# Naming conventions for fraternites/sororities?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-conventions-for-fraternites-sororities/320441>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 6, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-conventions-for-fraternites-sororities/320441 "2005-09-06T23:42:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-conventions-for-fraternites-sororities/320441/1 "2005-09-06T23:42:26Z")

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Are there any?

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**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\
**Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/naming-conventions-for-fraternites-sororities/320441/2 "2005-09-07T00:04:04Z")

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> [@Otto](#):
>
> Are there any?

It’s all Greek to me…

Well, _someone_ had to say it!

Seriously, Cornell University’s [Uncle Ezra](http://ezra.cornell.edu/posting.php?timestamp=549604800) tackles this in Question #4 on the linked page.

Apparently, there is no one naming convention for Greek societies. The older frats/sors got their names from the Greek initials of their mottoes. The newer ones are either basically meaningless or come from Greek letter-equivalents to the initials of their English mottoes.