials” name George Washington teams had used for almost a century. Why the change? Community division, apparently.

[Note: It’s probably worth noting the difference between ‘colonials’ and ‘colonizers.’ The former refers to those in the American colonies that fought the Revolutionary War against British colonization in support of democracy. They were actually in direct opposition to colonialism, but I digress.]

Revolutionaries Was One of the Better Options, But Not the Best

When I ranked their 10 options for the new name back in February, Revolutionaries came in third. If you haven’t read that post, here’s a summary of my ranking:

• 10. Squad
• 9. Truth
• 8. Catalysts
• 7. Fireworks
• 6. Monumentals
• 5. Independents
• 4. Ambassadors
• 3. Revolutionaries
• 2. Sentinels
• 1. Blue Fog

The final four options as released by the university were Blue Fog, Sentinels, Revolutionaries, and Ambassadors, which were all in my own top four.

Blue Fog was far and away the best option. It was unique and opened the door for incredible logo and branding opportunities. Instead, George Washington University went with the much safer lateral option in Revolutionaries, which was probably to be expected, but it’s not as fun as it could have been.

GWU will begin to design their new visual branding in the near future.

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