FORT WAYNE, Ind. – When Dana Federal Credit Union decided to change its name for the fourth time since 1946, it turned to its members for inspiration. Members were more then glad to give their input as thousands of members put in their two cents on the name change. The result? The CU is now called Fort Financial FCU. "Our products and services are so diversified now that Dana FCU seemed very limiting," said Fort Financial FCU Marketing Director Korrie Wilhelm. "So we knew it was time for a change, but in our area there are a lot of bank mergers and takeovers and we knew if we didn't somehow involve members in the process they might worry we were being taken over too, so we held a contest." The contest "Name that Credit Union" ran from July to November and was limited to "members only" who could enter as many names as they wanted for a grand prize of $5,000. "The member response was phenomenal," said Wilhelm. "Members had so much fun with this and we kept promoting the contest to show them not only how important they are to the credit union but also reinforce the idea that we were still there for them." Over 6,000 entries were received, and once duplicates were removed the credit union still had 4,000 names to choose from. A committee of 10 staffers whittled the list down to 25 and then the final elimination process began by determining which names were available. "When it came down to it Fort Financial FCU was the best choice given that our headquarters is in Fort Wayne and the symbolism associated with a fort which historically signifies a safe place of strength and stability," said Wilhelm. "The name also works well for our branches in North Carolina, Mississippi and Illinois." Wanting something simple that could stand on its own and reflect a more modern professional look and feel, Wilhelm designed the logo to play up the $166 milion credit union's signature red and blue and the unofficial tagline that "The fort stands for you". The official name launch will kick off on April 1 with television and radio advertising and a new Web site. [email protected]