MaxPreps Mascot Mondays: Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island, there are 58 schools with mascots listed in the MaxPreps database. Listed below are the Top 7 most popular mascot names in Rhode Island, the mascot names that only one school owns and other mascot facts/stats.

GUILTY OF BEING KILTIES
If you go on the mascot name alone, the athletes at Mt. Pleasant (Providence) must wear kilts instead of standard uniforms. They are the Kilties at Mt. Pleasant (the only ones in the nation) and it can be traced back to the site where the school was built, according to Marc's Distinctive High School Mascot Collection. The school was built on a hill and therefore was on a highland. And in Scotland, those who lived in the highlands wore kilts. You'll find plenty of Highlanders all over the nation, but you have to make your way to the Rhode Island state capital to find Kilties.

VILLA NOVANS: FROM WAY BACK
History lesson: Where did villanovan culture originate? Stumped? The answer is Italy, and it originated in the northern part of the country in the ninth or 10th century B.C., according to Encyclopedia Brittanica. That's interesting knowledge but doesn't really play a role in why Woonsocket goes by the Villa Novans. Marc's Distinctive High School Mascot Collection says the school chose the mascot name because it was built on land that was part of Villa Nova Park. Regardless of the origins, you won't find any other Villa Novans in the nation.

KNOTTY OR NICE?
Out at Coventry, they are half Oakers and half Knotty Oakers. You'll find them as Oakers in the MaxPreps database but a lot of local references still refer to the full mascot name of Knotty Oakers. The history of the Knotty Oakers comes from the location of the original high school, at the corner of Knotty Oak road and route 117. There is one other school in the nation that goes by Oakers, but there are no other Knotty Oakers. And we're pretty certain that there are some other mascot names that originated because of the street in front of the school. If you want to know what an Oaker looks like, this might not be the best place to ask. The school logo is a small elephant.

SKIPPERS ARE IN CONTROL
The athletes at North Kingstown don't eschew running for skipping (walking combined with jumping). They are still the Skippers, though. The mascot name for the school near Narragansett Bay pays homage to Rhode Island's popularity in maritime activities by going with a word that refers to the person in command of a vessel. It does not have anything to do with how the students get from class to class or how the athletes accelerate. It's definitely not the most unique mascot name in the nation (there are five others), but it's one of the better ones in the state.

A PAIR OF PURPLES
We've seen Reds, Blues and even Blugolds. It was a little surprising to find Purples from Classical (Providence). And a little bit more surprising to see that there is another school with purples as its mascot choice. And just to blow your mind, that other school that goes by the Purples is from a place called Bowling Green, Ky. Getting back to the Classical mascot name, there isn't much online about why the historic campus went with Purples. Athena, from Greek Mythology, is the centerpiece of the school's official seal, but we can't find a connection between her and Purples.

TOP 7 MOST POPULAR MASCOT NAMES
Patriots 3
# Tigers 3
# Warriors 2
Saints 2
# Eagles 2
# Falcons 2
# Knights 2 (There is 1 Scarlet Knights)
# Denotes mascot name is in America's Top 15

MASCOT NAMES USED BY ONLY 1 SCHOOL

Avengers Bengals Blue Wave Broncos Bulldogs Cavaliers Chargers Chieftains Clippers Cougars Crusaders

Dragons Hawks Hurricanes Huskies Islanders *Kilties Koalas Lions Lynx Mariners

Mounties Northmen Oakers Panthers Purples Quakers Raiders Rams Ravens Rebels

Royals Scarlet Knights Sentinels Skippers Spartans Thunderbolts Titans Townies Vikings *Villa Novans Wizards

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

MASCOT STATS
Most popular mascot name is used by 5.2 percent of schools.
There are 49 different mascot names for 58 schools.
2 schools have mascot names that no other American school has.
Rhode Island's Top 7 features 5 of America's Top 15 mascot names.