Pike goes in order of alphabet, then repeats with Alpha Alpha and so on.

Cool.... So if someone says Im' from the Gamma chapter you're like. Niiiice.

How does it work with your organization if a chapter is closed and then rechartered? Do they take the old name or a new one?

What do you mean?

If you're asking me, we've only had 48 chapters in all, so we just learn them in order.

For DU we just go by the name of the school. my Chapter is the Arizona State Chapter. then theres San Diego chapter, Northern Arizona Chapter... etc. etc.

Meaning you know who is from an OLD SCHOOL chapter due to the actual letter designation.

So if you were to tell someone your badge/pin number you'd say "I'm Arizona State Chapter #1156" or something like that?

zta does the alphabetical chapter names:alpha thru omega and then alpha alpha, etc. the exception is that we do not have any chapters beginning with the greek letter epsilon. rumor has it that the presiding president at the time of what would have been epsilon alpha thought that epsilon ____ was too wordy, and decided to skip epsilon all together. odd!

That is exactly right!

As for remembering what chapters were first, at Iowa State Chapter, we only really worry about the first seven. They have a prominent place in our history. The first seven: Williams, 1834; Union, 1838; Middlebury,1845; Hamilton, 1847; Amherst, 1847; Wesleyan, 1850; Vermont, 1850; Western Reserve, 1851; Rochester, 1852; Colby, 1852; were the "Seven Stars" of the anti-secrecy fight. These chapters were members of the Anti-Secrecy Confederation which developed into Delta Upsilon.

As for a chapter for deceased brothers, we have a Chapter Eternal, but that is only spoken of in the Funerary Ritual. Not many DUs really know about that.

"Meaning you know who is from an OLD SCHOOL chapter due to the actual letter designation."


Oh yeah, it allows for one to know WHEN the fraternity was chartered but not WHERE. So, one sometimes needs to refer to a chapter by school AND chapter(ie Louisville Kappa Zeta)

With Kappa, chapters that had closed at one time but then reopened are designated with a deuteron (small superscript delta) at the end of the chapter name. For example, the Omicron chapter at Simpson College was originally chartered in 1890, but closed shortly thereafter due to pressure from the school administration. They were rechartered 100 years later in 1990 and are known as Omicron Deuteron.

ahhhh...thats interesting and practical...I'm pretty sure Pike chapters just reassume the old title.

you know, thats not a bad idea...

We name our undergraduate chapters in the traditional Alpha-Psi, then Alpha Alpha through Alpha Psi,then Beta Alpha, and so forth. Sigma is skipped over as the second letter (see below why). i want to say we are up to Rho Kappa. My UG chapter is Alpha Pi (so yes, i can understand the "old chapter designation" thing since my chapter is old-ish. i have a soror friend from Gamma chapter and im like niiiiiiice. some folks are VERY proud about their "single letter status")

our graduate chapters end in Sigma, ie. Alpha Sigma, Beta Sigma, Gamma Sigma, etc. my alum chapter is Eta Nu Sigma

Like many other organizations, Omega is reserved for deceased members. Ours is the Omega Rho chapter.


(i mightve left something out... i'll come back and edit)

Do you have multiple Omega chapters or just the one? If multiple, is there a rhyme or reason to how they're assigned?

I like idea of using Sigma at the end of alumni chapters.

Excerpt from Past is Prolouge The History of Alpha Kappa Alpha 1908-1999:

"After 24 chapters, the alphabet is repeated with each letter (except Omega) preceded by Alpha."

Graduate chapters end in Omega. For instance Alpha Omega, Beta Omega, Gamma Omega, and so on. Then the ALPHAbet repeats, Alpha Alpha Omega, Alpha Beta Omega, Alpha Gamma Omega and so on.

ETA:
If a chapter is dissolved that name is avaiable for reassignment.

[QUOTE=DUKyleXY;

As for a chapter for deceased brothers, we have a Chapter Eternal, but that is only spoken of in the Funerary Ritual. Not many DUs really know about that.[/QUOTE]

yeah i had no idea about chapter eternal. i guess you learn something new everyday.

Can any KDs or Tri-Delts shed any light on your naming systems? In KD, for example, Zeta chapter (Alabama, 1904) was founded before Epsilon (LSU, 1909), and Sigma Lambda (Auburn, 1922) came before Alpha Epsilon (Tennessee, 1925). Tri-Delt's Delta Mu (Alabama, 1914) and Theta Zeta (Texas, 1912) came before Alpha Rho (UGA, 1934) and Alpha Psi (Florida, 1948).

It's not that unusual for many organizations to have chapter designations "out of order" as it were. In some cases, usually early on, a designation would be assigned before the charter was granted. So it wasn't at all unusual for say the Zeta colony (later chapter) to be granted it's charter prior to an Epsilon colony (later chapter). Also, many chapters were a local GLO that was absorbed and their letters often incorporated into the chapter designation as well.

The University of Kentucky chapter (Epsilon Omega) of Kappa Delta has an interesting history regarding their chapter designation.

"The Epsilon Omega Chapter of Kappa Delta had its first beginnings under the name of "The Black Cats" in the early school year of 1903-1904. The Black Cats were a successor to the "Berry Quintette," composed of Mae Thurman, Edna Cremin, Grace Ogg, Mary Kendrick, and Minni Lee Dodd. In the fall of 1907, the girls changed their name to Epsilon Omega Delta. Their colors were black and gold and their flower was the pansy.

In 1909 under that name, the girls petitioned Kappa Delta and was installed with 13 initiates as Epsilon Omega Chapter. According to "Ordinary Miracles," it was so named for the National Chapterian who worked with the chapter in securing its charter, Edith (Orilla) Knox, however many suspect because their name was "Epsilon Omega" Delta the addition of the Greek letter Kappa would complete our name."

Likewise, Kappa Delta at Iowa State is the Sigma Sigma chapter, after the local sorority "S.S." petitioned the organization to become a chapter in 1908.

Sigma Simga chapter history

Since I didn't see APO mentioned in this thread...

Alpha Phi Omega follows the 'standard' Chapter names with Greek letters, Alpha thru Omega, then going into the double letters, Alpha Alpha thru Omega Omega, and we are now into triple letters, Alpha Alpha Alpha thru about Alpha Zeta Omicron.

As we charter chapters to schools, the name stays with the school. If a chapter goes under and is re-established, they get back the same greek name. We recognize chapters on their anniversary dates from the date they were originally chartered.

It was decided never to used "Alpha Phi Omega" as the chapter designator. AFAIK, no other chapter designators are set aside. We do not have one for, say, alumni or deceased members. There is no indicator on chapter name as to re-chartered or the like.

Due the large number of chapters, most members say their greek name and school, as unless your chapter is very well known or known to whom you speak with, they probably wouldn't know what your chapter is.

Bumping...I know this is an old thread, but it was linked in the other one. This is probably the better space to have the discussion that was going on there anyway...

The UT Austin FIJI Chapter is Tau Deuteron. "Tau", clearly from "Texas", and I have read in other threads that deuteron is sometimes used for a chapter that was closed and then recolonized. I'm not sure that's the case with this one. Does anyone know the history on this?

My ignorance and confession - when I was in college, I didn't even realize that "deuteron" wasn't a "real" greek letter!

With OPA, we go in alphabetical order Alpha through Omega, then Alpha Alpha, so on and so forth.

Our alumnae chapters though start with Omega and then add a greek letter: like Omega Gamma is the Atlanta alum chapter, Omega Delta is the alum chapter in Nashville, etc.

SigEp used to go Alpha through Omega. Now, everything is State and letter designation. Example, the first chapter in Michigan is Michigan Alpha.

There isn't a North Carolina Alpha, though. I can't remember the story as to why, though.

Don't know if anyone from AEPi has posted on here, so super sorry (didn't show up in the search).

Our first few chapters go with the standard Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc. But as time went on and chapters got closed down/died away due to less membership, the naming system got lost. Newer chapters have quirks to them. Phi Tau for instance is FSU, meaning Florida Tallahassee. Phi Gamma meaning Florida Gators (UF). Omicron Upsilon for Ohio University. That type of thing.

The June 2012 KD connect had an article on Kappa Delta Chapter naming here: http://www.inkdandbeyond.org/kdconnect#7. If its past June 2012 and you are reading this, go to http://www.inkdandbeyond.org/kdconnect2012. :)