206 Cool Team Names and How to Choose One (2023)

by Catherine Moreland August 26, 2021 10338 14 min read

Anyone who’s ever participated in any group activities knows the value of a shared name. Whether it’s the family team at the neighborhood sporting event, a friendly trivia night at the local bar, or a workplace team-building exercise, group names have the power to turn a random collection of people into a cohesive unit.

Unfortunately, having to think of cool team names in these situations can make the best of us short-circuit. If you’re struggling to think of an impactful and individualized name for your squad, don’t worry. The following list of cool team names should save you some time.

200+ Cool Team Name Ideas for Group Chats, Projects, or Activities

If you go looking for the best names for your crew online, you’ll find endless lists of suggestions. As you’ll find, many of them serve distinct purposes. For example, some names are impersonal and formal — so you can use them in professional settings. Others are humorous and even a bit risque — so they should be suitable for more casual purposes as well.

In any case, the following list will be presented in a similar style, by grouping similar team names under broader categories. With that in mind, let’s start with the most likely winners.

Cool Team Names for the Winning Squad

The team names in this first category would be great for company teambuilding exercises. They’re non-offensive but still motivational, which should make them perfect for professional environments.

You’ll also see that these team names emanate a certain level of confidence. So they’ll be the perfect option for a group of people that are expected to win. These names include:

1. Aces

2. A-Team

3. All-Stars

4. Champions

5. Conquerors

6. Deal Makers

7. Dream Team

8. High Rollers

9. Hustlers

10. Peacekeepers

11. Peak Performers

12. Powers That Be

13. Regulators

14. Ringmasters

15. Showboats

16. Showrunners

17. Suits

18. The Quota Crushers

19. The Untouchables

Of course, if the workplace activities you’re participating in have predetermined winners — the runners-up will be one step behind.

Badass Team Names for Groups Who Are Out for Blood

The following team names would be appropriate for teams that are just as good as the ones sporting the names you’re just seen, if not better. These are the groups that challenge the status quo. They might have previously lost the battle — but never the war. More than anything else, these guys have spunk!

20. Assassins

21. Bloody Bannermen

22. Cavaliers

23. Challengers

24. Chaos

25. Chargers

26. Chosen Ones

27. Claws

28. Code Red

29. Delinquents

30. Demolition Crew

31. Dominators

32. Eliminators

33. Enforcers

34. Gargoyles

35. Goblins

36. Heathens

37. Hell’s Angels

38. Inferno

39. Knights

40. Legends

41. Maniacs

42. Matadors

43. Mavericks

44. Obliterators

45. Raptors

46. Rebels

47. Renegades

48. Rule Breakers

49. Saboteurs

50. Savages

51. Sinners

Cool Team Names for Folks Who Just Want to Have Fun

The next category of team names you can choose from would be ideal for people who are only participating in group activities to have fun. Everyone expects these teams to lose — even the people who are in them. Still, in the right conditions, they might just give the other teams a run for their money! So without further ado, let’s hear it for:

62. The Hungover Hunks

63. The Amigos

64. Average Joes

65. Bane of Your Existence

66. Compadres

67. Couch Potatoes

68. The Crapulents

69. Dirty Old Men

70. Hillbillies

71. Lazy but Loveable

72. Mandatory Attendance

73. Mediocrity at Its Best

74. Our Uniforms Match

75. Outliers

76. Shameless

77. Just Staying Afloat

78. Wasted Potential

79. We Showed Up

80. We Tried

If nothing else, these team names will bring some much-needed levity to any sporting event. Seeing them on the scoreboard next to the Obliterators should bring a chuckle out of even the most competitive people. And, it’ll be especially hilarious if the Couch Potatoes are actually winning.

Group Names That Reference Different Sports

If you’re looking for cool team names that contain sports puns, you’ll have to narrow down your search! After all, there are so many hilarious team names to choose from based on what sport you’re going to play. For example, if you’re going to play hoops, you could go for:

81. Basket Brawlers

82. Basket Hounds

83. Net Rippers

84. Big Net Worth

85. Nothing But Nets

86. The Hot Shots

87. Shooting Stars

88. LeBron’s Tutors

On the other hand, if you’re looking for football, soccer, baseball, or even volleyball team names, you can try:

89. Back That Pass Up

90. Goal Diggers

91. #SquadGoals

92. We Got the Runs

93. 99 Problems But a Pitch Ain’t One

94. Basic Pitches

95. Pitch Please

96. Bat Attitudes

97. Some Spike It Hot

98. Spiked Punch

Needless to say, if you’re looking for punny names for your sports team, these are your best options.

Cool Team Names for the Women’s and Girls’ Leagues

So far, all of the team names on this list have been gender-inclusive. But if your team is made up of women and you want to make that clear right off the bat, here are some of the cool team names you can go for.

99. Amazons

100. Sirens

101. She-Devils

102. Chicks with Kicks

103. Queens of Goals

104. End Zone Divas

105. Killer Cats

106. Elite Mankillers

Animal-Themed Group Names

Many professional sports teams are named after animals — you’ve got the Anaheim Ducks, Arizona Coyotes, and San Jose Sharks, to name a few. Typically, people either combine the name of the city with local wildlife species or settle for an animal name that provides an alliteration.

Either way, they pick the names that have a certain ring to them and therefore inspire respect. If you want to name your group after an animal, here are some examples you can use:

122. Anteaters

123. Black Mambas

124. Blue Jays

125. Buffalos

126. Bulldogs

127. Cardinals

128. Chameleons

129. Cougars

130. Eagles

131. Falcons

132. Hippos

133. Leopards

134. Lions

135. Lions or the Lion Pride

136. Peacocks

137. Scorpions

138. Spiders

139. Stallions

140. Tigers

141. Wildcats

142. Wolves or the Pack

The best thing about teams that are named after animals is that you have a built-in mascot. Moreover, you can usually pick your team colors from the animal’s coat or feathers. And as always, you can also pair these animal names with colors or other adjectives to further personalize your team name.

Cool Team Names That Contain Pop Culture References

If you love pop culture, you can always incorporate it into your team name. Other people have already used musical references to name sports teams and trivia night groups. Examples include:

143. Hoops I Did It Again

144. Don’t Stop BALLieving

145. Bennie and the Nets

146. The Real Slim Shadies

147. Bed Bath and Beyonce

If you’re not into popular music, you could go for team names that reference movies, TV shows, or even literature. For example:

148. Gone With the Win

149. Pretty in Pink

150. Incredibles

151. Terminators

152. Expendables

153. Fast & Furious

154. Identity Theft Is Not a Joke (the Office)

155. Lost Boys

156. Bad Boys

157. Men in Black

158. Mad Men

159. Dothraki (Game of Thrones)

160. A Team Has No Name (Game of Thrones)

161. Marauders (Harry Potter or the 2016 Bruce Willis movie)

162. Musketeers

163. The Force

164. The Dark Side

165. The Justice League

166. Men of Steel

167. The Jokers

168. Gotham City Robins

169. The Birds of Prey

170. Avengers

171. X-Men

172. Black Panthers

173. Black Widows

174. Ghost Riders

Ultimately, pop culture has inspired some of the best team names — whether you need them for group chats, sports, or even just trivia nights. After all, they allow all members of the team to gather around a common motif. And like the animal-themed group names, they usually come with a built-in mascot.

Group Names That Reflect the Members’ Personal Qualities

Speaking of coming together around a common theme, you can also build a team around the members’ shared attributes. Usually, those are age-related or generational, so you might name the team:

175. The Boomers

176. The Gen Xers/Zers

177. Eighties Babies

178. Ladies from the Eighties

179. The Millennials

180. Dirty Thirty

181. The Roaring Twenties

182. The Young Bucks

Alternatively, you can latch onto other characteristics of the team members. For example, if you want to express your shared love of certain foods, you could name the team:

183. Cake Fiends

184. Will Work for Food

185. Cereal Killers

186. Captain Crunch

187. Food for Thought

188. Fry Friends

189. Flame Kings

190. Pig Roast Pals

191. The Simmer Sisters

192. Gourmet Group

193. Gourmet Goddesses

194. Good Looks Cooks

195. Cooking Killers

196. Burrito Brothers

197. Oh Crêpe!

198. Simmer Down

199. Jalapeño Hotties

200. The Gouda Life

201. Tasty Temptations

202. True Grit

203. The Spice Girls

204. Chop It Like It’s Hot

205. Slice, Slice, Baby

206. Shakers and Bakers

These kinds of cool team names would be great for cooking or eating competitions. Alternatively, they could just be cute group chat names for restaurant workers or casual foodies alike.

But depending on the team members’ interests and reasons for forming the squad in the first place, you can do this with almost any personal characteristic. The world has no shortage of puns you can use — as long as you’re willing to look for them!

Tips for Choosing Your Team Name

At this point, you might start feeling a bit overwhelmed. The list above features more than 200 of the best team names on the Internet — and those are just the tip of the iceberg! So how do you choose the right name for your team?

1. Set the Tone

First and foremost, your team name needs to set the tone for whatever activity you need it for. Usually, the formation of teams signifies that people are competing in one way or another. If that is the case, start by figuring out the mood everyone else is in.

That way, you won’t make the grievous mistake of naming your team the Obliterators while the other teams come in with names like We Tried and Lazy but Loveable. Sure, you could probably laugh that situation off. However, it may look strange if you’re the only one who’s coming in hot.

When in doubt, you could always wait for the other teams to choose their group names and work from there. That will not only let you read the room more easily but also allow you to position your team as superior.

For example, if the other team chose to be called the Serpents, you could go for the animal’s natural enemy. That would maintain the theme the other team started and build onto it.

Ultimately, the language you use should always reflect the occasion. So if you’re naming a work squad, go for a professional and non-personal name, like the A-Team. But if you’re participating in a casual sporting event, you could incorporate more humorous and even risque language.

2. Identify a Central Theme and Personalize It

Next, you have to consider the attributes that connect the members of your team. That can be gender, age, profession, neighborhood, or a random personal interest. The list above already contains ideas for building upon some of those characteristics.

On the other hand, if the members of your team don’t have much in common, go for something that just sounds cool. That’s how you get all those historical warriors and animal-inspired team names. If nothing else, those themes are great for branding.

If you need something to spice up one of the ideas on the list above, a dynamic adjective is always a good addition. You can preface a noun with a color or a descriptor such as:

• Bold
• Brave
• Brawling
• Charging
• Dangerous
• Fiery
• Fighting
• Flying
• Mighty
• Roaring
• Tough

Alliteration, or pairing words that start with the same letters or sounds, tends to work wonders for making team names sound catchy. Coming onto the field with a name like the Brawling Blossoms is sure to get your team some buzz!

And hey, if you have a concept in mind but you can’t quite think of a snappy team name off the top of your head, you can use a team name generator to get ideas.

3. Ask for Your Teammates’ Opinions

Ideally, forming a team name should be a group exercise that engages all members of the crew. That means that everyone should go through the process of thinking of catchy names together. In the end, you should have a long list of cool team names to sift through.

After narrowing the list down to only five or so options, take the time to write them on a whiteboard. That will let you and the squad consider your options from all sides. If the team name is going to be a permanent decision that involves branding, consider the marketability of the team colors and mascot.

Granted, since the Philadelphia Flyers unveiled their “gleefully deranged mascot,” Gritty, envisioning a more controversial team representative has been difficult. Still, those are just some of the things you should consider before settling on a team name.