The Toronto Slam Jammers? Fans had some wild suggestions for naming the Raptors back in 1994

The name on everyone’s lips right now in Toronto is “Raptors,” one of the quirkiest professional sports names there is. But if Raptors fans had their way back in 1994, the team could have been named after something much quirkier.

Urban planner Gil Meslin recently shared a clipping from the Toronto Star archives that covered the nationwide contest to name the NBA’s newest expansion team 25 years ago, and you’ll likely get a kick out of some of the extremely strange fan submissions.

After more than 2,000 fan submissions, ten names were selected for fan voting. The finalists were Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Raptors, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, and Terriers. Keep in mind this was back in 1994, the peak of Stephen Spielberg’s Jurassic Park, which ultimately influenced a crucial part of Toronto’s history forever.

Some fan suggestions were extremely Canadian, such as the Raccoons, Canadian Eh’s, Great Lakes, Polar Bears, Ice, Trilliums, and Northern Lights. Others went the basketball route with the Blue Basketballs, Bounce, Dribblers, Hoopers, Slam Jammers, and Mighty Dunks. One underrated submission was the Toronto Sauras Rex... say that slowly now, it’s magic.

Garth Woolsey, a Toronto Star writer during the contest, had the right response to the naming when he said, “the thing about a team name is that people have to grow into it. It has to become their own; it has to gain a look and a feel, a history, an image, an attitude; they have to become fans.”

This is exactly what the Raptors have become for the City of Toronto 25 years later. It really wouldn’t have mattered if the Toronto Beavers were chosen because the basketball fans of Toronto would have likely adopted the same passion, energy, and commitment to the team. They’d probably have to rename Jurassic Park to The Dam, or something, but that’s a job for the marketing team.

More Raptors coverage on Yahoo Sports