Santa Clara University used to be University of Santa Clara. But they changed name because the abbreviation “USC” was more commonly associated with another school in the same state (as well as one on the other coast).
Slippery Rock State! Awesome.
Wartburg College. I laughed when I received the brochure, but a friend of mine graduated from there and loved it.
Back in the early 2000’s Western Maryland College became McDaniel College. Several alumni weren’t (still aren’t) pleased. It’s a private college that many folks assumed was a state college - hence the name change. At least, that’s how the story went around here (southern PA).
Re #116 - I went to college with a woman who graduated from Governor Dummer and even she called it “Governor Dum-Dum” so I imagine rival boarding schools were even worse.
@Creekland Western Maryland College was not in western Maryland!
^^^ That too. It was named after a railroad if I recall correctly. Of course, by many standards (aka Baltimore, Annapolis, etc) it was as much in “western” MD as some “upstate” NY (Albany, etc) is “upstate.” Westminster, MD is out in the boonies, after all. (Said tongue in cheek, of course. It’s not far from our location - hence many alumni being around.)
I was really confused about the University of Pennsylvania for a long time too, I had thought it was a state school.
Another school, I don’t know if anyone’s mentioned it yet, is Central College in Iowa. Central what? ust Central, I guess.
@Creekland anything north of NYC is upstate. Ask anyone from Long Island. 
Names matter. Princeton was once called the College of New Jersey. It only changed its name in the 1890s.
Right about the same time, the University of Chicago was founded by John D Rockefeller and Stanford University was founded by Leland Stanford. Stanford took the name of its founder. Chicago took the name of its location.
If Chicago had named itself Rockefeller University, it would have the same national name recognition as Princeton and Stanford have today. But it didn’t.
Yeah, just imagine how recognized and in-demand the Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania could have been if they’d named themselves after people rather than places!
(…he said, maintaining a completely innocent look on his face.)
Ae you serious Lehigh?
Actually, Stanford is named for the son of the founder, who established the university in memory of the son who died at age 15. The full name is “Leland Stanford Junior University”.
https://founders.stanford.edu/
https://identity.stanford.edu/overview/guidelines/seal
I’m not sure that being named after a famous person automatically improves a college’s chances at prestige. Something tells me “Slippery Rockefeller College” would still be a tough sell. And it’s hard to see how West Point would be any better off if it was called “Representitive Dick Armey Academy.”. And the University of Nebraska sounds at least as prestigious as the “University of Larry the Cable Guy.” And if the former two merged? Who would want to go to Slippery Dick Armey Academy?
This thread is hilarious! I’m peeved about how Edinboro University Of Pennsylvania now calls itself “EU” (picture yourself at EUeeeeww!) Not sure when this change ocurred, but what were they thinking??. Used to be EUP when I attended (after being Edinboro State College). Also, I remember someone telling me in the 1980’s that my Slippery Rock U. T-shirt is sort of a collector’s item to some people around the world due to the unusual name. There are indeed VERY slippery rocks in the creek of the same name in western PA.
Slippery Rock–to me-- is like Kalamazoo or Transylvania…so bad they are good. As opposed to Wartburg or Ball State or MOREhead, that are just plain bad.
Some colleges seem like just SUCH obvious choices for CERTAIN people. Like if ur name is Smith or Williams or Hamilton, apply to Smith, Williams, Hamilton??? Pre-dental? Colgate. Gender issues? William & Mary?? Oral fixation…Oral Roberts? From Colombia? Columbia? From the Yukon? UConn?? From Berkeley CA? Berklee School of Music?
California Polytechnic State University- San Luis Obispo-just too long.
Chapman-Makes me think of chapstick
Shippensburg University of PA-Shippensburg sounds funny
Wheelock College-IDK why
Whittier College-Our students are “whittier” than yours(not really bad, just funny)
One student here on CC claimed to be a student at Colombia University. I asked him if he was at the Bogotá or Medellin campus. If he didn’t know how to spell the school’s name he is not likely a student there.
And let’s not forget George Mason University’s hilarious epic fail at choosing a new name for its law school:
'Antonin Scalia School of Law"
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/antonin-scalia-school-of-law-renamed-due-to-awkward-acronym/