What’s in a nickname?

When it comes to high school nicknames, plenty of thought goes into some, not so much goes into others.

In Butler County, we have some common nicknames and some unique ones.

The Moniteau Warriors share their nickname with 644 other schools across the country. The Knoch Knights share theirs with 404 others while the Seneca Valley Raiders have 283 other schools with the same nickname.

The Yellowjackets of Freeport share their moniker with 158 others while the Slippery Rock Rockets share with 109 other schools nationwide.

By contrast, only four other schools — Coffeyville in Kansas, Haynesville in Louisiana, Keyser in West Virginia and Lamesa in Texas — join Butler in being called the Golden Tornado.

Only two other schools — Houghton in Mississippi and Sedalia in Missouri — join Karns City in being tabbed the Gremlins.

And no other school’s teams are referred to as the Fightin’ Planets besides Mars.

Other Western Pennsylvania schools have nicknames that stand. Only Hampton is called the Talbots, Aliquippa the Quips and Canon McMillan the Big Macs.

Let’s delve a bit deeper into the name game, shall we?

The most popular high school nickname in America is the Eagles, used by 1,351 schools, including 101 in California. No other nickname is used in the Golden State more than 47 times.

The Tigers (903), Panthers (812) and Bulldogs (809) round out the four most popular high school nicknames in this country.

The Panthers are the most popular nickname in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

There are as many schools nicknamed the Warriors in West Virginia as there is in Hawaii — seven.

No more than four schools have the same nickname — Cougars — in Delaware.

Nine schools in Alaska are called the Lynx.

Two Illinois high schools — Freeport and New Berlin — refer to themselves as the Pretzels.

Two nicknames easy to figure out are the Roosevelt Teddies and Thief River Falls Prowlers in Minnesota.

Two that are a little tougher to decipher are the Colorado Rocky Mountain Oysters and the Bishop McGuinness Catholic Villains.

Morris Academy in Houston, Texas, is home to the Praying Hands. The Plowboys play in Roscoe, Texas, and the Mean Moose suit up in Alamosa, Colo.

We can’t ignore the Gila Bend Gila Monsters in Arizona, can we?

My personal favorites are the Poca Dots in West Virginia. and Boiling Springs Bubblers in Pennsylvania.

Somerset (Ky.) has the Briar Jumpers and Washburn (Wis.) is home to the Castle Guards.

Interesting matchup there.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle