Weird chapter designation question
 

How come there aren't any Eta ___ or Iota ___ designations? Are they reserved for future chapters in certain regions?

Thanks :)

I believe so.

After the first 24 chapters (Alpha-Syracuse thru Omega-Akron)AGD chose to name chapters by province. Initially there were only five provinces, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon.

The first double-letter chapter was in Epsilon province, so it's Epsilon Alpha. (That was 1922 -- my chapter!)

The next five Greek letters parallel the first five, so the 25th chapter in the original Alpha Province is Zeta Alpha.
Beta Prov. will go to Eta (after Beta Omega, which they're not up to yet).
Gamma Province went to Theta.
Delta Province will go to Iota (after Delta Omega).
Epsilon Province went to Kappa.

I assume that when the Zeta through Kappa are used we'll go to Lambda through Omicron.

In 1975 chapters voted about the next name: as a result, they went from Epsilon Omicron to Epsilon Rho (skipped Epsilon Pi).

There's been a thread about GLO chapter names. Most go straight through the alphabet. Some (Pi Phi, Sig Ep) go by state (Illinois Alpha, California Epsilon, etc.). Chi O goes "backwards" (Alpha Alpha, Beta Alpha, Gamma Alpha). AOII chapters choose their own designations. For some, when a chapter is recolonized it is the "[orig.name] Deuteron." Others use the school name (my DH's chapter name is Bowdoin, which is the college).

It is disconcerting to have a chapter name the same as another GLO--e.g. Delta Zeta chapter at UBC, or Alpha Phi (pronounced "fie"). I don't remember if we called it Alpha Zye or Alpha Zee (Maryland). It'll be a while before we're up to Sigma Chi, though!

HTH!