Membership is not required to establish a Kentucky Colonel Branch or to be listed in the Kentucky Colonel Registry
This page clarifies the many different uses of “Kentucky Colonel” and “Kentucky Colonels”—including the state honor, the civic class of honorees, private associations, commercial brands, sports teams, and cultural works—so readers do not confuse the public title and colonelcy with any particular organization or trademark.
The terms “Kentucky Colonel” and “Kentucky Colonels” are used in many different ways: as a state honor, a civic class of people, a research and historical subject, a basketball team name, a music group name, and in the names of businesses, hotels, restaurants, and bourbon brands.
This page disambiguates those meanings so that readers, researchers, and policymakers can distinguish between:
The public office and commissioning authority;
The honorific commission and colonelcy;
The individual colonel;
The broader Kentucky Colonel Class and associations;
The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels and its brand; and
Other uses in sports, music, literature, hospitality, food, and commerce that do not create or control the civic title itself.
At the core of all other meanings is the public act of state by which a person is commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel.
The commission is issued in the name of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, historically by the Governor (and at times with involvement of the Secretary of State), as a civil honor and order of merit recognizing achievement, service, and contribution. Wikipedia
This commissioning function may be described as the “Office of the Kentucky Colonel” in the sense that it is the institutional locus where colonelcies are created and recorded.
It is public in character: it exists by virtue of the sovereign power of the Commonwealth, not by virtue of any private charity or corporation.
The commissioning authority:
Is tied to the Governor and the Commonwealth, not to any nonprofit, club, or brand;
Cannot be sold, licensed, or monopolized as private intellectual property; and
Remains the source of legitimacy for every genuine Kentucky Colonel commission, regardless of how private organizations later choose to brand or market the tradition.
Kentucky Colonelcy refers to the status created by that official act of state: the condition of having been commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel.
Key features of Kentucky Colonelcy include:
It is an honorific, civilian commission, not a military rank; Wikipedia
It is typically evidenced by letters patent or a commission certificate, with the Commonwealth’s seal and the Governor’s signature;
It carries customary expectations of goodwill, hospitality, and civic-mindedness, rather than codified statutory “rights.”
In this sense, Kentucky Colonelcy is:
A public status that travels with the person;
Not a registered trademark or private brand; and
Legally and historically distinct from any particular charity, club, or fundraising vehicle that later adopts the words “Kentucky Colonel(s)” in its name.
The individual Kentucky Colonel is the natural person named as honorable in the commission. That individual:
Holds the personal dignity of the title Kentucky Colonel;
May be recognized socially as a goodwill ambassador for Kentucky; and
Often uses the title in connection with professional, cultural, or charitable endeavors (for example, Colonel Harland Sanders leveraging the title and style in connection with the KFC brand). Sanders Cafe & Museum
The individual must be distinguished from:
The public office that creates the commission;
Any private organization that aggregates colonels or uses the term “Kentucky Colonels” in commerce; and
Any corporate trademark that happens to contain the words “Kentucky Colonel” or “Kentucky Colonels.”
A Kentucky colonel’s commission does not automatically make that person a member, donor, or agent of any particular nonprofit or business. The title belongs to the person as a matter of their honorific recognition and status as an officer; it does not belong to any corporation.
The Kentucky Colonel Class is the collective body of all persons who have been duly commissioned as Kentucky Colonels by the Commonwealth.
This civic class:
Flows directly from the act of commission, not from signing up with or donating to a private organization;
Includes colonels who support many different charities—or none at all; and
Functions as a public, non-proprietary community defined by state-issued commissions, not by private fundraising relationships.
Historically, handbooks, club directories, and modern research sites treat this class of colonels as a global community of honorees, comparable to an order of merit or professional fraternity, rather than as the property of any one nonprofit corporation. Wikipedia
Kentucky Colonels have long formed associations, clubs, and societies—from early twentieth-century groups like the 1905 Kentucky Colonels Club and the 1930 Kentucky Colonels Association to more recent efforts such as Kentucky Colonels International and other colonel circles worldwide.
These associations are:
Independent of the Commonwealth and the commissioning authority;
Generally nonstate, voluntary, and nonprofit in origin; and
Intended to promote fellowship, heritage, charitable works, and cultural events among colonels and their supporters.
Any group of colonels (and their allies) may, in principle, organize a Kentucky Colonel association, council, club, or society, so long as it does not misrepresent itself as a state agency and complies with ordinary law. No private entity enjoys a lawful monopoly over the idea of Kentucky Colonels forming associations or clubs.
The Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels (HOKC) and its affiliated for-profit company Kentucky Colonels Collectibles, Inc. (KCC) are private organizations that use “Kentucky Colonels” as a prominent brand and trademark in fundraising and merchandising. Wikipedia
From a disambiguation standpoint:
These entities are not the Commonwealth of Kentucky and do not hold the commissioning power;
They do not create Kentucky Colonelcy; the power to issue commissions remains with the Governor;
They represent one particular colonel-based charity and merchandise structure, not the entire Kentucky Colonel Class; and
They maintain and enforce a private trademark portfolio in commerce, which is legally distinct from the generic and descriptive use of the words “Kentucky Colonel(s)” for the title, class, or historical subject.
When HOKC or KCC solicit donations, sell merchandise, or market branded programs, they are acting as private market participants. Their activities may invoke Kentucky’s traditions, but they do not convert the public title or the civic class of colonels into corporate property.
“Kentucky Colonels” has also been used extensively in sports branding, especially basketball:
Kentucky Colonels (ABA, 1967–1976) – A professional basketball team in the American Basketball Association based in Louisville, known for its on-court success and 1975 ABA championship. Wikipedia
Kentucky Colonels (ABA 2000) – A later professional basketball team (2004–2006) in a revived ABA, also associated with Louisville. Wikipedia
Eastern Kentucky Colonels – The athletic teams of Eastern Kentucky University, including men’s and women’s basketball and football, all using “Colonels” as their sports nickname. Wikipedia
These sports uses:
Are team and school nicknames, not honorific commissions;
Do not confer the state title of Kentucky Colonel; and
Reflect the cultural resonance of the colonel archetype within Kentucky identity and marketing, rather than any official connection to the commissioning process.
“Kentucky Colonel(s)” also appears in arts and media, entirely separate from the civic commission:
The Kentucky Colonels (band) – A notable bluegrass group active mainly in the 1960s, associated with guitarist Clarence White and recognized for introducing bluegrass to wider audiences. Wikipedia
“A Kentucky Colonel” (1890 novel) – A novel by Opie Read, later adapted into a silent film called The Kentucky Colonel, using the colonel archetype for storytelling rather than conveying an actual commission. Wikipedia
In these contexts, “Kentucky Colonel” functions as a literary and cultural motif:
It invokes themes of Southern or Kentucky identity, hospitality, and character;
It does not indicate that every referenced character or performer holds a real, modern Kentucky Colonel commission; and
It underscores how deeply the colonel archetype has entered the cultural imagination, beyond the legal realities of the civic title.
Across the United States and abroad, businesses have adopted “Kentucky Colonel” or “Kentucky Colonels” in their names and product branding, especially in hospitality, food and beverage, and lodging:
Hotels and motels such as the Kentucky Colonel Motel in Bradenton, Florida, and historical establishments and restaurants that used “Kentucky Colonel” or “The Kentucky Colonel” in their signage and advertising.
Bourbon and whiskey brands, including historic and current products marketed as “Kentucky Colonel” Kentucky Straight Bourbon or similar names, and related branding where “Colonel” evokes Kentucky tradition and craftsmanship.
Restaurants and food brands, where the image or idea of a Kentucky Colonel—most famously Colonel Harland Sanders of KFC—has been used in logos, mascots, and stories to promote regional cuisine and hospitality.
Cocktails and recipes such as the “Kentucky Colonel” cocktail, where the term is used purely as a drink name associated with bourbon. Difford's Guide
These commercial uses:
Are brands and trade names, not civic commissions;
Often rely on the symbolic appeal of the colonel as a cultural figure; and
May be protected by trademark law in specific markets and designs, but they do not convert the generic civic concept of a Kentucky Colonel into a single private asset.
Finally, the phrase “Kentucky Colonel” appears in various other contexts that are related but distinct from the formal commission:
As an archetype in advertising, journalism, and storytelling—describing a certain image of a Kentuckian associated with bourbon, storytelling, or hospitality. Wikipedia
In gardening and cuisine, as in the “Kentucky Colonel” mint variety sometimes referenced in discussions of cocktails like the Mint Julep. Simply Recipes
In online projects, research sites, and civic initiatives that use “Kentucky Colonel,” “Kentucky Colonelcy,” or “Kentucky Colonels” in titles to explore history, heritage, and public records of colonels.
These uses illustrate that “Kentucky Colonel” functions not only as a specific state honor but also as a broader cultural symbol.
From a disambiguation perspective, the crucial distinctions are:
Only the Commonwealth’s commissioning authority can create a true Kentucky Colonel commission;
The Kentucky Colonel Class and Kentucky Colonelcy are public, generic concepts grounded in that honor;
Private organizations, sports teams, bands, businesses, and brands that adopt “Kentucky Colonel(s)” are using the words for their own identities or products, not exercising the state’s commissioning power; and
Confusion often arises when private brands or secondary uses are conflated with the public office, the honorific commission, or the broader civic class of Kentucky Colonels.