The UBC Thunderbird sports teams were nearly called the Seagulls? Back in 1933, when UBC’s teams still had no name, the student paper, the Ubyssey, ran a name-the-team contest and the winner, as voted on by the students, was Seagulls! The paper’s sports editor decided this was a ridiculous name (though there are lots of seagulls in Vancouver) and so another contest was held. The premise seems to have been that the students should keep voting until they picked the right candidate.