Students at UC Davis are often called Aggies because of the school's agricultural reputation, though the official mascot is a mustang named Gunrock. As a result, many businesses around town have the word Aggie in their name (e.g. Aggie Inn, Aggie Square, Aggie Nails, etc). The name of the UC Davis newspaper is The California Aggie, also commonly called "The Aggie" by students.
"From the UC Davis News & Notes, 1997: STUDENTS SAY 'NEIGH' TO MUSTANG
A cow? A mustang? An Aggie? You might say that the UC Davis mascot has had an identity crisis of late. But now a group of students is attempting to remedy that.
A student body vote on a referendum in February [1997] declared the Aggie the winner .... Adding to the confusion was a student vote taken in 1993 that, by a slim margin, named the cow as mascot. And while apparently there is no official policy specifying how to go about changing the university's mascot, a lack of administrative and alumni approval of the cow design left the matter languishing without any consensus.
.... The name Aggie does, indeed, have a long history at UC Davis. A 1922 editorial in the University Farm Agricola, predecessor to The California Aggie, said, "Up till now our men here have been known as the 'Davis Farmers.' In practically all the agricultural colleges of the United States, 'Aggies' is the name used. . . . The name has a college air, a football air, about it. . . . Let's call ourselves the Aggies. Hasn't it a winning sound to it?" A few years later, the mustang—inspired by a famous Thoroughbred stallion named Gunrock—was adopted as the symbol for UC Davis athletic teams and used interchangeably with Aggie.
Of the nearly 3,000 students voting .... 75 percent called for the Aggie to replace the mustang....."
Students at Texas A&M University and Utah State University are also notable Aggies among the 24 US schools who use the name (or at least those who are listed on Wikipedia).
