What's in a Name? Why the Hornets Name Is a Family Issue

From the Bring Back the Buzz archive. First published April 22, 2013 on bringbackthebuzz.net, lightly edited.

"What's in a name?" is a question a lot of people asked us during the campaign. Here's a piece of our answer from 2013. Read it now and swap "Bobcats" for "rebuild year," and it still explains why Charlotte keeps showing up.

A good majority of the loudest Bring Back the Buzz supporters are part of a generation that was brought to Charlotte Hornets games by their parents, grandparents and older siblings. We are the loud ones. We were too young to vote on the arena, but we loved this team anyway. We're the Bobcats fans asking for a change.

And the people standing proudly behind this movement, smiling as we try to make history, are those same parents, grandparents and loved ones. Nothing could be more rewarding than watching your kids fight to carry on the heritage you passed on to them.

My brother and I have met hundreds of these people, and the story is almost always the same. Once the NBA left Charlotte, they stopped caring and stopped watching. They understand our generation's attempt to rekindle what we had as kids. And the one thing that would bring them back out to games is the Charlotte Hornets name.

Take our dad. He's very frugal with his money (sorry Dad, it's true), and he's the one who took my brother, Mom and me to Hornets games. He's strongly considering season tickets. What he told the ticket rep: "All you have to say is that we are APPLYING for a name change and I will buy the season tickets."

A close friend's father was a HUGE Hornets fan and has been to exactly one Bobcats game, a SWARM we hosted. His words: "As soon as they change the name back to the Hornets, I will attend as many games as my job allows."

Our mom, who some of you know as Mama Buzz, is our BIGGEST supporter, because of what the Charlotte Hornets meant to this city and, most of all, to our family. Both our parents are from Pennsylvania, but they raised us as hardcore Charlotte Hornets fans, in case you hadn't noticed.

This is a family issue. And it's a giant group of fans whose opinions, and wallets, can't be ignored.

Still a family thing in 2026

A year after we wrote this, the Hornets name came home. Today those same families fill The Local before every home game, and plenty of them now bring the next generation. That's why The Crown Club CLT has a Kids membership with its own kit, so the next generation can rep teal and purple too. And if you're the Mama or Papa Buzz in your family, a gift membership is an easy way to pass it on.