Skip to content
Find an acronym

School

Stands forUniversity of California, Los Angeles

initialismU C L A, letter by letter

What Does UCLA Stand For?

SchoolCollegesCaliforniaUpdated Oct 30

What does UCLA stand for? The letters stand for University of California, Los Angeles, a large public research university on the west side of Los Angeles. It is one campus in the University of California system, which is why the name starts with UC and ends with the city.

The school opened in 1919 as the Southern Branch of the University of California and later moved to its current campus in the Westwood neighborhood. Today the four letters are used far more than the full name, on sweatshirts, game broadcasts, hospital signs and college application lists.

Quick facts

  • Stands for

    University of California, Los Angeles

  • Type

    Initialism, said letter by letter

  • How to say it

    U C L A

  • Started

    1919, as the Southern Branch

  • Part of

    The University of California system

  • Team name

    Bruins

  • Not to be confused with

    USC, UCSD, UC Berkeley

What does UCLA stand for in full?

How the four letters map to the school's name
LetterWordRole in the name
UUniversityThe kind of school
CCaliforniaThe state system it belongs to
LLosFirst word of the city
AAngelesSecond word of the city

Notice that "of" gets no letter. Most school initials skip short connecting words. The comma in the official name matters too: it signals that Los Angeles is the location of this branch, not part of a separate title. An older form of the name used "at" in place of the comma, and you may still see that in old documents.

How the UC system names its campuses

The University of California is a group of public campuses run under one system. Each campus adds its location to UC, which gives a family of names that look alike:

  • UCLA: Los Angeles.
  • UCSD: San Diego.
  • UCSB: Santa Barbara.
  • UC Davis and UC Irvine: written with the city name in full instead of initials.
  • UC Berkeley: the oldest campus, often called Cal.

Only some campuses are known mainly by initials. The pattern depends on habit, not on a rule.

Where you will see the letters

  • Sports: scoreboards and schedules list the Bruins as UCLA.
  • Health care: the university runs a large medical center, so the letters appear on hospital and clinic signs in the region.
  • Applications: students choose UCLA from a list when they apply to UC campuses.
  • Research news: stories often say "a UCLA study" or "researchers at UCLA."

On a scholarship form: "Intended school: UCLA." The student plans to enroll at the Los Angeles campus of the University of California.

Saying and writing UCLA

Say each letter: "U C L A." Fans sometimes spell it out in a chant, one letter at a time. Capitals only, and leave out periods. U is voiced "you," a consonant sound, so "a" goes in front: "a UCLA student," "a UCLA game." Since nobody reads it as a word, it counts as an initialism, a label our what is an acronym guide unpacks.

Sample sentences:

  • "My cousin got into UCLA for nursing."
  • "The UCLA campus sits in Westwood."
  • "We drove past UCLA on the way to the beach."
  • "Her research lab is at UCLA."

Schools people mix up with UCLA

Southern California has several well known universities with short names. USC, the University of Southern California, is a private school in Los Angeles and a long time rival in sports, so the two are often mentioned together. Cal State campuses belong to a different public system, the California State University. For other college letters, see SMU, TCU and HBCU, or browse the full school acronyms list.

Questions people ask

What is the full name of UCLA?

The official name is University of California, Los Angeles. The comma shows that Los Angeles is where this campus of the University of California is located.

Is UCLA a public school?

Yes. It is a public university and part of the University of California system, alongside campuses such as Berkeley and San Diego.

How do you pronounce UCLA?

Say each letter on its own, U C L A. Nobody reads it as a single word.

Is UCLA the same as USC?

No. USC is the University of Southern California, a separate private university. The two schools are both in Los Angeles and are sports rivals.

When was UCLA founded?

It opened in 1919 as the Southern Branch of the University of California. It later moved to its Westwood campus and took the name it uses today.