I sent out a few independent surveys days and months back and these were the results. I must note that no one put me up to this, but these are of my own curiousity.
What I found, so far, is that using the city’s name for a club in Santa Ana is favored over using the county’s name.
When asked what names are most synonymous with Santa Ana, Winds and Saints are preferred.
Another name put out to test was LA Aztecs, and it surprisingly got a mostly positive response.
Weighing potential club name options
California Surf
The California Surf was an NASL team that played at Anaheim Stadium in the late 70s and early 80s. They were owned by the Segerstrom family, who are longtime landowners in the cities of Santa Ana and Costa Mesa, where they developed the upscale South Coast Plaza mall.
Santa Ana is nearer to Newport Beach than Anaheim or Fullerton… in fact, there was a point in time when Newport Beach was barely booming, that it was promoted as being “near Santa Ana.” California Surf fits the landscape very naturally, although the name “California” is very broad, and maybe not specific enough.
L.A. Aztecs
The LA Aztecs played in a number of venues in Los Angeles County during their existence in the first NASL, but never called an Orange County venue home. There’s no telling how they would fare if they went the route of the former LA Rams, the current LA Angels, the former LA Blues, the current LA Kiss. These were / are Greater / Metropolitan Los Angeles- (Orange County) based pro teams. But if an LA Aztecs club were to really want to appeal to an Orange County community, Santa Ana would be a top choice, but Titan Stadium in Fullerton could work too.
Santa Ana Winds FC
The Santa Ana winds, or “Santa Anas,” are very synonymous with Los Angeles and the Southland. The name is realy ideal in that it’s one that is entirely authentic and native to the landscape, and it’s very common in the Angeleno/angelino conscience. It’s ideal because it’s very region-specific, but widely known in the Los Angeles area, and its more specific than saying “California.”
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment below or engage on Twitter: @SaintCityPost
Golden City FC 