what is this university's real name?

eiffelguy87
Wed, 27 Jul 2005 19:09:24 +0000

Official Name: University of California, Berkeley
Athletic Team Name: “California” often abbreviated to “Cal”
Common Nicknames: UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, University of California, UCB

The nickname “University of California” is a result of the fact that Berkeley was orginally the only state university in California and hence the only “University of California.” However, the subsequent opening of 9 other UC’s resulted in the addition of the city name after “UC” (with the notable exception of UCSD. Technically, it would be UC La Jolla but the university’s name was changed because, frankly, nobody knew where La Jolla was). Thus, the using of the “University of California” as a nickname is a reminder that Berkeley was the first UC.

Some may continue to use the “University of California at Berkeley” but the preposition was dropped in the 1960s. The removal of “at” was a system-wide decision (meaning that all UC’s dropped the “at”).