Everyone says Miami of Ohio, as if the Miami tribe was only ever in Florida! Lots of Ohio is named for the various tribes that inhabited it!!
Oh boy, love it! Haven’t read all, sorry. But there are some seriously terrible college names. Goucher. Should put an accent mark over the e to make it sound posh. Gouchér. Sounds better. Skidmore. Sounds yuck. Miami in Ohio, super confusing. Misericordia. Just wrong. Tufts. Sounds fluffy. Brown, how dull.
Agree that Ursinus and Juniata are pretty bad names. Isn’t there an Indiana Uni in Ohio or something? Liberty is terrible. Bob Jones is horrific. Who the heck is he anyway, a cult leader? Union, super super dull. Sounds like a Civil War reenactment training center. Isn’t there a Transylvania something? The worst of all. Whoever named it surely must have been aware that vampires are associated with that region of Romania. Or is it Bulgaria? Biola also bad, sounds contagious.
@MaineLonghorn Those are my high school colors! Luckily I’ve spent four years with a hornet as a mascot, but our yearbook is called the Purgold.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania
California University of Pennsylvania
@Lindagaf - yes, Transylvania College, in Lexington, KY. Locally known as Transy, and it’s students Transies. Luckily for them the Trans bathroom law didn’t get through the KY legislature…
I’ve never heard either of those! Only sirra-cyooz.
I just want to point out that Miami U was founded almost 100 years BEFORE Miami FL was founded, never mind that upstart U down there which came 30 years after that!
As a future Brown students I have a hard time searching for “brown university apparel” online because I mostly find a lot of dirt-colored athletic gear 
Also, my all-girls high school used to be the “Ladies” and our colors were pink and white…
One of my all-time pet peeves (I think I need to add it the the pet peeve thread) - colleges which incorporate “Lady” or some variation into the mascot name. e.g. UH-Manoa Rainbow Wahine. What? Women can’t be warriors?
“Skidmore. Sounds yuck.” Reminds me of the skid marks on the back of my underwear.
For your consideration - Pittsburg State University…in Kansas.
“Sewanee: University of the South (I can practically see Spanish moss dripping from the trees. I hope there actually is some!).”
Sewanee is usually included in the most beautiful college campus lists for good reason. It is fantastic. That being said its not spanish moss - it sits on top of the Cumberlad Plateau with miles of vistas to see. That and the gothic architecture.
Texas Women’s University (it went totally co-ed in 1994)
Oklahoma City University/ Oklahoma Christian University (both of them are abbreviated OCU, and they’re located quite close to each other which often leads to confusion. There is also a University of Central Oklahoma which is abbreviated as UCO)
Austin College (not only is it nowhere near Austin, TX, it is frequently confused with Austin Community College)
University of Mary Hardin Baylor (just way too long a name)
College of Our Lady of the Elms (ditto)
Saint Mary’s of the Woods College (ditto)
Moody Bible Institute (seems like the wrong attitude to have when studying a holy book)
Coker College (sounds like the students are either on drugs or obsessed with coal)
Mars Hill University (sounds like the students study on another planet)
Limestone College (this school lacks a geology major. What a misleading name)
Buena Vista College (It’s a school in Iowa surrounded by farmland and a small lake. I don’t think it deserves the name)
Grand View University (another Iowan school which according to Google Street View does not deserve its name)
Monmouth University. Named after a county, which community colleges are typically named for. So this only adds to the stigma that Monmouth is really a community college for rich kids. Not surprisingly, Monmouth began as a junior college, but for some reason, it kept its name when it became a four-year school.
Anyone know of any schools that changed their name because it was a poor one (not counting changes from College to university or similar)…besides Beaver College (which became Arcadia University-and if you have your choice, why would you decide upon arcadia??).
"Beaver College Announces New Name
By RON TODT P H I L A D E L P H I A, Nov. 20
Beaver College, aiming to shed a source of ridicule and boost enrollment, unveiled today a new school name that’s seemingly satire-proof: Arcadia University.
The decision was announced just after midnight at a surprise pajama party for students, who were rounded up from residence halls with less than an hour’s notice."
Mankato State University in Minnesota was renamed Minnesota State University, Mankato a while ago. (So it was one those “state” universities that wasn’t really named after a state, but now it is). Not that many outside of MN really knows that the "Minnesota State’ schools exist…
My grandmother attended Beaver College! I still have her field hockey pin with “Beaver” engraved on it.
Not a college, but a prep school, Governor Dummer Academy used to have it rough. Given a choice between peer schools few kids chose the “dumber school”, despite the fact that it was named after a former Massachusetts governor, William Dummer. For a long time they marketed themselves as GDA but in 2005 the trustees voted to change the school’s DBA name to The Governor’s Academy. Good move, IMO.
University of Pennsylvania is a fine name but it sounds like the state flagship instead of a private Ivy.
@intparent Fans of the old “Coach” TV series know Minnesota State! It was the then fictional name of the school where the show was set.
Yes! He was there long, long ago.