#warriors bashing

RiverClan

To start off, RiverClan is actually my favorite and, again, is a non-issue for the most part. This is because it's a unique name and at no point in the series does it not represent the Clan itself or the cats in it. Throughout the series, RiverClan inhabits wet, riverside territory, and the cats do a lot of fishing and are strong swimmers, and nothing in the retroactive canon seems to conflict with them being mainly river cats! My only complaint is that it (as well as WindClan, but we'll get to them) have... I don't know, blander names compared to the other two of the original four Clans? But, again, this will be brought up later.

9/10. It serves its purpose, not a bad name at all!

WindClan

WindClan are a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, they absolutely fit in the original story! Thin, wiry cats that run really fast and live on a windy moor absolutely deserve a name like WindClan. On the other hand, it's revealed in Tallstar's Super Edition, which is I think called Tallstar's Revenge, that they used to also live in tunnels. Which... wouldn't make them wind cats, but general moor cats. Dawn of the Clans explains that they're named after Wind Runner, who went into tunnels, but I'm pretty sure that that came after Tallstar's Revenge. If the cats were more general moor cats, then it would have made more sense if they were MoorClan at first? Their name is also blander than ThunderClan and ShadowClan, and SkyClan stole the uniqueness of the sky theme, but WindClan came first.

7.5/10. In the OG series, it fits perfectly. The name is stretched sometimes, but it's fine.

SkyClan

SkyClan is a weird one for me. For one, wind and sky evoke similar feelings and thoughts, what with the wind and sky both being associated with air. This name just feels... unoriginal because of this. It's not a bad name, as they were great at climbing and leaping and that seemed to bring them closer to the sky, but it just feels too similar to WindClan. I get that it's supposedly named after Clear Sky, but when the writers were first coming up with this, I think I'd have preferred if they'd named it, like, TreeClan or something. No one was using it and it's more original.

6/10. Meh name, feels uninspired, but serves its purpose well enough.

ThunderClan

ThunderClan isn't too bad of a name. The cats are strong and muscular and jump really far, which... okay, I can't see it as clearly, but okay. My main issue is that it feels like it was specifically chosen as the Hero's Clan's name? Thunder is loud, and Rusty/Firepaw first joins ThunderClan. RiverClan and WindClan are named after what they do, so why couldn't these guys have been named TreeClan? But it's fine, they're not a climbing Clan, and ThunderClan works fine as a name that fits the theme of something in nature.

7.5/10. Feels like it was chosen for the hero's Clan, but it does its job fine as a name.

ShadowClan

This is my least favorite out of the Clan names. On the one hand, it fits the stealth theme, and shadows are technically natural things, so I can't say anything on that front. On the other hand, the first arc makes them out to be bad guys multiple times! It's not even sneaky about it! The first book makes multiple ShadowClan cats out to be pure evil, and later ShadowClan is the Clan that becomes the villains again! It just feels like the Erins chose the name because shadow=evil! We now have the knowledge that ShadowClan was named after Tall Shadow/Shadowstar, but in the context of only the OG books, it feels like a villain name.

5.5/10. Fits the cats, but in the first arc it feels like it was chosen for the villains.

BloodClan

Honorable mention. BloodClan is absolutely a villain name, but given how bloodthirsty and evil Scourge and the other BloodClan cats seemed, I think it's more justified than ShadowClan.