Who should name the dojo?

[Jiffy]

We're missing part of the story here...

Can you please tell us what sort of setup it is (eg. Franchise, Affiliation etc) and also, what the old name and new names are.

This might help us to form an opinion.

[Zorbasan]

the founder of the school is the one that should name the dojo. for example, i am currently being taught by the aacd, but if wheni get my BB i decide to go make my own school, i will choose my own name, and if they dont like it, tough luck

however, if i want to open a new under the aacd banner, like a franchise type thing, then they will have the naming rights.

[Brandon Fisher]

If its the dojo not the organization then the owner of the dojo should be able to name it. Like mine is Fisher Family Martial Arts Center but in Japanese is Fisha Kazoku Budo Chushin.

[Jiffy]

the founder of the school is the one that should name the dojo. for example, i am currently being taught by the aacd, but if wheni get my BB i decide to go make my own school, i will choose my own name, and if they dont like it, tough luck

however, if i want to open a new under the aacd banner, like a franchise type thing, then they will have the naming rights.

Oh that's hurtful Zorbasan!! (just kidding)

Seriously though, if you do choose to open a school with us, then yes, we would name the dojo (would probably still be AACD - xxxx Dojo) or at least have a discussion of what it should be. If on the other hand you broke away and did your own thing, then of course it would be your choice.

That's the way it should be too as far as I'm concerned! For example, we are affiliated with the Australian Karate Federation, International Martial Arts Alliance and various others, but none of these have a right to dictate our names etc.

[Zorbasan]

actually i wouldnt trust myself to name it. id end up calling it "choice karate" or something stupid

[RichardHangHong]

When coming up with a name it's important to choose something that has meaning. I'm quite a traditionalist and also like to keep things simple and to the point, so when choosing the name for my school I took this into account, did some research and chose Seitou Ryu which means Traditional School. It took nearly 6 months to choose the name but it was worth the wait.

[Jiffy]

Sounds like a good plan to me.

We started off teaching Shotokan Karate, so we called it SKA - Shotokan Karate-Do association

Then we added names for each style as we started to teach it.

Zanshin Kobudo - (Zanshin = awareness)

Tenjin-Ryu Jiu Jitsu (I forget why Tenjin)

ICHF Combat Hapkido (the name of the school it started from)

Then we had to come up with a name for the whole association because it was too hard to just keep 4 names, so we kept it simple by way of location.

AACD - Adelaide Academy of Combat and Defence

Also what came into it for us is that AACD is very early in the alphabet, therefore, listed early in the phone book.

[kivikala]

I believe the school-owner names the school (he who has the gold makes the rules.) I think organizations appreciate uniformity as it creates strong community and mind-share. But unless it's a franchise, the organization can go cry me a river.

We have over the years been members of various organizations (HMAF, SKKU, USKA, HHSK, SKA). When we joined SKA it was "suggested" that we use the name "Shotokan Karate - (town-name)" if we were going to include any references to SKA in our own advertising. At the time, our name was rather generic "Shotokan Karate Dojo" so for us changing the name to support the organization was a simple no-brainer. If the school name was more "unique" (i.e. Kivikala's Super Karate School, Bait Shop and Delicatessen) we would not have changed the name. Many schools in SKA have unique (non-conforming) names. As an observation, the schools that do follow the convention tend to be university clubs rather than established businesses.

[Jiffy]

Kivikala's Super Karate School, Bait Shop and Delicatessen

HAHAHA, now that would have to be one very unique Dojo!!!

[TigerDude]

Sounds like Mr/Ms Sensei's Sensei is on a bit of a power trip. I'd drop someone like that like a hot potato.