William Shakespeare once wrote in his famous play Romeo and Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The only reason we call a rose a ‘rose’ is because someone over the course of history decided to assign a specific word to a specific thing.  Curse words are similar.  They are only ‘bad words,’ because somewhere along the course of history a negative connotation was somehow assigned or associated with that particular word.  For goodness sakes!  The definition of “bitch” from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is, “the female of the dog or some other carnivorous mammals.”  How did this get turned into a curse word?!  Many people love female dogs!

A person’s name is assigned to them at birth.  They don’t get to choose it (unless they go through the process of legally changing their name later in life).  Let’s be honest, the chances of a baby looking or acting like a Herald, or Andrea, or Sally, or whatever, after they just popped out of their mother is slim to none.  Most look like slimy aliens (you know it’s true)!  As people get older, they might earn a nickname or they might decide to be called by their middle name instead of their first.  They also might just always be known as their given name.  For example, except for a few small groups of people, I have always went by Andrea. 

But I’m not writing to ramble on about how I think it’s a little weird how some combination of letters form a word and then some human decided to assign that word to an object… even though that is kind of what happens…  (However, before I stop rambling about how this process blows my mind a little, I just want to go on the record and say that I do think the random assortment of letters being associated with an object is absolutely necessary for language and communication.  On a similar note, who decided what a letter is and the sound associated with that letter?  Okay, I’ll stop rambling along on this tangent now.  I promise).

A rose is a rose…  On the trail, the rose must earn its name.  On the trail, you must earn your name.  Not your given name, but your trail name.  Trail names seem to typically relate to something you did that stands out in someone’s mind.  Someone you met while on the trail.

This week, I’m on the southern portion of the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.  Tonight at camp, I met one section hiker and two thru hikers.  Their names are Neon, Hulk, and Wrangler.  These are their trail names.  On a long distance trail, your trail name becomes your real name.  It is your identify.  For some reason you earned that name!  This is the name you write in trail registries.  This is how you introduce yourself to other hikers. 

One of my friends was dubbed Rooster on his hike of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).  He was always the first one awake at camp.  Another friend is called Crunch Berries.  At some point, he bought A LOT of Crunch Berries cereal during his PCT thru-hike.

I earned the name Tapey during my thru-hike of the John Muir Trail.  I have bad knees (the kneecap slides out of place sometimes and momentarily stops supporting my weight before it slides back into place).  To better support my knees (yes, both knees have this issue), I used two types of athletic tape on my legs at all times to help hold my kneecap in place.  Friends that were behind me on the trail would use the tape to their advantage when trying to gauge how close they were to catching up to me.  They would simply ask hikers traveling in the opposite direction how long it had been since they passed someone with big, black X’s on their knees.  Instantly, the people would remember when they passed my unique tape job!

Thus, Tapey was born. 

Trail names are unique and have been earned for some reason.  Off trail, people might not understand the significance.  On trail, the more interesting the story the better.  Your given name is for society.  Your trail name is for the long distance hiker culture.  On the trail, you can reinvent yourself. 

Some hikers even give themselves their own trail names.  Whether you create your own or someone else gives it to you, be proud!  Trail names are an important part of trail culture!  It’s who you are while on the trail. 

Next time you’re on a trail and someone tells you their name is Neon.  Just smile and ask, “Why?”  Chances are you will hear a good story.