Chapter Designations

[Emory Kappa]

AOII's naming is very interesting!

Kappa is alphabetical also, though it did not have an Alpha Alpha, Alpha Beta, Alpha Gamma series. The order goes straight from single letters double letters beginning with Beta.

I should probably dig out my history book to find out why!

[AGDee]

Alpha Gam's naming convention is a little complicated. The first 24 chapters were in order of installation. I'm pasting the rest from a post by greeklawgirl from a couple years ago:

At the 1909 convention, Grand Council decided to create four provinces: Alpha in the Northeast, Gamma in the Southeast, Beta in the Midwest, and Delta in the West. Sometime after 1909 but before 1922, Epsilon Province was created to govern the lower Midwest.

After Omega chapter was chartered in 1922, all chapters thereafter were named by the province that they were in, NOT in Greek alphabetical order. For instance:

While Alpha Zeta chapter was founded in 1930, Delta Alpha chapter was founded in 1923. Epsilon Alpha was founded in 1922.

** Back to me now: So, all chapters in the Northeast begin with Alpha. When they got to Alpha Omega, they went to Zeta's. So Northeast chapters are Alpha, Zeta, Lambda,

Midwest: Beta, Eta, Mu

South: Gamma, Theta, Nu

West: Delta, Iota, Xi

Lower Midwest: Epsilon, Kappa, Omicron

Of course, we haven't reached all of those yet, but that is how they are figured out. Our newest chapter is Theta Chi at Virginia Tech.

Trying to keep them straight can be tough sometimes. When my duties were extended to include oversight of the whole northeast, I got Zeta Eta, Zeta Theta, Zeta Beta.. trying to keep them straight took a while.

[Kevin]

There's only one chapter whose name starts with "Alpha." That's the Alpha Chapter (VMI). Also, no chapter uses the "Omega" letter.

We go through the greek alphabet, then on to the double letters starting with Beta Alpha going to Beta Psi, then to Gamma Alpha, etc.

[Elephant Walk]

I wish we did ours like the fiji's do it..

they use the greek letters to write the name (sorry that was confusing

For example, Univ of Oklahoma, in Norman is:
Nu Omicron (Norman Oklahoma)

University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is:
Phi Alpha (Fayetteville, Arkansas)

I thought it was kind of clever.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

I wish we did ours like the fiji's do it..

they use the greek letters to write the name (sorry that was confusing

For example, Univ of Oklahoma, in Norman is:
Nu Omicron (Norman Oklahoma)

University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is:
Phi Alpha (Fayetteville, Arkansas)

I thought it was kind of clever.

Some Fiji chapters designations are derived from the university's initials.

University of Kentucky = Upsilon Kappa
Texas A&M University = Alpha Mu

[carnation]

I love Pi Phi's system because it's easier to keep locations straight!

First chapter in Alabama, Alabama Alpha
Second-Alabama Beta
Third-Alabama Gamma, yea us!

Etc.

[Tom Earp]

LXA early on was a funny way to start.
Alpha of course is Boston Un. but, the first actual chapter was Gamma, Un. Mass. (Mass. Agricultural College)

When letters were sent to schools, they were given a designation even if they did not accept the invitation.

After that Alpha designations came into being as chapters were insituted.

In the 1939 merger of TKN into LXA their chapters were given designations that started with Theta, Kappa, and Nu. TKN used State and Letter designation.

Colonys used be given Letter designations and are now give numbers until chartering.

[FAB*SpiceySpice]

Originally Posted by Elephant Walk

I wish we did ours like the fiji's do it..

they use the greek letters to write the name (sorry that was confusing

For example, Univ of Oklahoma, in Norman is:
Nu Omicron (Norman Oklahoma)

University of Arkansas in Fayetteville is:
Phi Alpha (Fayetteville, Arkansas)

I thought it was kind of clever.

That is really kind of cool, I've never heard about this (which is strange considering most of my guy friends and boyfriends in college were Fiji's). I've always wondered why they were the Chi Mu chapter but now it makes sense; Columbia, Missouri.

What happens if there is a chapter that opens that has the same "city initials" (I don't know what else to call them) as another chapter? For instance, let's say there was a chapter that opened in Crystal, Minnesota (yeah I had to look up a city that started with a "C", I am lame), what would they use since Chi Mu (C, M) are already being used?

Did I just make that way more complicated than necessary? And does anyone have any idea what I am trying to say?

Also, as far as I know/remember Phi Mu does chapters in order, starting with the single greek letters in alphabetical order and then doing Alpha Alpha, Alpha Beta, etc. Not too exciting. If any Phi Mu knows more about this, please let me/us know...I should know, but I've forgotten by now...bad Kiki.

[tunatartare]

I wonder if Sammy does their chapter naming the same way as FIJI. Their chapter at Adelphi University used to be the Delta Phi chapter before it got shut down.

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by KLPDaisy

I wonder if Sammy does their chapter naming the same way as FIJI. Their chapter at Adelphi University used to be the Delta Phi chapter before it got shut down.

I do not know about Sammy (Sigma Alpha Mu), but Alpha Epsilon Pi also has a few chapter designations that may be derived from both the city/state and or from university's initials.

City/State = Lambda Kappa (Lexington, Kentucky) at The University of Kentucky

University = Sigma Iota at Southern Illinois University

[MysticCat]

Phi Mu Alpha uses a chapter designation system that I haven't seen used by any other GLO, except (I think) Alpha Chi Omega. And I have no idea how or why we got started using it.

Our first 24 chapters have single-letter designations in Greek-alphabetical order, Alpha through Omega. (We do use Omega.) The next chapter after Omega was Alpha Beta, then Alpha Gamma, Alpha Delta and so on. Once we got to Alpha Omega, we went to Beta Gamma, Beta Delta, Beta Epsilon.... After Beta Omega came Gamma Delta, Gamma Epsilon, and ... well, you see the pattern. Only letters that come (alphabetically) after the first letter of the chapter designation were used for the second letter.

Using this method, we finally got around to only one "Psi ____" chapter: Psi Omega. We then went back to Beta and chartered Beta Alpha, then Gamma Alpha and Gamma Beta, then Delta Alpha, Delta Beta and Delta Gamma, and so on. The result is that the Beta Alpha chapter is significantly younger than the Beta Gamma chapter.

We never use double letter designations (Beta Beta, Gamma Gamma, Delta Delta, etc.) The one exception is Alpha Alpha, which is the designation for honorary members initiated by the national Fraternity.

Colonies bear the name of the state followed by a Greek letter, like "Alabama Alpha," unless the colony is a recharter. In the latter case, it uses the designation of the original charter.

[Denise_DPhiE]

Originally Posted by KLPDaisy

I wonder if Sammy does their chapter naming the same way as FIJI. Their chapter at Adelphi University used to be the Delta Phi chapter before it got shut down.

Huh? If Sammy did it like Fiji, Adelphi would be Gamma Nu (Garden City, NY). What does Delta Phi mean to you?

[TSteven]

Originally Posted by FAB*SpiceySpice

What happens if there is a chapter that opens that has the same "city initials" (I don't know what else to call them) as another chapter? For instance, let's say there was a chapter that opened in Crystal, Minnesota (yeah I had to look up a city that started with a "C", I am lame), what would they use since Chi Mu (C, M) are already being used?

Did I just make that way more complicated than necessary? And does anyone have any idea what I am trying to say?

Since some Fiji chapter designations are derived from the university's initials, then I would guess they the chapter would select the university initials.

Two examples I know of.

University of Kentucky = Upsilon Kappa Chapter
Texas A&M University = Alpha Mu Chapter

[ISUKappa]

Originally Posted by Emory Kappa

AOII's naming is very interesting!

Kappa is alphabetical also, though it did not have an Alpha Alpha, Alpha Beta, Alpha Gamma series. The order goes straight from single letters double letters beginning with Beta.

I should probably dig out my history book to find out why!

To add on to this, the designations of some early chapters that closed after only a few years were then used for chapters that opened in the early 1880s. After the 1890 convention, I believe, it was decided those chapters would have the letter "Beta" preceeding the original chapter name to designate they were the second chapter of that letter (does that make any sense?)

So when the chapter at Iowa opened in 1882 they were originally known as the Zeta chapter, but after 1890, they became the Beta Zeta chapter because they were the second chapter to use the letter Zeta, and that is how they are known today. So there are some two-letter chapters that are actually older than some single letter chapters.