Use Financial Terms

• Bank personnel--from the president to the part-time tellers--quickly become familiar with financial terms that apply directly to the banking industry and some that indirectly refer to it. These terms make a great starting point for your team names. Get silly by morphing words such as accrual into Cruel or just take the words you use every day and expand on them, such as the Credit Crunchers, Balancing Act, Depositors, Auditors or Loan Rangers. A financial glossary can help you generate idea-starters, but you'll probably build a team name list quickly when you start thinking about it.
  
  

Use Sports Team Names

• This easy fall-back is a popular way to name teams across the U.S. If you happen to have a major or minor league sports team in your city, use it as a starting point to come up with team names for your bank. Use animal names, such as the Bears, Lions, Cardinals or Ravens, as an homage to football or you can name your teams the White Sox, Red Sox, Blue Sox and Green Sox if you're a baseball fan. The added benefit is that you will simultaneously establish a team color.
  
  

Use City Neighborhoods

• If your bank is located in Chicago, a town where neighborhood identity is a big deal, you can utilize neighborhood names in your team name. Chicago banking team members would, for example, might be happy to belong to the Bucktown, Brickyards, West Loop, Uptown or Bridgeport teams. Your hometown is bound to have communities distinguishing your city, so list them to come up with potential team names. Here's another thought: if you have many bank branches, why not name your teams after each one to spur instant pride and recognition?
  
  

Use Humor

• Even serious bankers love a good laugh, so get clever and come up with some quirky, grin-producing suggestions. The Pole Vaulters, Tellerators, Loanly Officers, Banksters and other twists-of-the-tongue aren't offensive--as long as you don't flirt with double entendres when you compile your list of team names. Of course, you may not have to reach too far into the language of finance to find names that are already humorous. Consider the financial terms "abnormal returns" and "abandonment option." You get the picture.