Before officially establishing the organisation, Šalčius had suggested to name it the Steel Battalion, but the new organisation was named the Lithuanian Riflemen's Union.
At the Union conference in 1920 Putvinskis raised the issue of changing the name, as in his opinion it was inconvenient because it was mistaken for a city name (Šiauliai, the 4th largest city in Lithuania is written and pronounced very similarly to šauliai).