Fat Cats players are expected to be recruited from college and university teams across North America. Its first season begins in May. (CBC)

Ottawa's newest minor league baseball team will be named the Fat Cats.

The team claimed the unflattering nickname often pinned on bureaucrats after months of tests, said Duncan MacDonald, a partner in the Ottawa Stadium Group. About 10 possible names were proposed to everyone the team's backers bumped into.

"When Fat Cats went on there, they just started to laugh," said MacDonald at a news conference Wednesday. "And I said, 'Well, this is what we're going to do. We're gonna make people laugh.'"

MacDonald and the Intercounty Baseball League also unveiled team's new grinning cat logo and red-and-black team colours.

Duncan MacDonald of the Ottawa Stadium Group said about 10 names were tested and 'Fat Cats' made people laugh. (CBC)

The league, an independent minor league with seven other teams across the province, announced March 10 that it had awarded its newest franchise to the Ottawa Stadium Group. The group signed a one-year lease with the city in February for the stadium that used to be home of the Can-Am League Ottawa Rapidz and the Triple-A Ottawa Lynx before that.

Ottawa residents canvassed by CBC News gave the new team name mixed reviews. At least one thought it was funny, but others said the team is sure to lose with a name like that.

When Finance Minister Jim Flaherty was asked what he thought, he responded: "Oh, they probably should be playing in Toronto … or Wall Street."

The team's players are expected to be recruited from college and university teams across North America. The season begins in May.