MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: Virginia high school mascots

Just as important as a school's name and its location is its mascot. Options abound, and some teams go with the commonplace while others go with the truly unique.

In Virginia, there are 400 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 15 most popular mascot names in Virginia, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats.

CAISSONS: A CART FULL OF BOOM!
The Caissons of Fishburne Military (Waynesboro) have an explosive mascot name - and one that no other school in America has. A caisson is a vehicle, usually towed by a horse, that hauls artillery ammunition. As you can imagine, it's more of a historic name than a modern-day one. A caisson is also a watertight structure that is used to make it easy to set foundations for bridges and piers, but we're going with the military connection here as the basis for the mascot name.

FIRST FEW LETTERS MAKE FLYING FLUCOS
You can spend your whole life trying to find out what a Fluco is. Good luck. The Flying Flucos at Fluvanna County (Palmyra) took their mascot name from the school name, as it is a combination of the begging of Fluvanna and County. Furthermore, the school's Wikipedia page states that a newspaper writer was partly responsible for the mascot name, as he wrote "The high flying men of Flu.Co." in an article in the 1940s. So clever work with words, and a newspaper writer's abbreviation, are the basis of this name, and you won't find Flucos of any type anywhere else.

REVELING AS REVELATORS
The athletes at Tabernacle of Prayer Christian (Norfolk) have their mascot name falling right in line with the school's mission. The church-centered institution went with Revelators as its mascot (the only school in America to choose that name), and no it does not mean "ones who like to revel" or anything like that. Revelators are defined as "ones that reveal; especially : one that reveals the will of God." As you can see from the mascot logo, these Revelators are ready for battle.

NORFOLK = MIGHTY TOWN USA
Two Virginia schools have mighty mascot names, and each are from the same city, making Norfolk one of the nation's mightiest towns. Norfolk Collegiate is the Mighty Oaks and Washington (Norfolk) is the Mighty Bookers. The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations states that in the 14th century, a proverb was developed that said "Great oaks from little acorns grow," though there isn't much other information on that. At Washington, the school is named after Booker T. Washington, an influential African-American author, adviser and civil rights leader who lived from 1856 to 1915.

NOT-SO-MEAN VENDEENS?
They're good dogs at Holy Family Academy (Manassas). The Vendeens, which is shortened from Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen, is a type of hound dog that is known for its friendly disposition and its ability to track hares. In fact, the PBGV is known by some to be the "Happy breed." Or, it could be a reference to the inhabitants of the Vendee department, an area in the northwest part of France that became strongly Catholic during the 1700s. According to the school, don't go with the dog as your choice. Here is their explanation. You won't find any other Vendeens in American high school sports.

TOP 15 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
# Eagles 23 (There is 1 Golden Eagles)
# Warriors 15
# Bulldogs 14
Cavaliers 13 (There is 1 Kavaliers)
# Cougars 12 (There is 1 Kougars)
# Knights 11 (There is 1 Black Knights and 1 Blue Knights)
# Panthers 11
Patriots 11
# Raiders 10 (There is 1 Black Raiders)
# Wildcats 9
# Tigers 9 (There is 1 Royal Tigers)
# Falcons 9
# Indians 9
Titans 8
Blue Devils 8 (There is 1 Devils, 1 Red Devils and 1 Sundevils)
# Denotes mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

Ambassadors Atoms Badgers Bearcats Bees Bengals Bishops Bison Black Hawks Black Knights Black Raiders Blue Demons Blue Knights Blue Streaks Blue Tornado Braves Broncos Buffaloes Cadets *Caissons Cardinals Celtics Challengers Clippers Cobras

Commodores Confederates Conquerors Coyotes Crabbers *Crimson Wave Cyclones Deacons Devils Dolphins *Drifters *Fighting Blues Fighting Hornets *Fighting Leemen Fighting Owls Firebirds Flames *Flying Flucos Foxes G-men Gators Gladiators Gobblers Golden Eagles Golden Wave

Governors Green Hornets Green Wave Green Waves Greyhounds Grizzlies Hilltoppers Islanders Jaguars Judges *Justices *Kavaliers Kings Kougars Little Giants *Majors Marlins *Maroon Maroon Tide Maroons Mavericks *Mighty Bookers *Mighty Oaks Navigators Owls

Packers Phantoms Pilots Pointers Ponies Presidents Pride *Rapids Red Devils *Revelators *Royal Tigers Royals Saxons Seahorses Skyhawks *Springers Sundevils Terriers Tornadoes Trailblazers Truckers *Vendeens Warhawks Wolves Yellow Jackets

* Denotes that no other school in America has that mascot name

MASCOT STATS
Most popular mascot name is used by 5.8 percent of schools.
There are 152 different mascot names for 400 schools.
17 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
Virginia's Top 15 features 11 of America's Top 15 mascot names.