Team Names for Work: Ideas to Inspire (and How to Set Guidelines)

Are you planning a virtual event for your company? Whether you’re hosting a simple trivia night or a full-blown virtual game night for your company, you’ll need to divide people into teams — and that means coming up with team names.

You might let teams come up with their own names, pick from a list, or you may even prefer to simply assign team names to different groups. Here are some great names to choose from, plus some tips to keep in mind if you’re letting groups choose for themselves.

Suggested team names for work games

Want some ideas for your team names? Whether you’re looking for some classic team names, work-specific ones, or funny names, try some of these favorites.

Classic team names

While they may not be the most exciting names out there, these classic team names are simple and inoffensive:

• We Are the Champions
• Quizmasters
• The A Team
• Risky Quizness
• Taking Care of Quizness
• The Usual Suspects
• Quizbusters
• Top Dogs
• Give Us a Clue
• Eggheads
• Universally Challenged

Work-themed team names

Want something work-themed? These types of names can work well if your groups are based on your actual work teams or departments:

• Desk Demons
• Cubicles R Us
• Quota Crushers
• Commission Impossible
• Numbers Ninjas
• Tech Monkeys
• Technocrats
• IT Phone Home
• Talented Managers
• Team ABC (Always Be Closing)
• All the Write Answers
• Can’t Beat the C-Suite

Funny and sarcastic team names

Got colleagues with a dry sense of humor? These funny and sarcastic work team names might be perfect for them:

• Let Me Google That For You
• HR’s Worst Nightmare
• We’re Just One Big Happy Family
• It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere
• The Sell-Outs
• Can I Go Home Yet?
• The Procrastinators
• Glorified Babysitters
• Wait, Who’s Manning the Phones?
• The Slackers
• We Run On Coffee
• The Village Idiots

Pop culture work team names

TV, film, and music are all great sources of funny team names — with the bonus of being perfectly suitable for the workplace. Check out these pop-culture-inspired examples:

• Malcolm in the Middle Management
• How I Met Your Manager
• The Quiz Place
• Only Quizzes in the Building
• Home-Working Alone
• Honey, I Shrunk the Quiz
• Quizarding World of Harry Potter
• Pan’s Labyrinthian Quiz
• Close Encounters of the Quizzical Kind
• Scott Pilgrim vs the Quiz
• No Quiz for Old Men
• Shaun of the Dead Wrong Answer
• Star Wars: Return of the Winners
• It’s a Wonderful Quiz
• There Will Be Questions
• The Silence of the Losing Quiz Team
• The Good, The Bad, and the Quizzical
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Quiz
• Indiana Jones and the Last Quiz

One-word team names

If you want (or need) teams to stick to a single-word name, these make great options:

• Warriors
• Titans
• Champions
• Lions
• Ninjas
• Unbeatable
• Unstoppable
• Conquerors
• Innovators
• Hustlers
• Crushers

Letting groups choose their own team names (and setting guidelines)

If groups are going to choose their own team names, here are a few tips to make sure the process runs smoothly.

Allow time for choosing names

It can take a while to decide on the perfect team name. Either allow time during your event or retreat for this or have groups submit their names in advance. Don’t let the process drag on for ages, though. Instead, set a clear deadline.

Set ground rules on what’s appropriate

You might hope it would go without saying that team names should be appropriate for the workplace, but it’s a good idea to be crystal clear about this.

For instance, you might ask groups to avoid using swear words or sexual innuendos, but you might also want to avoid other categories, like alcohol-related team names, religious team names, or any team names that refer to a specific staff member.

Be clear about any technical restrictions

Perhaps team names are limited to a specific length or they can’t use certain characters, such as apostrophes. They might even be required to be only one or two words. Make sure you’re clear about the format for team names.

Check team names before they’re finalized

If possible, check team names before they’re added to the system you’re using. You don’t want to end up with two teams that have almost identical names, for instance, or a team that’s using a name that could be offensive to another staff member.

Make sure you check team names will sound OK when read out loud, too. You probably don’t want a “Norfolk N Chance” or “Hoof Hearted” sneaking in there!

Whatever team names you use, have fun with your colleagues. To get even more out of the game, you might also want to offer a virtual prize for the top team(s), and don’t forget to check in with people after the event to see what they enjoyed most and what you could do differently next time.

Originally published at Mar 17 2022, 12:22:23 PM. Updated on May 4 2024.