Good question Steve Hiker. My trailname, Renaissance Man, was given to me by another hiker named Chilkoot, while on the trail. Is there a way to set up a poll on these forums?
RenMan
Trail Name Question
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#22
In a totally random sampling of names I can remember and whether I know how they got them, I would say 30% come to the AT with a name and 70% get named. In many cases I don’t even know the genesis- someone tells you their name and I wouldn’t even ask if it was given or taken?
I used a different name when I posted to forums before I left for my hike, but I didn’t expect to use that one on the trail. iow, some people with “trailnames” on here may not end up using them in practice. Again…does it really matter??
Bluebearee
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#23
What do you mean? “The south is weird” I believe it was in NewYork that I met a man carrying his pants in a grocery bag.
Virginian
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#24
I wasn’t named until Standing Bear Hostel (after Davenport Gap) when I broke my SECOND tooth on the trail. I figured it could have been a whole lot worse. My husband, Jeff, never got named on our whole hike. We climbed Katahdin as “Chipper & Jeff.”
I always felt a little badly about it, as he never wanted to name himself (trail name etiquette, and all). We already have nicknames we use for each other, so I couldn’t very well name him.
Maybe shy people should just take a name, especially if they don’t do the shelter thing early on in the hike. It seems that if you don’t have a name by a certain point, people think you don’t want one. Maybe this is an exception, but if it’s so easy to get a name, what happened???
Chipper
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#25
There’s a “Mutt and Jeff” mentality out on the trail. Mutts always get named, since even a grungy mongrel is someone’s pet. But Jeffs are just good old Jeff, always ready with a helping hand and a drill bit in case someone chips a tooth.
Granule
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#26
In all my 40 years I have never been given a nickname that I really appreciated. I doubt that it would be any different with a trail name. The name I’m using here on the board is just the old Celtic version of my given name, Erskine. I’ve been called Erky, Hershey, Skinny, Skein, Urch and and a few other names I won’t perpetuate by repeating. I can just see getting out on the AT and having someone who’s just met me dub me “Shorty” or “Chrome Dome” and having to live with that for the entire 2100+ miles. What a nightmare.
Dave, I say if you like CBiscuit, go with it. Who knows you better than yourself?
Ardsgaine
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#28
Virginian. I admit; I thought the south was a bit weird when I first got down there. Dry counties. grits. a few other things. I gradually changed my mind; although you and Marlboro Man did your best to confuse me about my southern bretheren.
Chipper-- I figured Jeff hadn’t wanted a trail name; and did the same thing I did. Just kept introducing himself as Jeff to keep a name from sticking. Didn’t realize he never had been named.
Big Boy
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#29
Dave, sure you can name yourself if you want to, but why not wait until you have been on the trail a while to see if a good trail name is bestowed upon you. I was inadvertantly given my trailname by Recycled just a few miles into the “approach trail” and I’ve really become attached to it.
Downunda
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#30
It’s not a trail name until YOU introduce YOURSELF as that name. So, if people try to name you something you don’t like, don’t worry. They’ll soon drop it.
yogi
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#32
Probably, because that’s how you refer to yourself here. It’ll be like “ohhhhh, YOU’RE bonehead. I saw you on trailjournals.”
It’s all up to you.
yogi
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#33
i think the idea is to be open to what the trail throws at you…i honestly thought on first glance that trail names were like screen names, so i just shrunk mine down. yeh i am that new to the idea of the big long ass hike…so …if it sticks and hopefully someone did see me on Trail Journals and is willing to admit they like psychobabble crap i think up and don’t run cause they saw me at trailjournals hahaha, so i’ll be burn, unless they think up something cute or witty or unique. and of all the ideas maintain came up with C Biz Cut or any other spelling seems to fit my creative standards. we hillbillies understand better if you use phonics, as in the Blue Mountain Shelter mouse kill talley board that is spelled MOOSE Kill. but everyone knows what they mean.
burn
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#34
you could have met me on the Trail…the first night out I slept next to a young man who left his water dipping cup out…in the morning it had a few turds left inside from an overnight visitor…I tried to name him “mouseturd” but he was smart enough to ignore me…next day we took a break together and he announced his trail name…Skittles. (Smart guy)
On the more positive side Mule’s Dad was hiking with him a piece so we named him “Driver” which stuck.
Remember you might be famous some day like Baltimore Jack.
Skeemer
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#35
Go with CBiscuit until you find something you like better. I do my 50-miles sections. I meet a lot of people, but seldom more than once,especially since I usually southbound. (Though I was dayhiking in the Water Gap last year, and two hikers were headed up toward Sunfish. They exclaimed: It’s Harry Dolphin! I’d met them in Virginia.)
I’m Harry Dolphin because that’s who I want to be. 
When I hike with my sister, Goes-in-Circles, she tells people that she’s Joan, and I’m Paul. She takes all the fun out of life. 
Harry Dolphin
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#36
nick MATTITUDE :cheers !!! I got this nick in high school while playing a board game called RISK. This nick has stuck throughout college and life so far, and for some odd reason people understand why I have it?:evil
Mattitude
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#37
now i would take mouseturd, it would really sound good to go to town and every time you walk into a restaurant or bar for dinner someone yells, “Hey it’s MouseTurd!” hehehe ok i’m sick, i love attention even if it is negative attention, it is still attention. Burn
burn
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#39
Yup. When ya start talking in public mentioning trail names like Snotrocket and Polish Ninja, people tend to give you some wierd looks. I managed to scare a customer at work yesterday when talking to another hiker about some other '02ers. Ya gotta love it!
Cap’n
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#40
Well… Now what? Not sure what I’ll do from here, but this has been entertaining, at least! Harry Dolphin, something you said may help me. I have done two sections (165 and 175 miles each and am now up to Erwin Tennessee. I really haven’t met that many hikers on these trips, and hardly any thru hikers because I have been going in June and they’re mostly pretty far north by then. So the relationships that develop and result in someone giving a trail name to a hiker is something I have kind of missed, just doing sections. But this year I hope to hike starting around May 1, and beginning at Erwin, maybe I’ll meet more people, and might see them for several days in a row. Maybe a trail name will come from that contact with a larger group of hikers with some of them being thru hikers. I’m looking forward to it!!
On the subject of CBiscuit, I guess what I was trying to say is that I identify with the little guy because he performed better than expected. That motivates me to do well because I wasn’t sure what I could do on a longer hike, and many people (including me) had pretty low expectations. I like his “spunk” and it pushes me along to beat the odds like he did.
davepaumen