SoMuchDrama's blog

The ultimate guide to naming your competitive programming team
By SoMuchDrama, 2 years ago, In English

Hello Codeforces

Moscow team olympiad 2021 wrapped up a week ago, and the final standings made me disappointed (congratulations to winners, though). Two teams out of the top-10 weren't able to come up with some team name, and this is the greatest amount of no-name teams in the top 10 among all Moscow team olympiads.

My students often ask me how to choose a name for a team. So, today I decided to polish my list of rules and finally make it public.

Initially, your team name has 0 points. For each violation of any rule, this score increases by some amount of points. In the end, if the score is at least 2, I suggest not to use this name. Otherwise, you can use it.

  1. "Noname team", "didn't come up with the name", etc. — 2 points

  2. Something from programming ("Random shuffle", "Fans of C++", ...) — 2 points. This rule has an exception: if it is a fresh programming-related pun, not just a mention of some concept, it's only 1 point.

  3. First letters of names/surnames — 2 points.

  4. In case it is stated in the rules of the competition that there are always three people in a team: "three of ..." — 1 point.

Do I miss some rules to make standings less boring? Write in the comments. Otherwise, write in the comments something else.

  • Vote: I like it
  • +168
  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (14)
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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +223 Vote: I do not like it

Any team name which has so many emojis and weird symbols that it is unpronounceable — 1 point.

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

Polish championships and official contests like CERC require teams from for example University of Warsaw to be named UW1, UW2, UW3 and so on, from University of Wrocław UWR1, UWR2, UWR3 and so on.

Moscow team olympiad sounds like an official contests, if so, problem solved, closing.

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +33 Vote: I do not like it

5 points for all of these:

"team42069"

"..."

"Name goes here.."

any name that uses "bits" as if it's "bi*ch"

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +179 Vote: I do not like it

Ok so I have this plan, but it only works if a team with a less or more stable roster plans to attend all 5 semifinals one can possibly take part in (according to the current rules).

During the first season, name your team "Rare". During the second year, rename to "Medium Rare". Then rename to "Medium", then to "Medium Well" and finally to "Well Done".

In case if this team wants to participate further, they can after that finally rename to "Congratulation".

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +38 Vote: I do not like it
  1. Take a word/phrase that has nothing to do with programming or your names.
    Done.
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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -67 Vote: I do not like it

Wow there's SoMuchDrama in this blog!

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +225 Vote: I do not like it

If it doesn't get you kicked out of the competition, it's a cringe name.

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

How about taking a popular team name and changing it a bit?

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2 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -33 Vote: I do not like it

names of errors don't sound cool so if your name is something like "runtime error" or "time limit exceeded" -1 point

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +20 Vote: I do not like it

    Brain limit exceeded sounds cool tho :{P

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -17 Vote: I do not like it

      How about something like "wa on test 2" limit exceeded :p

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -16 Vote: I do not like it

"your add goes here"

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