MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: California 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 California, there are 1,491 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 15 most popular mascot names in California, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats.

REEBAY OR RIBBIT?
Jacques Ribet must have had a good sense of humor when the school he opened, Ribet Academy (Los Angeles), chose the Fighting Frogs as the mascot. When his last name is pronounced correctly, Ribet's school is the Ree-bay Fighting Frogs. But people can have a lot more fun with it and call it the "Ribbit" Fighting Frogs.

DON'T TAKE THESE LITERALLY
Some mascot names in California mean different than what first comes to mind. The Earwigs of Dunn (Los Olivos) aren't fancy pieces of fake hair to cover someone's ear, they're small insects. The Tarbabes of Compton aren't babies that live in tar, their name has been altered over the years. Compton High used to share land with Compton College and since the college was the Tartars, the high school was the Baby Tartars. That evolved into Tarbabes. Bay (San Francisco), Laguna Beach and Pacific Grove are the Breakers, though it's not likely because they glorify breaking things. Instead, it's waves. San Diego is the Cavers, and it's not because they cave in. Vintage (Napa) is the Crushers, but it's not about crushing opponents — it's about crushing grapes.

A WORLDLY PLACE
California's list of mascot names includes a variety of foreign-inspired choices. No school chose Americans or Californians as its mascot, but some went with descriptions of citizens of other parts of the world: Arabs, Armens, Celtics, Celts, Fightin' Irish, Fighting Irish, Fighting Scots, Gaels (2), Gauls, Indians (13, though it could reflect American Indians, not India), Moors, Normans, Norsemen, Romans, Saxons (2), Scots (4), Spartans (30) and Tartars.

WELL, IT IS THE GOLDEN STATE
When it comes to adjectives involved in mascot names, golden is the standard. Seventeen schools go with Golden (12 Eagles, 2 Bears, 2 Hawks and 1 Knights). That's followed by Red (7) Fighting (5), Sea (3), White (3), Wolf (2), Aztec (2), Blue (2), Rough (2), Royal (1), Sun (1), Thundering (1), Crimson (1), Delta (1), Fightin' (1), Horned (1), Lady (1) and Polar (1). And on a related note, the "Golden Boy" of boxing has a school named after him: The de la Hoya Animo Boxers take their name from boxing superstar Oscar de la Hoya.

SETTING THE TONE
California does not have a reputation for doing things mainstream. Yet when you take a look at the list of mascot names, the Golden State mirrors the nation's most popular names with little diversion. The Top 12 most popular mascot names in California all appear on the nation's Top 15 list. Take your pick: either California is setting the trend for other states to follow, or California schools stick with the common names.

TOP 15 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
# Eagles 97 (There are 12 Golden Eagles and 1 Aztec Eagles)
# Knights 50 (There is 1 Royal Knights)
# Panthers 48
# Warriors 48 (There is 1 Aztec Warriors)
# Cougars 47
# Mustangs 45
# Wildcats 41 (There is 1 Wildcatz)
# Bulldogs 38
# Lions 38
# Vikings 37
# Tigers 35 (There are 3 White Tigers)
# Falcons 34
Spartans 30
Titans 26
Cardinals 22
# Denotes that mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

76ers Acorns Antelopes *Arabs Argonauts *Armens Aztec Eagles *Aztec Warriors Badgers *Barristers *Belles *Bells *Blades Blue Devils Blue Raiders Blues Boilermakers Boxers Brahmas Broncs Bullfrogs Bullpups Burros C-Hawks Capitals Cats *Cavers Celtics Celts Centaurs Chancellors *Cherokee Chiefs *Colonists Comanches *Contenders *Crimson Ridge *Crowns Crushers *Dawgs

Defenders *Delta Kings Democrats *Diablos *Drillers *Earwigs Elks *Emperors Farmers Fightin' Irish *Fighting Frogs Fighting Irish *Fighting Lancers Fighting Scots *Fighting Zebras *Firefox *Firehawks Flames Flashes Friars Frogs *Gauls Golden Knights *Gondoliers Gorillas Gryphons Guardians Guards *Haybalers *Heralds Hillmen *Horned Toads Hounds *Hunters  Islanders Jayhawks Jesters Jets *Kares Kings

Koalas Komets *Lady Royals Lakers Leopards *Lila *Matadores *Monsoons *Moors Mounties Mules Musketeers *Nitros *Nobles *Normans Norsemen Oaks Outlaws Pandas Parrots *Pathfinders Phantoms Pointers Polar Bears Prospectors Pythons *Quetzal Rajahs Red Tail Hawks Redcats *RedHawks Regals *RoadRunners Roadrunners Rockets Romans Rough Riders Royal Knights *Sea Hawks Seahawks

Seawolves Seraphs *Sheiks Skippers Skyhawks Spuds Steelers *Steelheads Stingrays *Sun Sun Devils Sundevils Suns *Surgeons Swordsmen *Tarbabes Tartars Terriers Thundering Herd *Tillers *Timberjacks *Toads *Toilers *Tologs *Toreadores Toreadors Toros *Torreys Trailblazers *Troubadours Unicorns Valiants Vanguards *Victorians Vipers *Volcanoes Warhawks *Wildcatz *Wildfires Yankees

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

MASCOT STATS:
Most popular mascot name is used by 6.5 percent of schools.
There are 295 different mascot names for 1,491 schools.
61 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
California's Top 15 features 13 of America's Top 15 mascot names.