List of Social Fraternities and Sororities - Nicknames

Nicknames

Due to the large number of Greek organizations, and the confusion that derives from the use of combined Greek letters in predominantly English-speaking nations, many organizations are often informally better-known by their nicknames, than by their Greek letters. These nicknames usually follow certain patterns:

• An initialism based on the letters, either in Greek form or their Anglicized equivalent. Examples include Delta Zeta as D-Z, Alpha Epsilon Phi as "A-E-Phi", Gamma Phi Beta as "G-Phi-B", Delta Upsilon as "D-U,", Theta Xi as "T-X", Kappa Alpha Order as "KA", or Kappa Delta Rho as "KDR".
• An invented word based on the letters, such as "Deke" from Delta Kappa Epsilon, "Pike" or "Pikes" from Pi Kappa Alpha, "Fiji" from Phi Gamma Delta, or "Sammy" from Sigma Alpha Mu.
• To shorten the names of the letters themselves, for example Psi Upsilon as "Psi U", Pi Kappa Phi as "Pi Kapp", Phi Kappa Theta as "Phi Kap", Delta Chi as "D-Chi", Sigma Phi Epsilon as "SigEp", "Tri Delts" for Delta Delta Delta, "Alpha Gams" for Alpha Gamma Delta, or Phi Delta Theta as "Phi Delt", Epsilon Sigma Rho as "Sigma Rho".
• To eliminate letters: Pi Beta Phi as "Pi Phi" or Phi Kappa Psi as "Phi Psi".
• To use the dominant letter in the organization name, for example "Betas" for Beta Theta Pi, "Kappas" for Kappa Kappa Gamma, "Delts" for Delta Tau Delta, "Theta" for Kappa Alpha Theta, or "Lambdas" For Lambda Alpha Upsilon.
• Other nicknames are common including "Q-Dawgs" for Omega Psi Phi or "Fiji" for Phi Gamma Delta.
• For non-Greek lettered organizations, the use of an abbreviated word or phrase. For example, members of the "Franklin Society" can be nicknamed "Franklins."