List of social fraternities and sororities

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Social or General Fraternities and Sororities, in the North American fraternity system, are those not associated with a particular profession or discipline; they are formed solely for the purpose of developing friendships.

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[edit] Nicknames

Due to the large number of Greek organizations, and the confusion that derives from the use of combined Greek letters in predominantly English-speaking nations, many organizations may be informally better-known by their nicknames than by their letters. These nicknames usually follow certain patterns:

  • An initialism based on the letters, either in Greek form or their Anglicized equivalent. For instance, Alpha Epsilon Pi as "A-E-Pi," Delta Gamma as "D-G," or Phi Gamma Delta as "FIJI". ("FIJI" is always used by Phi Gamma Delta in place of their letters in all but seven specific places.)
  • An invented word based on the letters, such as Pi Kappa Alpha as "Pike", Zeta Beta Tau as "Zebe", Sigma Alpha Mu as "Sammy", Delta Kappa Epsilon as "Deke", or Sigma Nu as "Snu."
  • To shorten the letters themselves, for example Pi Kappa Phi as "Pi Kapp", or Sigma Phi Epsilon as "SigEp".
  • To eliminate letters, particularly when a chapter is the only one on a campus to use them: Pi Beta Phi as "Pi Phi", Phi Delta Theta as "Phi Delt", Alpha Delta Phi as "Alpha Delt'", or Kappa Kappa Gamma as just "Kappa" and Beta Theta Pi as "Beta". As five fraternities share the first two letters "Phi Kappa," the middle Kappa is sometimes eliminated, as "Phi Psi" for "Phi Kappa Psi".
  • For non-Greek lettered organizations, the use of an abbreviated word or phrase. For example, "Franklin Society" abbreviated as "Franklins."

[edit] Fraternities

[edit] National Organizations

National fraternities have chapters at more than one college or university.

[edit] Locals

Local fraternities have only one active chapter.

[edit] Sororities and Women's Fraternities

[edit] Nationals

National sororities have chapters at more than one college or university.

[edit] Locals

Local sororities have only one active chapter. (With the possibility of few others in the same area.)

[edit] Coeducational fraternities

Coeducational fraternities permit both male and female members.


Additionally, a very small number of national fraternities do not forbid their chapters from being coeducational, and as such these certain nationals may have a small minority of their chapters being coed, e.g. Psi Upsilon.

[edit] See also

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