Ive just set up a new paintball society at my uni and we need a name, "University Of Winchester Paintball Society" wont stand at any tourneys if u ask me.
The reason paintball teams come up with a name is to provide themselves with an identity. Otherwise they are just 5 mates who play together. In recent years teams have started to associate themselves with a town or city, adding it's name to theirs. This is in part an attempt to legitimize paintball as a sport by aping the geographical associations common in more established team sports. It also however, provides a higher level of identity. The team is representing more than just themselves. They represent their hometown making them of more interest to the media and public. Local newspapers and people from Townsville are going to be far more interested in the Townsville Terrors, than in the plain old Terrors. And with publicity comes the potential for sponsorship and the increased credibility of paintball as a sport.
But the members of your team and society already have a common identity - you are all students from University of Winchester. As well as being an existing identity, this has a number of other benefits. Like being associated with a town or city it allows you to represent something larger than just yourselves, giving your players something to be proud of and to motivate themselves. And just like small towns you will have your local media - the uni paper and possibly radio. They will be far more likely to give you publicity if you are clearly representing the University.
But there is another angle to look at - what the name sounds like. There is often a desire to come up with a name that sounds 'cool' or impressive. Naming yourselves after something dangerous, destructive or powerful. I've always thought that relying on a macho name is a little silly to be honest, a hollow bit of marketing that won't fool anyone. If you want to impress people having a 'cool' sounding name isn't really going to work is it. Training hard, developing your skills, and earning a reputation on the field will really impress people. Once people know your game, they will associate that with your name. And it will be you that impresses them, not your imaginatively macho team name.
What do all the other sports teams at Winchester play as? My guess would be they play as University of Winchester. The only exception at Brum is the American Football team. (The Lions) And to my mind it kind of says it all that the only sport that which uses this kind of tacky branding is one from a society as subtle as our friends across the pond.
Now that is not to say that I disagree with all the teams that have got some kind of macho name. The Townsville Terrors were just a group of friends with no identity so they had to make one for themselves. In this case they might as well go with something suitable to an aggressive competitive sport. But you already have an identity, the University of Winchester. You don't need to invent a new one. No one is going to be impressed if you call yourselves the Winchester Wonder-ballers. So don't waste time trying to invent a name for your team. Go out there as University of Winchester and
make a name for yourselves.
Once people know they are going to have to take you seriously on the field 'Winchester University' will stand fine at any tourney.