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..

Just a suggestion...
 

How about just changing your name altogether? If you are changing because you no longer want to be affiliated then why would you still want to keep any part of their name? Just a suggestion... good luck and post as to what happens :)

A chapter at our school dropped their nationals and only dropped the last letter of the national's name, now they just go by the first 2 letters.

We had a couple of chapters of national fraternities, that decided they wanted to go co-ed. Their nationals were unthrilled :) so they became local co-ed fraternities.

No lawsuits in either case.

When nationals on my campus went local, usually due to getting their national charter revoked, they always stayed with similar letters. Theta Chi went Theta Chi Lambda, Lambda Chi Alpha went Alpha Chi Lambda, and Sigma Pi went Delta Pi. I don't necessarily think that your national would go after you for similar letters. It is only "illegal" to use the same letters once you are no longer recognized. Usually, if you continue to use their letters, they will have their attorneys send you a cease and desist letter, and not much more. I doubt many greek orgs have the resources to sue over these minor things.

Make it easy on yourselves
 

Change to your chapter name (like AEPhi Alum's example) or change back to whatever your group was called when they were local.

It's way way easier. Trust me.

If everyone in the chapter is for going local and you think it would be the best thing to do, go for it. I'm under the impression that there are actually a lot of benefits to local sororoties...namely, lower dues and no nationals to answer to. Yeah, it might be a little different (maybe not harder, though) being without the support of a national organization backing you up, but hey, sometimes nationals behave like a business first and a sisterhood second. Maybe being local would help bring the focus back to what it's supposed to be in the first place. And use whatever letters you want--I know of lots of locals that have either very similar or identical names to national sororities, so don't worry too much about that.

Re: going local ?
 

A problem you may want to keep in mind...

The Phi Kaps had a chapter on our campus at one time; they changed their letters and became a local fraternity.

Some years later, the Phi Kaps have begun a recolonization of the campus... there are many links and ties between our colony and this local fraternity--and a lot of this issues can raise problems.