View Full Version : trail name(s)-coming up with one.
crazystick
01-26-2011, 20:29
how did you guys come up with your trail names? was it hard, easy? did someone give it to you?
I have never had a nickname in school, everyone has always called me by my last name, its like nicknames of anysort just dont stick with me, maybe i have one of those personalities where nothing quite describes me or i dont do anything super sigificant that would stick out enough to merit being called by it.
but i just for the life of me cannot come up with a trail name for myself! i need inspiration or ideas. maybe even a random word generator! lol
so how did all of you come up with or earn your names for your 2011 hike?
I think you should wait until someone bestows one upon you. It'll be more fun that way...for us. :)
You can always pretend it didn't happen and wait for the next one if it's too bad. That's what I did.
crazystick
01-26-2011, 20:42
so whats your trailname? is it "rick500" and how/why did you get it?
I think you should wait until someone bestows one upon you. It'll be more fun that way...for us. :)
Agreed. Mine was given to me. Its better to have one given by someone else.
Lone Wolf
01-26-2011, 21:18
how did you guys come up with your trail names? was it hard, easy? did someone give it to you?
gave it to myself. it's what i is
Creek Dancer
01-26-2011, 21:32
Someone gave me my name after several failed attempts at water crossings in St. Mary's Wilderness. He said he had never seen anyone move quite like that!
so whats your trailname? is it "rick500" and how/why did you get it?
Well, since you asked ;) first one was "The Colonel"... I didn't go for that one; second one was "Reflecto" which kind of amuses me, but...we'll see what comes along next.
mweinstone
01-26-2011, 21:37
just stuck ski on the end of my name. not polish. never ski.
4eyedbuzzard
01-26-2011, 22:32
Mine's pretty obvious. My daughter is Soggy Feet. I think she wants a new one though.
I was hiking in the Schwarzwald near Freiburg Germany back in '05 when a few Army buddies and I decided to check out the local red light district.
As we explored the Brothels we ran into a beautiful young lady who said, in her broken english, she was from Romania. After talking to her a bit I turned to say something to my buddy Brandon when all of a sudden i felt a hand down my pants. Now my first instinct was to pull away but the hand had a firm grip on my twins. I turned and told the young Romanian lady that she owed me 5 euros for cop and feel she just had.
Well she laughed and said "Big. Uh uh uh POMMES!". Now i had no idea what she was saying but she kept saying "Big POMMES!". After a while she walked over and said something to one of her associates.
She came back and looked me dead in the eyes and said "Big POMMES! POTATOES!"
Apparently Pommes means Potatos and she was commenting on the large size of my bouncing boys. So for ever more i was known as Big Pommes! Which is funny when they call me that around my wife whom has no idea why they call me that.
The End.
My parents gave me the name that appears on my birth certificate. It worked just fine on the A.T. and it still serves me well after almost 50 years of use.
One of my hiking freaks - er, friends, tried to christen me Rabid Chipmunk, then on another hike it was Wacky Woodchuck.
I'm waiting for a new friend to give me a real trailname. It'll only stick when people can remember it on the next trip.
Special-K
01-26-2011, 23:32
my mom gave me mine. sounds strange to some people but true. i love eating special k cereal. and im much of a goof when around my family
Special K, did your mom know that your name is also a drug?
Crazystick, I think that is a great trail name! I give you that one.
People gave me mine.
Given to me by others... I work as a travel nurse and change locations every 3 to 6 months. Someone said, "Oh, like a Gipsy" and there it was...........
crazystick
01-27-2011, 05:20
Well. With much thinking it was not until I was no longer sober that I came up with it. I think it is perfect . Until I earn a better one from someone else . I shall henceforth be named " Bravo" my last name is briner, so it's really just my last name initial in NATO-phonetic , and all my friends call me by my last name anyway. See.... It's perfect .
But please. I keep wanting to hear your guy's stories. Especially because it will help me remember your names now especially because I will soon see alot of u on the trail.
Trailbender
01-27-2011, 08:02
Got mine on my second night out on an AT section in 2009 by two college girls. They never really explained why.
Slo-go'en
01-27-2011, 12:50
On my first big section hike, after not doing any serious hiking for 15 years or so, everytime a thru-hiker would pass me going up a hill in SW VA, they would ask "hows it going?" I would respond "Slowly". "Slow going" morphed into my trail name of slo-go-en.
Delta-Dawn
01-27-2011, 15:29
My 19 year old son gave my daughter and I the names of Pinky and The Brain. It works for now but we are open to new names if bestowed upon us. :)
FritztheCat
01-27-2011, 20:05
Don't have one yet. We'll see what the trail provides. :D
Started off with the generic "Just Jon", but that got changed into Johnny Mud Foot, after loosing a shoe to the mud in Vermont. Video from the day I got my name. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmRNRy4v6tY)
My brother and I do multi week long sections, and we have plans of a thru in 2012 ... I gave him his as one night he refused to ration water till the following day and hiked 5 miles in the dark with our camp bladder back too fill up .... So i call him Hydro, When i meet people on the trail that are members of whiteblaze, they know me as darkage - came about as i like the darkness and the old worlds ... My childhood nickname is wild thing from my days growing up playing baseball and football through my highschool years .... So i tend too go by both just too throw people off, No one on the trail has givin me a trail name yet, So we'll see what the thru hike brings. For now, ya'll know me as darkage.
topshelf
01-27-2011, 21:01
Mine was given by a fellow hiker. I was explaining about floating and fishing the new and how its got great smallmouth but all I normally catch are redeye's. and there it is.
Too many vowels in my last name.
I blame my grandfather who also had the same trail name (his trail went from North Africa, to Sicily, up to Italy, to southern France and ending in Munich. Had to carry an M1 rifle the whole way).
elmotoots
01-27-2011, 23:28
I am Elmo, my wife is Toots.
Toots is what her dad called he for 56yrs so it is stuck on her forever
I got mine 25yrs ago when I helped coach my sons baseball team. I could not remember all the boys names so I gave some of them nicknames.
I gave one of them the nickname Elmo. One day at a game I called him in from the outfield using his nickname, he came up to me crying and said his mom and dad didnt like his nickname but he did. I told him we would start using his real name for him and would call me Elmo so everyone would be happy, he laughed and the nickname stuck for me.
So we are ElmoToots
Raul Perez
01-27-2011, 23:30
I fell into 2 lakes on 2 consecutive days... thus Water Monkey was born!
seminoles
01-27-2011, 23:44
I was given the name of "Panama Red" by Kevin "Teflon" Vickery, I suppose because I am from Panama City, Fl. and after a long climb my face was red...very red. Hence
Panama Red.
I remember in the 70's something else had the same name.
mweinstone
01-27-2011, 23:51
trailnames are a key. to unlock a door. to folks welcoming you in, or to open a closet and reach for a shotgun.lol. thats why i never hike without "the shirt with two names". i can turn it around in the twinkle of an eye and become ms.lmao.
Snake Farm
01-28-2011, 15:37
I was given the name of "Panama Red" by Kevin "Teflon" Vickery, I suppose because I am from Panama City, Fl. and after a long climb my face was red...very red. Hence
Panama Red.
I remember in the 70's something else had the same name.
There's also a guy in the movie Trek ( a documentary on the AT) who is named Panama red. I dont know where the Panama comes from but he has long red hair.
I have had my best friend give me two as we were hiking and geocaching and although I like them I honestly want to wait for my "real" trail name to be bestowed upon me on the trail.
I have "grace" and "taurus" as I am so graceful (not!) and I am a Taurus and stubborn especially when doing any sort of outdoor activity.
I have also gained several nicknames as well from being a travel nurse and moving around from place to place!
Buzz Saw
02-02-2011, 09:04
Years ago I was a pot smoking carpenter. Thus I used Buzz Saw as my CB handle and thought it would work until I received a better one. I have since gotten old and a party is staying up to watch the news.
After my brother suggested the trail names "Outta T.P." or "Morning Wood", I thought it best I think of something less suggestive - at least to get me started. I settled on my last call sign from when I was on active duty in the Navy which was K-3 (kilo-3). I was a canine police officer in the service; the police dog and handler are referred to as a kilo unit which is short for K-9 unit. Its pronounced as Kilo for the NATO phonetic alphabet pronunciation of the letter 'k'. At the time I joined my last unit, there was already a K-1 and K-2 so I took the call sign K-3. I'm open to receiving a different trail name if I like it but I figured its best to start off with something generic and not too suggestive of anything.
myotheralt
02-28-2011, 05:05
I dont have a trail name, but this name came about from the computer game World of Warcraft. I had my main character, Pharmaracy (not a peddler of medicines), then I created a new character, and named him Alterego. I build him up to be my alternate character. Then I started another one, my other alt, Myotheralt.
I kept this one around, I suppose so I could say "it wasn't me, it was my other alt", but that has never worked playing out in my head.
LordoftheWings
02-28-2011, 12:26
I love Pommes. That's great.
Mine came easier than most I suppose. I've had the Nickname "Bink" ever since pre-school (last name Binkerd)
I wanted something a little different. It might be hard to guess by my size (6'2''-375) But I love hotwings. I've always been a movie buff as well. I happen to love the Lord Of The Rings series that Mr. Jackson directed. It was only a matter of time that my firefighting buddies started calling me LordoftheWings. It's a nickname that stuck enough that I used it online for a XBOX handle as well. I didn't want to be subjected to the obvious and insightful names that a tall, fat man is often given like "Tiny" or "slim" I embrace my size, to ignore it or pretend it isn't the first thing that people notice would be a great injustice.
It's funny though. I have friends all over the world that I online game with as far as Australia in fact. Even though I've had to change my XBOX name (too many people reported it as offensive?????) My buddies still call me Lord or Wings.
LordoftheWings
02-28-2011, 12:34
@ Kilo- I'm sure you had all the same smart@ss friends giving you ridiculous names like I did. My buds tried to get me to use Foxtrot Sierra and I use the term to describe crappy situations, like (This is a bunch of F%$# S&^%) We also use Whiskey Tango to describe the white trash that we seem to always encounter at nearly every call. (How does every 911 call start you ask?----Watch this, hold my beer.)
@ Johnny Mud Foot --Love the video. My kind of luck for sure. I'm certain it's only a matter of time before my mug ends up on youtube.
tennesseered
03-06-2011, 09:43
um get someone on the trail to give you one its no fun if you start off from springer or katahdin with a trail name already unless it was from a previous hike sheesh
When I did my Thru, I was the Troll because I was (probably illicitly) camping in a totally ghetto spot under a bridge near the bus station by the river in Medway, Maine. Troll was fine for a long time and for a brief section I was known as "tweed-blazer" (ha) but I was re-named by these 3 high school girls on the Long Trail, Papa D.- because I resist getting old and I sort of (try to) act younger than I am so it sounds sort of Grandpa like, I didn't like it much so it sort of stuck. I would say this:
1) you can't give yourself a trail name (maybe in rare circumstances), but those usually are not as fun - sound too much like great indian chiefs or something or grand animals or total hard men / women and are just not as great unless it sounds great (i.e. "fire-walker") but it is really because your pants went up in a campfire and it was freakin' funny because you had to walk to town in your boxers or wrapped with a pack towel and get some pants out of a hiker box or something.
2) if you like it too much, it's probably not a great one
3) the best ones poke fun at the one so named - like "creek dancer" (see above post) because he falls (or fell) in the creeks all the time.
4) wait to be named - don't worry, you'll get one - like it or not.
the best person, I named was last year - he called himself "cowboy" or some crap - I looked at all the stuff he had littering the shelter and said you look like that character from Peanuts - "PIG-PEN." It stuck like glue.
This is how it works.
LoneRidgeRunner
03-06-2011, 11:37
I was given the name of "Panama Red" by Kevin "Teflon" Vickery, I suppose because I am from Panama City, Fl. and after a long climb my face was red...very red. Hence
Panama Red.
I remember in the 70's something else had the same name.
There sure was something in the 70's had that name but it had nothing to do with a red face..."red eyes" IF you could see them...LOL..
ShakeyLeggs
03-06-2011, 11:44
When I was in the Army I developed bad knees from all the running and PLF's I did. We were in formation one day after a exceedingly strenuous run and one of my buddies noticed that my legs were actually shaking. Hence SkakeyLeggs and it stuck.
Years ago I was on a section and had a few gadgets in my pack and a couple gave me the moniker of gadgetman. I like it but it has since fallen by the wayside as everyone knows me as ShakeyLeggs.
art gypsy
03-06-2011, 15:11
I brainstormed with my hiking buddies and mine just fits. I have been section hiking between art shows and traveling all over the country for a few years now. My husband wants to give me a different one but I refuse to change it.
Many decades ago, when I was in the military, I had a friend with a slight lisp. He was given the call sign of Silver Slipper Six.
DaveSail
03-08-2011, 13:03
While in the Air Force , about 1960 , a few friends and I started the first
Sky - Diving Club in the USAF. We jumped with, and used the aircraft of,
West Point . We jumped on the AF Base and on a cleared D.Z. ; but the last jump of the day was always made into a farm - field on the edge of which was a bar . My first time there , I asked for Ice - Cream , as I don't like beer . Everyone laughed , and that became my name . Happened to mention this at last Fall at the " Gathering " in West Virginia . Said I had no real trail - mame yet . We could eat for a very low price , ( all we wanted ) , at the college . There was an Ice - Cream - Machine . Once
folks saw me eating bowl after large - bowl , they started calling me by my Air Force Jump - Club name . Now , ALDHA has published it . It is OK with me , as I do like Ice Cream !
What do you think ? Should I wait for a name given on the Trail ??
David V. Webber
Guino, came into being many moons ago while show shoeing every night around Mammoth Lakes, California training for the PCT 07. My girlfriend back then Hydro Heidi named me Penguin, as I walked like a Penguin. I also have been going up and down about 40 pounds a year in weight. We also had just watched the "Farce of the Penguins" and like the Penguins, all I was interested in was food and sex. Shortly after we started the PCT at the Mexican border, and after a few days of traveling through areas heavy with Spanish names, and seeing evidence of immigration along the trail and heavy border patrol presence, in order to show solidarity with our brothers from the south, my name mysteriously morphed to Penguino. (Yeah I know there is no "e" in the Spanish spelling of Penguin.) So Penguino lasted until we got to the Saufley's, trail angel extraodinares and first in a line of 3 trail angels in 3 days of hiking. While staying up late and socializing with their son Tom, he gave me the extremely appropriate nickname of Greeno. This lasted through my stay with them at Hiker Heaven, also through the next angels the Anderson's at Casa De Luna. People still called me Penguino though, and some were calling me Greeno. It was probably Hydro that combined them into a simple Guino (Gwee-no) and that has stuck to this day.
I am still very Penguin like in my ways. There is even a creation story attributed to me. I came from the Planet Guinon and am the Presidente de Guinopolis, our capitol. Our major industry is the sex and drug trade. Our sex workers live in nearby Hornotown Heights. The official dress for Guinopolis is of course the Guinotard. We sent our city planners to San Salvador to study the design and layout of the most efficient city on earth. We have horrible traffic problems in Guinopolis, yet the citizens are totally down with this. Instead of investing in major infrastructure improvements to ease congestion, which would cost billions of Guins, we instead wisely hired the children of Guinopolis to walked between the lines of traffic stuck in gridlock, passing out shots of Tequila and therapeutic cannabis to the motorists. This makes everyone happy, and solves unemployment, road rage and domestic abuse.
There you have it, the story of Guino in a nutshell.
blackbird04217
03-08-2011, 13:43
I took my internet handle "BlackBird" and used it on the trail. Sure it would have been interesting to know what would have been picked otherwise, but I have 2 names that are equally as important to me.
Dave as far as ice cream goes, I had people trying to get my name changed to something to do with it. I ate a 1/2 gallon in nearly every other town. So when it came to the traditional "half gallon challenge", I had to step it up and go for the full gallon. Something I am proud to have completed, but don't think I will ever try again.
Freedom Walker
03-08-2011, 19:08
I picked the name Freedom Walker because while sitting in a bench at Clingman's Dome a woman walked up to me and saw me with my pack on and asked what I was doing. I said I am going backpacking and she asked why are you doing that. The first word that came to my mind was freedom. Of course she did not understand why but I had undergone two major surgeries earlier that year that gave me the freedom to do this. Go to my blog and you'll get the rest of the story. One lady at work suggested I change my name to nine lives because of all the sickness and injuries I've had over the last several years. Maybe I'll change it.
DaveSail
03-09-2011, 17:45
I took my internet handle "BlackBird" and used it on the trail. Sure it would have been interesting to know what would have been picked otherwise, but I have 2 names that are equally as important to me.
Dave as far as ice cream goes, I had people trying to get my name changed to something to do with it. I ate a 1/2 gallon in nearly every other town. So when it came to the traditional "half gallon challenge", I had to step it up and go for the full gallon. Something I am proud to have completed, but don't think I will ever try again.
I had an early start . Back when I was in 7th grade , our family was on the way to climb Mt. Katahdin . We stopped at a Howard Johnson's . [ Dad liked the fried - clams , and we kids liked the hot - dogs ; ( buns cut side - ways and grilled ) ] . For dessert I asked for a half - gallon .
Dad said " Sure , but if you don't eat it , you have to pay for it ! " They went to get gas in the car . When they returned , I had finished the
half - gallon , and was eating a double - dip cone !! DVW
Sickmont
03-09-2011, 17:51
I dont have one. Yet. I'll let some others come up with something good in the future on the trail. "Sickmont" is a car i built years ago. I've just been using it as a screen name for a while now on here and a bunch of other(car) forums.
About 35 yrs ago my brother and I were section hiking NoBo thru a part of the PA AT in the summer at the same time as several packs of thruhikers were coming thru and we stayed at the same shelters for several nites in a row going back and forth over a week passing each other from time to time along the trail. We were kind of in awe of them doing the whole trail, and it may have been when we decided we eventually wanted to do that too (but since then have only section hiked most of the trail). Anyway they all had trailnames of course, and we decided to introduce ourselves as Blitz brothers cause we liked to hike fast (still do, but fast is relative!) and it's also a play on our last name, Krieg. I think our shortest day that trip was 20 miles, longest day 36.
So update to today, my brother and I will finally get to start a thru - we'll start NoBo on April 26, but he can only stay out for a week. We'll start as BlitzBros, and if we're not together, I'm Blitz1 cause I was born first, but might find a new name along the trail - whatever fits.
My daughter gave me the "fehchet" handle when she set up my first AOL account back in the early 90's. Fehchet is supposed to be "the chef" backwards but actually is "teh chef" backwards.
Miss Janet gave me my trail name but I don't use it here.
Two Tents
03-10-2011, 09:24
Don't sweat it. You'll get a name. Be careful what wish for. You'll be getting water from a spring and someone will see something and say----or after you eaten or done something a few times someone will say"man you sure like---" Mine happen on me when my hiking partner had a major pack malfunction on the way back to the truck. So being a nice guy I loaded some of his gear on my pack and took off for the trailhead. When I get to the parking lot there was a group of 6 hikers loading up to hit the trail parked right next to my truck. I look like I have on the Flex Trek 37 trillion backpack. Someone asks what all those stuff sacks have in them. I had like 4 hanging on my pack. "Well there are two tents"--- Well after the laughing died down I told the rest of the story and my buddy shows up and well he never shut up about it.
wishful1015
03-12-2011, 00:52
Brother of the Wind is what some guy in the Serria Nevadas named me in 1978. He spent way to much time in the mountains. Now I go by the abbrivation of B.T.W. It has a new meaning these days. You'll get a name soon.
Most people are better off without an alias. Honest people don't need them.
Most people are better off without an alias. Honest people don't need them.
That's an interesting sentiment since you are using the alias of emerald on Whiteblaze.
Perhaps your trail name could be 'Curmudgeon', or 'Oscar the Grouch'
-pfann
Most people are better off without an alias. Honest people don't need them.
That's an interesting sentiment since you are using the alias of emerald on Whiteblaze.
Perhaps your trail name could be 'Curmudgeon', or 'Oscar the Grouch'
-pfann
That's an interesting sentiment since you are using the alias of emerald on Whiteblaze.
Perhaps your trail name could be 'Curmudgeon', or 'Oscar the Grouch'
-pfann
epic, winning!
fernbeetle
03-12-2011, 18:38
Pomes is slang for Prisoners Of Mother England.
That's an interesting sentiment since you are using the alias of emerald on Whiteblaze.
Perhaps your trail name could be 'Curmudgeon', or 'Oscar the Grouch'
-pfann
Some people don't care for trail names or see the need for them. It's an alternative perspective that needn't be considered to be threatening to you or anyone else. Choosing to have a trail name is an option, not a requirement.
Years ago trail names were less popular than today. There seems to be some sort of expectation today that people should or will have them. I don't know exactly why or how that notion came into being.
I always use my real name in the real world. Posts on the only other forum to which I contribute are signed with my legal name and address as required.
We might consider the same requirement here. Others have suggested it before.
Some people don't care for trail names or see the need for them. It's an alternative perspective that needn't be considered to be threatening to you or anyone else. Choosing to have a trail name is an option, not a requirement.
Years ago trail names were less popular than today. There seems to be some sort of expectation today that people should or will have them. I don't know exactly why or how that notion came into being.
I always use my real name in the real world. Posts on the only other forum to which I contribute are signed with my legal name and address as required.
We might consider the same requirement here. Others have suggested it before.
I understand that some dont see the need for trail names. I understand your perspective as explained here and it is certainly NOT threatening to me. There is nothing wrong with using or not using a trail name (or a "forum name" for that matter)
But your explanation here is a bit different than your previous post saying that people using trail names are dishonest. There's a leap in logic I don't see.
I have been called several different names in my life. When I was a kid my mom called me Parnelli Jones. Co-workers used to call me Caspar. My wife to this day calls me George. None of these are my given legal names. In essence this is no different than a trail name and none of it is dishonest.
Something for you to ponder. Just because WB doesn't require you to use your legal name on these forums doesn't prohibit you from using it here voluntarily. You chose to use emerald. Perhaps there's an interesting story there.
doritotex
03-13-2011, 07:11
Given to me by others... I work as a travel nurse and change locations every 3 to 6 months. Someone said, "Oh, like a Gipsy" and there it was...........Do you misspell it on purpose? Travel like a "gypsy"? Or is your name gip?
Your explanation here is a bit different than your previous post saying that people using trail names are dishonest. There's a leap in logic I don't see.
My previous post does not assert what you claim it does. Put on your thinking cap and read it again.
Most people are better off without an alias. Honest people don't need them.
Just because WB doesn't require you to use your legal name on these forums doesn't prohibit you from using it here voluntarily. You chose to use emerald. Perhaps there's an interesting story there.
It would be much less trouble to use my given name as my screen name than to explain why I chose emerald. If it's not already apparent and you really want to know, you'll need to wait. Right now, I have a much more interesting activity that's calling and for which I will soon be late.
Star Walker
03-13-2011, 15:10
Star Walker is my longest lasting. I used to just be Little Buddy. I got the name from a group of thru hikers i ran into a couple years ago. I came to the shelter around 11pm and i decided to sleep outisde. I woke up and told everyone and they decided to call me Star Walker.The only bad thing is that i think the name is a curse because now it seems i dont go on a trip without hiking into the night. It is a good thing it doesnt bother me i guess.