Meet the Cleveland Sirens: WNBA's next expansion team unveils name, and there's a reason it's not familiar

Cleveland's WNBA expansion team, which will start play in 2028, officially has a name: The Cleveland Sirens. 

"From these waters, a powerful new voice rises," former Cleveland Rockers star Janice Braxton said in the narration of the launch video on Tuesday. "Forged on our shores, rooted in the past, built for what's next. This is her story. This is her voice, and the world is listening. Hear the call."

Rock Entertainment Group, which owns the team, announced the mascot, logo and branding on Tuesday morning at a launch event at Rocket Arena. The Cleveland Rockers were one of the original eight WNBA franchises in 1997, but folded in 2003 after Gordon Gund, who also owned the Cleveland Cavaliers at the time, decided he no longer wanted to operate the team. The Rockers' name was a nod to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. 

But for the WNBA's return to the area, Dan Gilbert -- who bought the Cavaliers from Gund in 2005 -- and his colleagues at REG decided to go in a different direction with the name. 

Why the Sirens?

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, in Greek mythology a Siren is a "half-bird and half-woman creature who lured sailors to destruction by the sweetness of her song, personifying maritime hazards." Sirens are featured prominently in a scene in Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey," the summer's biggest blockbuster movie. 

Allison Howard, the president of business operations, said the name was picked because of the importance of Lake Erie to Cleveland and because of the spirit of the Siren.

"A Siren commands attention. She is unrivaled. She is powerful. She draws you in. She is loud by nature, but never, ever, by force. The Cleveland Sirens are sharp, unapologetic, relentless, fearless, and representative of our great region, our Great Lake, and our great future," Howard said during the event.

The name was settled on after thousands of interviews across the region. Earlier this year, the franchise filed trademarks for the names Novas, Riveters, Crown, Racers, Founders, Breakers and Sirens.

"We had focus groups, we had surveys, and many, many conversations in the community, and all of those conversations just kept validating that Sirens was it," Howard said. "This team needed to exist here and only here. It had to be authentically and distinctly Cleveland, because we are that special. We are bold. We are a rising tide, and our identity needed to match that of this movement in women's sports right now, and the movement that we have in Northeast Ohio. Simply put, this team will be absolutely impossible to ignore."

The Sirens now join the Golden State Valkyries as the second WNBA expansion team to get its name inspiration from Greek mythology.

WNBA franchises in Detroit and Philadelphia, which will start play in 2029 and 2030, respectively, still do not have team names.

Why not the Rockers?

After going 16 years without adding an expansion team, the WNBA is currently amidst a six-year expansion surge that will take the league from 12 to 18 teams. The Valkyries debuted in 2025, the Toronto Tempo and Portland Fire started this season, the Sirens will debut in 2028, and the Detroit team and Philadelphia teams will take the court before the end of the decade. In the midst of all of this, the Connecticut Sun will relocate after this season to Houston, and the Houston Comets will be reborn in 2027.

That means that in a five-year span, four WNBA teams (Portland, Houston, Cleveland and Detroit) will relaunch in markets where WNBA teams existed and folded in the past. So far, Portland has revived the branding of its former team, the Portland Fire, and Houston seems set to do the same with the iconic Comets name.

That begs the question: why would Cleveland not just revive the Rockers?

Well, "Cleveland Rockers" was one of many defunct franchises that the WNBA failed to renew the trademarks for a few years ago. Currently, the owner and president of the Women's Basketball League, a league that has not launched yet, owns the Cleveland Rockers name. It is unclear whether the Sirens tried to get the rights back to that name or just wanted a fresh start altogether.

However, the Akron Beacon Journal reports that Gilbert does plan to embrace the former team's name and hold throwback games. Involving former Rockers players in the launch was certainly a signal that what's gone is not forgotten.