The Nittany Lion, Penn State’s beloved mascot, is one that has been around for over a century. In all those years, though, we have been forced to refer to it using the full legal title. Other mascots often have their own name, or at least some shortened version to use, but not ours. So I ask, how has Penn State’s most recognizable symbol gone nameless all this time?

Sure, it doesn’t need a name, but why not? Mascots are people too, you know. Many other schools and teams have fun names for their mascots: The Steelers have Steely McBeam, Ohio State has Brutus Buckeye, and Florida has Albert and Alberta Gator. Even Pitt’s panther is apparently named “Roc”. If they do, why don’t we? We can’t let Ohio State and Pitt, of all schools, outshine us, can we? Having the Nittany Lions’ mascot also be a Nittany Lion isn’t exactly cool.

I’ve done some research and found some common themes among the various mascots with real names. I have a few ideas of my own, but in the end, I hope we can come together as a community to pick one of our own. For the sake of discussion, let’s come up with a temporary name for the lion. How about Placeholder, The Nittany Lion? (maybe Baby Boy Lion instead)

Some mascots just use average people’s names. As mentioned before, we have Albert and Alberta Gator. Michigan once had a wolverine named Biff, and the Ravens have Poe. This could work for us. Maybe Fred, or Bill, or even John? John, the Nittany Lion. Not bad.

Some other mascots take regular names a step further and use a smidge of alliteration. Benny Beaver for Oregon State, Brutus the Buckeye for Ohio State; you get the picture. For Placeholder, we could go with Neil, Nolan, Ned, Noah, or even Nosferatu, if we’re feeling risky (I actually found that last one on a baby name site). For L, we could use Leighton, Lenny, Legend, or maybe Luke? Luke the Nittany Lion isn’t bad either, I like the ring of it.

Placeholder could also be a girl; they’ve never specified. I do think the person under the mask is a guy, but either way, Natalie, Nadia, Nancy, Neeli, Leah, Lily, or Laura are all equally great.

These names are great, but we’re more creative than that. Some mascots use shortened forms of what they are, so maybe Nitty? Penny, for Penn State? I don’t love the sound of that, but it could work. The Dolphins’ mascot is called T.D. (for The Dolphin), so we could use N.L. for Placeholder, but again, it doesn’t really roll off the tongue.

Beyond the scope of mascots, we could also work with Penn State stuff. Naming Placeholder after things that Penn State holds dear would give Placeholder a connection to its home, which could be great.

Irvin, after Penn State’s original founder? Or Atherton, after one of its biggest presidents? Along that line, Neeli could be a great choice. For a football school like ours, maybe a prominent figure in football could be better. Saquon? Joe? James, in his honor? Franco? Joe? No wrong answers, folks. Or, in memory of our school’s original mascot, Placeholder could be named Old Coaly Jr., or Young Coaly.

Besides big Penn State people, we also have a plethora of monuments to pull from throughout campus. Pollock could be a big one, giving our school a fourth thing named after that guy. I’m a bit partial to Stacks, The Nittany Lion, if anyone agrees with me there. Land Grant may also work.

I hope you all have enjoyed my ideas for Placeholder’s name so far. They’ve been a range, sure. Some alright, some great. Nosferatu and Neeli stick out in particular.

In the end, though, I think I’ve found the perfect name for our mascot. Placeholder was fun while it lasted, but nothing holds a candle to this. I haven’t mentioned it yet to keep the surprise, but I think you’ll all love it as much as I do. Not only is it a real name, not only is it an alliteration, but it also refers to a prominent Penn State person, one who certainly deserves the recognition. So, my dear readers, I propose this name for our mascot. Nathaniel, The Nittany Lion.