[MysticCat]

No problem. Thanks for asking. The short answer is that, yes, it is similar -- historically, at least -- to other fraternities like Triangle, Acacia or FarmHouse with non-Greek-letter names. (FIJI, remember is a nickname for Phi Gamma Delta, which only uses its letters in certain contexts.) Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia is a social fraternity for men who love music and believe in its power to enrich the human spirit. We're open to all male students, not just music majors or minors and not just to people who plan to be professional musicians. You might say we are a special interest social fraternity -- again, somwhat like Triangle (for those interested in engineering and related sciences) or FarmHouse or Alpha Gamma Rho (agriculture).

Our original name was The Sinfonia Fraternity (or simply "Sinfonia" or "The Sinfonia"). The word "Sinfonia" is derived from Greek; this explanation is from our membership manual, Themes for Brotherhood (this is public info):

"The word is a particularly rich pun. Its etymological origin is straightforward, for the Greek "syn-" or "sym-" means "with" and "phon" a "sound." Their combination into "symphonia," however, means "agreeing in sound" or "concordant." When the word passed from Greek into the English language as "symphony," it was used not only in reference to things musical, but to agreement among human beings and even to the harmony of the universe -- that celestial symphony commented on by philosophers of such varying stripes as Pythagoras, Boethius, and Kepler."

The letters F,M and A have figured in the Fraternity since the earliest days, however. Eventually the name of the Fraternity was changed, first informally and later officially, to add the Greek letters to Sinfonia to form our current official name.

BTW, brothers in Phi Mu Alpha are called Sinfonians, not Phi Mu Alphas or the like.

(Sorry this got a bit off topic.)