Sigma Phi was actually SigEp's original name but the founders realized Sigma Phi was an established fraternity already and slapped Epsilon on at the last minute. If you look at our original founder's badge, it has Sigma and Phi in the heart and Epsilon stamped on the very bottom at the point.

I also find it funny that Sigma Chi was once Sigma Phi as well! Popular letters, eh? :P

I know a few locals that don't hide national groups letters but aren't associated with the nations.(Did my research on the official chapters) Some of them are at a school that doesn't recognize Greek Life, so I wonder: if that's why they aren't associated or was it because it was a coincidence that they have the same letters and don't want to change them?

There is a drama society at Young Harris College that is called Delta Gamma. I'm a theatre major, so when friends of mine from back home who had gone to YHC heard that I'd pledged DG, they assumed I was in a drama sorority. :)

To the original question:
There was (is) Delta Sigma Theta Pharmaceutical Fraternity. Their crest included a skull and cross bones, and mortar and pill dish.

A relative of mine who didn't know any better gave me a t-shirt saying I bought you a t-shirt of your sorority for your birthday--hope you like it.

**mods, if you feel this is in the wrong place, please repost it**

Hi Everyone,
I'm new here...just a question for you all:
I am starting a new organization on my campus for a small demographic of women who are non-trads and specifically who are married/mothers. We all would have loved to join a sorority, but we go to a very small school and there are only a couple of sororities - and they are very party-oriented (which, for obvious reasons, we cannot be - even though we are in the same age group, etc). We would like the sisterhood aspect and the networking side, but our college is not open to new national sorority chapters, etc, so they have asked us to form our own group and have given us permission to use Greek letters. Our problem is that all the ones we have chosen are taken (or scrambled and taken). Would it be offensive for us to use an anagram of a major group's letters? For example, if we wanted to call our group "Sigma Kappa Gamma" (just an example), and it was already taken, would it be a problem to mix it up and use "Gamma Sigma Kappa" or similar? We're so frustrated because it seems all the names we would like have been chosen already. Any creative suggestions? We wanted to include the Greek initials for the beginning sounds of "Compassion, Dedication and Friendship."
I appreciate all your help - it means so much.
- Lily

I don't really see a problem if your group happens to share a name with another local organization (group that only has one chapter). I mean, there are only so many combinations of letters in the Greek alphabet. I would definitely avoid using a name that a national or regional group has. Isn't there a sorority for mothers? Sigma Beta Xi? There are also several community-based sororities that have chapters on campuses. Check out Beta Sigma Phi or Epsilon Sigma Alpha. You might be able to start a chapter of one of these organizations on your campus and it might be a better fit for your demographic. Since these groups are service-oriented, you may be able to charter the group through the Student Activities department and not have to go through Greek Life. That way you will be able to incorporate service and sisterhood, which seems to be more of what you are looking for instead of a primarily social aspect.

The only Google result I found for Gamma Delta Phi was some group in the Philippines...I doubt it would be protected by US copyright laws. And I really doubt that scrambling the letters (I'm thinking of Phi Gamma Delta) would offend anyone, especially if you're a sorority and not another fraternity.

You could go as Nu Tau Omega (Non Traditional Women) and have Compassion, Dedication, and Friendship as your motto.

The beginning sounds for Compassion, Dedication and Friendship would be Kappa Delta Phi, not Gamma Delta Phi. Kappa Delta Phi is an NIC fraternity -- it's small but still national.

FWIW, per Babelfish, Compassion, Dedication, Friendship in Greek would be Oiktos, Ayierwsh, Filia (Oiktos, Apsierose, Philia), which would give you OAF. There is a local "Greek Club" at Lee University by that name, but that's all I can find.

Thank you for all of your responses. :)

Having the same name as a local GLO typically isn't a problem, unless the local trademarked the name, which rarely is the case. Should your name become a national org with its name trademark, it is good if you inform the local org that the name is now trademarked and that they should consider a name change (especially considering they had more than adequate time to do so prior to your org coming into existence).

As far as the thread topic goes, I knew of 2 other Delta Sigma Thetas besides "the original": a pharmacy organization founded 1915 @ the Brookly College of Pharmacy (there is actually some pix of a frat house at the Rutgers chapter c. 1980 bearing similar colors as DST the sorority floating around the Internet), and a Christian fraternity (2 actually: Phi Tau Theta and Sigma Epsilon Theta) that merged in 1941 as Delta Sigma Theta and became Sigma Theta Epsilon in 1949 after discovery of DST sorority being already in existence (trivia: I actually considered joining STE when I was a freshman in college).

Also, Gamma Phi Delta sorority was originally founded as Phi Gamma Delta sorority, but changed its name after FIJI discovered that G Phi D was using their name. But this incident led to a very interesting twist:

FIJI threatened G Phi D with a lawsuit BUT it was discovered that FIJI never registered their name. So they offered G Phi D $10,000 cash, plus all expenses paid to change their name, including payment of all documents and materials that bore the name Phi Gamma Delta. G Phi D accepted (hey, $10,000 in 1945 dollars for an org that was still in its infancy was a heckuva come up for its treasury).

Now G Phi D the sorority shares the same name as a Christian fraternity by the same name that was founded in 1988(?) But it appears that both orgs are co-existing amicably sharing the same name.

I also know of some orgs sharing the same name as a local org (e.g. Iota Phi Theta, Zeta Phi Beta), but IMHO national and local orgs are obviously on two entirely different paradigms, so it obviously doesn't have the same impact as two national orgs having the same name.

Another option would be to have the groups as separate National Organizations with a world council. Sort of like the Boy Scouts, Alpha Phi Omega and Alpha Sigma Phi.

Or, to just not respond to the spammers. ;)

My Dad was President of the Alpha Lambda Tau fraternity chapter at University of Chattanooga in 1935-36. If he was alive today, he'd be 90 years old. About a month ago, I met one of my Dad's fraternity brothers! I told him I wear my Dad's pin on my charm bracelet. He said, "I don't know what happened to my pin -- I think I gave it to a girl who never gave it back!" He also told me of his fond memories of fraternity trips to my grandparents' cabin on Signal Mountain where they would go opossum hunting. :eek: I wish I had more time to talk to this sweet man -- he passed away last week.

I discovered two more groups named the same of now defunct fraternities. Kappa Phi Lambda, an Asian interest sorority with chapters located mostly in the east is the same name of a fraternity founded at Washington & Jefferson College in 1862. It expanded to 11 chapters within a few years but abruptly in the early 1870s various chapters left to become chapters of Delta Tau Delta, Psi Upsilon, Sigma Chi and Beta Theta Pi, and it was extinct by 1874. Another is Phi Delta Kappa, a professional educators organization. It is the same name of another group ironically founded at W. & J. in 1874. It expanded to five chapters, but after the other four closed for various reasons the Alpha chapter revived the then defunct Alpha chapter of Phi Gamma Delta in 1881 and it was out of business.