Team Name...

Okay, we have been going by 'Fly By Night Paranormal' for a few months now. (The name came courtesy of one of our recruits after I told him that we didn't really have any equipment yet, but I knew where we could borrow a video camera...) The name was never intended to actually stick, but to this point it has.

I am now to the point that I'm working on the website and actually 'going public' with the team and I was curious as to what everyone here thought about the name possibly being a to clients. We have a few other options on the table, but none of them have the 'ring' of Fly By Night.

What d'yall think

I agree that Fly By Night does have a cool ring to it... As for how it'll go over with clients, I can't really say. Initially, it might not sound as professional, perhaps? Or people might mistake you for one of those corny paranormal teams (ie. the one with Halloween graphics on their website lol). But really, in all honestly, I don't think it's that much of a problem. I personally like the sound of it. It's different than a lot of other paranormal team names. And, once people discover that you have a decent website up that isn't cheesy, they'll be more apt to take you guys seriously, as it is with any team.

So, I say stick with it if that's what you like!

While fly by night is a fun sounding name, I would recommend something a bit more serious if you plan to work with clients. A client wants to feel that the group they engage is taking it seriously and will follow up with them. I'm not sure "fly by night" exactly conveys that sense. I could totally be wrong, and it's up to you, just my initial thought.

good luck!!

I am pretty torn on the issue myself - I think that it would be fine for a group that already had a bunch of positive references and a body of work to show that the name does not reflect the attitude, but since we are rookies as a team (and basically as individuals as well.) I suspect that it would probably slow us down. The other side, is that it has great sentimental value to the 4 of us that were around from the beginning...

- thanx much for the input. I told my guys to bring 2 name possibilites each to our next meeting, so I guess that I must be leaning toward changing the name...

Well, not to influence your decision TOO much...The following is the definiton of "Fly by night" from Wikipedia

The phrase fly by night is a derisive term in the English language for businesses that appear and disappear rapidly, or that give an impression of transience. It has also been applied to individual traveling businessmen and tradesmen. The phrase implies that the quality of work done or goods sold is shoddy enough that the person responsible must leave town under cover of darkness to evade angry customers, or sometimes legal authorities.

Yeah but if its from wikipedia, stew could have written it himself to fit this topic!

Stew_DPS wrote:Well, not to influence your decision TOO much...The following is the definiton of "Fly by night" from Wikipedia

The phrase fly by night is a derisive term in the English language for businesses that appear and disappear rapidly, or that give an impression of transience. It has also been applied to individual traveling businessmen and tradesmen. The phrase implies that the quality of work done or goods sold is shoddy enough that the person responsible must leave town under cover of darkness to evade angry customers, or sometimes legal authorities.

Obviously the Wiki writer on this topic was around for my co-founders last (first and only) previous investigation (Sheriff's Dept, trespassing...I'm sure you get it.)...anyway, the 'impression of transience' is what got us the name in the first place...every question that was asked at the time, we only had the temporary answer for.
I don't plan on 'go-live' on the web until June so I have some time to think about it, but I have always thought it could potentially be an issue.

The plus side is that it's a very catchy name, easy to pronounce, easy to remember, & you'll most likely not ever have to worry about another team trying to use the same one.

The minus side is that it does sound SOMEWHAT amateurish (but not a great deal so), & it COULD be detrimental to the groups future...client/reputation-wise....but not necessarily.

If you establish a firm reliable reputation, the name will not matter.

However....here's the biggest issue. Search up "fly by night paranormal" & instead of links to your site, you get links to a BUNCH of other paranormal sites that state right on the front Google page, something to the effect of, "We are not some type of fly-by-night organization, but are professional ghost hunters".

That one fact right there could seriously endanger the group. Bottom-line, if it were my call, the choice & decision would be:

1. If you ALREADY have built a good reputation amongst several clients, DON'T change the name. If you are that far along in the process, the name shouldn't matter.

2. If you are currently trying to establish a reputation for professional ghost investigations, then you might want to alter it slightly, but not change it completely.

By that, I'm sorta thinking of keeping "by night", but replacing "fly".....but I have no suggestions about what would fit there well yet.....maybe other members can come up with something.

Merc4Hire wrote:However....here's the biggest issue. Search up "fly by night paranormal" & instead of links to your site, you get links to a BUNCH of other paranormal sites that state right on the front Google page, something to the effect of, "We are not some type of fly-by-night organization, but are professional ghost hunters".

Oh jeez - yes that is definitely not good. I guess I never realized the definition of "fly by night." It doesn't sound like something you'd really want to be called by for a serious group though.

That's some good advice, Merc. Let's see what Aesalon has to say. Maybe the members of his team already came up with a better name for them.

Obviously, the standard name for a paranormal team includes the area that you live in and concentrate most of your investigations within. The good thing about a name like this is, it sounds professional, it's to the point, and it lets everyone know where you're from. The down side is, everyone has a name like that, so for originality it isn't topping the charts.

The reason I chose GHoST for our name rather than a name like Schaumburg Paranormal Society/SPS, is because I know that Tony and I are not going to live here for the rest of our lives. Eventually, about 3 or 4 years maybe down the road, we'll move out to possibly the northwest coast where I hope to find a job working for one of the larger video game companies. If we still want to continue with our investigations, we don't have to change our name. On top of that, GHoST is obviously to the point - everyone knows what a ghost is, and that is our subject, our main focus. Perhaps it's not as professional sounding? But I'm happy with it.

The name thing has been a journey - when I first tried to put something together (2005) We used SWIPe (SouthWest Iowa Paranormal) as a placeholder (like we have been using Fly By Night on this run.) ...but the dangling 'e' bothered me terribly - and I couldn't think of anything to add that didn't sound like I was just trying to fill the acronym. That group fell apart before it really even came together.
We are going to have a meeting Saturday - I'm hoping that my folks really put some thought into this...not that I'm holding my breath on that.

Well, 3 weeks of name searching now, and all I know for sure is that we are not going to go by : Iowa & NEbraska Paranormal Team (INEPT) or Western Iowa Paranormal Investigation Team (WIPeIT)

I think you almost already found a very nice name......WIPIT....Western Iowa Paranormal Investigation Team. I'm not sure why you're putting those "e"s into the names, but they aren't needed & don't really have anything that they represent.

WIPIT is easy to pronounce, covers every word in the name, easy to remember, easy to spell, & has a definite catchy ring to it.

I believe he was making a joke.

I vote for INEPT. haha.


I say just keep it simple and build a good reputation around it. I don't think you need to get to clever of fancy.

The best part of INEPT is that we were brainstorming names, and my brilliant best friend, who I will rely on to make sure that I don't flee my wedding, the guy who I at one time thought I would trust with my life... looks at the group and says, "How about Iowa & Nebraska Paranormal Team?" ...I waited for him to laugh at his joke...smile...grin...smirk...nothing, just the clueless "Why are you looking at me like that?" blank stare on his face, he had no clue...I guess you had to be there - but I will NEVER let him live it down.
WIPIT actually would be in my top 5, if it wasn't sooooooo close to WIPeIT...

WIPIT puts me in mind of Devo