“Many members of the University and community felt that ‘Memphis State’ sounded like hicksville compared to having a name like ‘University of Memphis,’” Hamrin wrote, and that’s just what the school became, to much satisfaction. So his suggestion: “How about ‘The University of Augusta?’”

His was one of about a dozen suggestions e-mailed to The Augusta Chronicle concerning the newly conjoined university. Many were for some combination of the existing names or evoked past names, such as “Augusta State University and Medical Center of Georgia,” which kept ASU and added the old Medical College of Georgia acronym, MCG, to the mix. John Hamilton went completely the other way with Peach State University.

“I see it as short and concise and it says exactly what it is,” while working in the state’s nickname, he said.

Having gone to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and noting that other states use a similar system, the University of Georgia at Augusta makes sense to Anna Wilds.

“It’s not an ‘us’ or ‘them’ thing. It’s a ‘we’ thing,” she said. “We’re all part of the University System of Georgia.” Another reader also suggested that name. Heidi Mayfield likes AGUS or AGUSTE, for “Augusta Georgia University System” or “Augusta Georgia University System Teaches Everything.”

Other suggestions of note:

AGS-HSU, for Augusta Georgia State Health Sciences University;

Georgia Regents University;

Georgia A & M University (Arts & Medicine);

Georgia Medical and State University.