Pickleball Team Names

As pickleball has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the world right now, teams are being created left and right. Maybe you wandered into this article because you are creating a team yourself, and are wondering what to name it.

Naming a pickleball team can be hard because there are so many possibilities and combinations. Don’t worry. You can stop overthinking now because, in this article, we’ll help you clear your mind and guide you with some tips on how to name your pickleball team.

 

Factors That Make a Good Pickleball Team Name

Naming your pickleball team is no different from naming a team in other sports. For those experienced, it would be as easy as taking candy from a baby—which we do not encourage doing, by the way. 

To be adept at naming a pickleball team, you must consider a few factors. These factors help bring meaning and life to your team name. Typically, you combine two or three relevant words to create a unique concept that’s just for you.

Here are the factors that make a good pickleball team name:

• Team Identity and Symbolism

Identity is one of the most—if not the most—important factors of a team name. It basically tells the competition and the spectators what your team is about, even if you haven’t stepped onto the court yet. It gives the very first impression of your team. And, as we all know, first impressions are important.

With that being said, it is best to name your team based on your collective characteristics. Reflect on who you guys are as a group—what are your strengths, philosophies, where did you meet, and such. Just think of a word that best describes your team as a whole.

To make things even more interesting and creative, you can be symbolic rather than literal. Let’s have a simple example: Colorado Lions. The word “lion” symbolizes pride and dominance over your opponents. 

The great thing about having a symbol to represent you is it’ll be easier to create a whole new concept anchored on that one word. You can create your logo, cheers, and team mascot out of it. It’ll also be easy to identify your team logo on merch like jerseys and hats.

Let your creativity shine. There are a lot of possibilities that you can experiment with. Just figure out your identity as a team first. The rest will come afterward.

• Location and Origin

This is actually widely used in practically every sport in the world. If your team is representing your hometown, you can integrate the place’s name into your team name. We see this all the time in NBA and NFL teams, which actually makes sense since these teams represent entire cities.

In the case of pickleball, a lot of teams from the Major Pickleball League (MPL) have adapted this naming method. The league was newly founded in 2023 and introduced a variety of teams with creative team names. Here are some of them for your reference:

1. Milwaukee Mashers
2. New Jersey 5s
3. LA Mad Drops
4. Florida Smash

• Uniqueness

It goes without saying that team names should be unique and stand out from the rest of the other teams. After all, your team name is one way to establish your presence in a tournament. To do that, you’ll need a team name that really stands out.

• Usage of Lingo

Like every sport, pickleball has its fair share of lingo. Add the essence of pickleball to your team name by incorporating these terms. Let’s take a look at some lingo that you can use in your team name:

1. Pickled & Pickler

Pickled is when a team isn’t able to tally a single point in the entire game. Pickler is used to label someone who is addicted to pickleball. Some team names include the Chicago Picklers, and the Pickled Red Hot Pickles.

2. Ace

This is actually also used in other sports like volleyball and tennis. An ace is a serve that cannot be returned by the opponent and scores a point. You could go for California Acers or the Amazing Aces.

3. Falafel

This term is used for shots that fall short due to a weak strike. If you and your like to joke around, consider using this word to make names like Wiffle Falafel.

We have more examples of words you add to your team name below, so keep scrolling.

• Simplicity

As mentioned earlier, a pickleball team name is typically two to three words long—sometimes four. We want our team names to be easy to remember, that’s why two words are usually enough. 

Having a name made up of more than five words will only overwhelm some people, then you’ll just be known as “that team with the really long name” instead of the Bold and Blue-Blooded Junior Eagles. Catch my drift?

 

Does Pickleball Have Rules About Team Names?

In the official pickleball guidelines and handbooks, you won’t find any specific ruling on team names in pickleball. This means you have a lot of freedom to be creative in naming your team.

However, this doesn’t mean that you can run wild with your imagination either. Sports, in general, are meant to foster a wholesome community where people get to stay active and socialize. So, you still have to be decent about the name you pick.

This means:

1. No bad words, taboos, and any other vulgar language.
2. No reference to alcohol or illegal drugs.
3. No reference to sexually explicit, invasive, or violent activities.
4. No racist or discriminatory comments, suggestions, or references.
5. No name should appear as if the opponent does not have a game scheduled such as “Bye” or “No Opponent”.

It is always the players’ responsibility to be mature enough to come up with names that are not offensive, discriminatory, or blatantly wrong. Pickleball is a family sport. Let’s keep our community as wholesome as possible please.

 

What You Should Avoid in Team Names

We previously mentioned what types of words to avoid when naming your team. Now, let’s talk about other things that we should avoid. 

To make it easier for you, we’ve come up with a bad example of a team name for us to dissect together. Read it with me:

“Detroit Kool-Aid Rocket Smashers United Pickleball Club”

• Unnecessary Words

If you saw this coming from the get-go, nice work! In naming a pickleball team, avoid putting every single word that comes to mind. In this example, “Detroit” is a good addition since it shows the origin of the team. But “Kool-Aid” doesn’t make sense at all.

Yes, the team probably really likes Kool-Aid, or maybe they’re being sponsored by the brand. It’s fine to add a brand name, just don’t use too many words because then you lose the essence of who you are as a team. 

If you really want to include it in the team name, try making it the focal point. For example, you could name your team “Detroit Kool-Aid Smashers” instead. Now, doesn’t that sound better? If you prefer the word “rocket”, you could also go for “Detroit Rockets” or “Detroit Rocket Smashers”. 

Case in point: stick to a single focal point and go from there.

• Labeling

Labeling the team name as a “united pickleball club” is unnecessary, given the fact that you are already entering a pickleball tournament or league… and you are already a team. Adding such labels is actually an outdated way of naming teams.

We see basketball teams named the Miami Heat, or NFL teams like the Philadelphia Eagles. They don’t need labels to tell the whole world what specific sport they are associated with. And neither do you, once you sign up for a pickleball tournament.

• Lengthy Titles

We want to avoid having a team name that is unnecessarily long that other people won’t even bother saying or remembering it. It will only give the tournament organizers, especially the announcers, a hard time during games. As we’ve established earlier—keep it simple but catchy. 

 

Examples of Pickleball Team Names

Here are some words that you can use as inspiration for a great pickleball team name:

Team Names
poach	smash	erne	serve	wizards	pack	pickles
dill	ace	side out	hitter	mavericks	bouncers	titans
pickler	bang	pickleballers	legends	kings	paddlers	heroes
dink	third shot	hustle	ninjas	queens	blazers	warriors

Combine them with a location, brand, style of play, or adjective, and you’ve got some pretty baller team names:

• Alaska Ice Packers
• Las Vegas Hustlers
• Kings of the Court
• Florida Aces
• AT&T Titans
• Smash Kings
• Happy Bouncers
• Undefeated Picklers (Make sure you win, though)
• Kingsmen Blazers
• Pickle-Pan Pros
• Dill Dominators
• Smashing Servers
• The Paddle Parade
• Bouncing Berts
• Net Ninjas
• Cucumber Crushers
• Pickleball Pythons
• Pickled Power Paddlers
• Swing ‘n Dink Dukes
• The Slicing Gherkins
• Smashing Sours
• The Serving Spears
• Quick Pickle Quicksilvers
• The Pickleball Prestige
• Whiffle Whackers
• Volleys in a Jar
• Sweet ‘n Sour Slammers
• Paddle Power Poppers
• Briney Bounce Brigade
• Zesty Zingers
• Dink ‘n Drive Dynamos
• The Slamming Sandwiches
• Pickleball Picassos
• The Net Neophytes
• Agile Aces
• Kitchen Kings & Queens
• Pickleball Pioneers
• Deft Dinkers
• Whirling Whackers

Remember to choose a name that resonates with the spirit of your team and makes everyone excited to play!

 

Wrapping Up

Coming up with team names isn’t that hard once you know what to look for and think about. In the end, it all boils down to knowing who your team is. Knowing who you are as a team and how your teammates came together will be a good basis for coming up with the perfect pickleball team name.