# I think my favorite thing about wanderers is our strange names. (ft a ramble about dinosaurs)



## yayitsducky (Dec 24, 2021)

We're all faries on the road, your name is your reputation, and that means something. We all have such funny noun-names, no more than five letters allowed! (I don't know any queers with names more than a few letters, and I've found a decent overlap between the queer community and the traveler community, for obvious reasons)

I've gone through names like I've gone through people, which is to say, I burned quite a few bridges in my reckless youth (nothing terrible, no bodily harm or anything, just being kind of a spoiled brat) but I am attending therapy and working on being a better steward to my fellow human. 

Ducky, my old childhood nickname, is starting to feel more and more like me. My family hates it because it's not the one the chose. They refuse both my chosen name (the one that aligns more closely with my gender) and my road name (the name I give to all my fellow travelers, the name that carries my reputation) My parents say it's "juvenile". Ducky was a name gifted to me by an old friend while we were sick watching Land Before Time. And now, in my current age, it's been re-gifted by a friend who jokingly calls herself "the Pteri to your Ducky!". 

Dinosaurs have always followed me-- did you know I knew my dinosaurs before I knew my colors? My mother often told this tale, of an old toy. A green plastic parasaurolophus (the duck-billed dinosaur, my namesake). It was lime green, striped with emerald. I would always proclaim that it was "PURPLE PARASAUROLOPHUS!". I got the pronunciation perfect, yet color theory didn't take hold in my brain for a few more decades, not until art class with Mrs. Keyes in middle school. And I share the cartoon character's bubbly personality, "YEP YEP YEP!" is an unironic catchphrase of mine. For me, Ducky is the name of forests, and ageless beings, and connections to eons past and eons in the future. Ducky is a reminder that I should remember the good and not fear the extinction.

So you see, even if my family refuses to call me by my chosen name or my road name, I will forever be Ducky. The choice is not theirs, the choice is mine. I am Ducky! And it's lovely to meet all of you.

Why have you chosen your name? Silly or profound as the reason might be, I'd love to read about it, about you and your journey to your silly noun-name. Or, if you've kept your birthname, what history does it hold? Or do you just like the sound of it, does it just _feel _like you?


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## Kilroy mclee (Dec 24, 2021)

"Kilroy" 
A meme from WW2 that American GI's used (it has a cool history and many different versions) 
When i was in grade like, the fourth grade or something, i kept on drawing kilroy after learning about the drawing, and put him up all over my school. 
and i remembered it, and now it is my pseudonym.


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## Kilroy mclee (Dec 24, 2021)

yayitsducky said:


> We're all faries on the road, your name is your reputation, and that means something. We all have such funny noun-names, no more than five letters allowed! (I don't know any queers with names more than a few letters, and I've found a decent overlap between the queer community and the traveler community, for obvious reasons)
> 
> I've gone through names like I've gone through people, which is to say, I burned quite a few bridges in my reckless youth (nothing terrible, no bodily harm or anything, just being kind of a spoiled brat) but I am attending therapy and working on being a better steward to my fellow human.
> 
> ...


ducky is an amazing name


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## yayitsducky (Dec 24, 2021)

Kilroy mclee said:


> "Kilroy"
> A meme from WW2 that American GI's used (it has a cool history and many different versions)
> When i was in grade like, the fourth grade or something, i kept on drawing kilroy after learning about the drawing, and put him up all over my school.
> and i remembered it, and now it is my pseudonym.


My grandpa taught me how to draw kilroy as a kid! omg i miss doodling him all over. what a great name <3


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## Scat (Dec 24, 2021)

Love the name, Ducky! Always loved The Land Before Time and all things dinosaur, rawr. Can't hear it without feeling sad about her poor actress, however.

I go by Scat. It's the sort of the name turns people off because their brains jump to fecal matter, instead of alternative meanings like the improv jazz vocalizations. People assume I have a fetish for it, which I don't (can't say the same for my poop-eating dog...). I picked the name because I like the earthiness of tracking via scat but also because I frequently leave places suddenly - aka I scat.  

I traveled some time using a nickname of my real name because an old drunkard hobo told me that your name is given to you by someone else when the time right. While that's a fun concept, it doesn't work for me. I thought about it for years before settling in this moniker. Almost went with Sketch since I am an artist and kinda sketchy sometimes, but Scat felt more spot-on.


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## yayitsducky (Dec 24, 2021)

Scat said:


> Love the name, Ducky! Always loved The Land Before Time and all things dinosaur, rawr. Can't hear it without feeling sad about her poor actress, however.
> 
> I go by Scat. It's the sort of the name turns people off because their brains jump to fecal matter, instead of alternative meanings like the improv jazz vocalizations. People assume I have a fetish for it, which I don't (can't say the same for my poop-eating dog...). I picked the name because I like the earthiness of tracking via scat but also because I frequently leave places suddenly - aka I scat.
> 
> I traveled some time using a nickname of my real name because an old drunkard hobo told me that your name is given to you by someone else when the time right. While that's a fun concept, it doesn't work for me. I thought about it for years before settling in this moniker. Almost went with Sketch since I am an artist and kinda sketchy sometimes, but Scat felt more spot-on.


See, I know scat is a general term but I first heard it in context of tracking animals, looking for tracks & scat, so that's what I thought of-- wandering around, tracking deer w my dad as a kid, lol! Your dog sounds like my old dog.

I think there's def value in naming yourself, as much as there's value in having one bestowed upon you. My real name is one I chose myself, and my road name is on that I was gifted & re-gifted XD I think there's a difference between like, a middle school classmate going "CALL ME MR AWESOME" vs "hey, call me Scat!" lol. There's like, a different energy there. Becoming yourself and claiming it vs trying to force others to call you something obnoxious for clout. (my friend and I had a discussion on the ethics of giving yourself a nickname once)

Kinda reminds me of tarot, the idea that your first deck should be a hand-me-down, because it's a community connection/finding a mentor sort of deal. Names hold their own sort of magic.

I met someone named "storey" once, that was a pretty cool name.


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## xradicalx (Dec 25, 2021)

yayitsducky said:


> We're all faries on the road, your name is your reputation, and that means something. We all have such funny noun-names, no more than five letters allowed! (I don't know any queers with names more than a few letters, and I've found a decent overlap between the queer community and the traveler community, for obvious reasons)
> 
> I've gone through names like I've gone through people, which is to say, I burned quite a few bridges in my reckless youth (nothing terrible, no bodily harm or anything, just being kind of a spoiled brat) but I am attending therapy and working on being a better steward to my fellow human.
> 
> ...


My name's Radical and it's so wonderful to learn that other travellers have changed their names or developed crazy nicknames  I heard a story about a kid named Radical from a friend I met while travelling to the Fairy Creek Blockades this past April, and I adopted it for myself a few months later


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## Opossum (Dec 28, 2021)

Howdy! Dinosaurs are fascinating and The Land Before Time's A Classic. Great name, Ducky. And yes, vagabonds really do have some fantastic names.

I came up with Ratboot by just combining "rat" and "boot" and liking the sound of it, only to later find out a "ratboot" is a type of military combat boot as well! So got that goin for it too.

Besta luck on all your travels!


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## Svintah5635 (Jan 5, 2022)

yayitsducky said:


> We're all faries on the road, your name is your reputation, and that means something. We all have such funny noun-names, no more than five letters allowed! (I don't know any queers with names more than a few letters, and I've found a decent overlap between the queer community and the traveler community, for obvious reasons)
> 
> I've gone through names like I've gone through people, which is to say, I burned quite a few bridges in my reckless youth (nothing terrible, no bodily harm or anything, just being kind of a spoiled brat) but I am attending therapy and working on being a better steward to my fellow human.
> 
> ...


Svintah is a swedish phrase “Sverige inte åhöra” Sweden doesn’t belong. This refers to my goal. I want to travel Europe and finish in Sweden to settle down. So of all the countries I go to, Sweden is the odd one out.


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## Voidcreep (Jun 1, 2022)

I originally used the pseudonym creep alot. Cause that was one of my wow characters, a rogue. However growing up I realized it's not that pleasant to hear someone say "that's creep" to often they think I am a creep and not just creep. So I added void to it username wise especially to get away from the whole 2000s style of my original username. But I go by void now and have for some time. Theirs alot of meanings behind it that spoke to me. For a long time I felt as if I had a Void inside me. I needed to fill but the more I've gone by it I use it to embrace the absurdity of life. Plus it sounds good and looks good as a tag.


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## Darth Musturd (Jun 10, 2022)

yayitsducky said:


> I think there's def value in naming yourself, as much as there's value in having one bestowed upon you. My real name is one I chose myself, and my road name is on that I was gifted & re-gifted XD I think there's a difference between like, a middle school classmate going "CALL ME MR AWESOME" vs "hey, call me Scat!" lol. There's like, a different energy there. Becoming yourself and claiming it vs trying to force others to call you something obnoxious for clout. (my friend and I had a discussion on the ethics of giving yourself a nickname once)


 There most definitely is value in a name you give yourself. But oftentimes the name you give yourself is soaked in glory in some form or another, whether subconsciously or not. You're not often going to give yourself a name based on some embarrassing habit you have. You're going to base it off of a cool event, some slang, what have you. 
Names show who you are. That's how it's been for most of history, going back to Biblical times, thought I don't assume many of y'all are Christians. Someone would have a given (often by their parents) name. They'd then have an experience which would cause a personality change, or a lifestyle change, and their name would chance. 
I got one of my many nicknames from a few experiences up in Starkville. Did a program at State (remind me to tell y'all about the State School incident one of these days). I have a propensity towards story telling, public speaking and such. I was telling this group that I was stuck with over the next few days about some interesting family history, among other things. "My great grampappy was a bootlegger, and a moonshiner for a while." "My grampappy probably died out in a ditch somewhere." (got multiple grandaddies, multiple multiple stories). 
Because of my love of storytelling, the mistakes of my family, and because I walk, talk, and dress like everyones grampappy, apparently that's my new nickname. Now that I think about it, I think folks've been calling me that even around here on and off years ago.


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## Gin (Jul 17, 2022)

Kilroy mclee said:


> "Kilroy"
> A meme from WW2 that American GI's used (it has a cool history and many different versions)
> When i was in grade like, the fourth grade or something, i kept on drawing kilroy after learning about the drawing, and put him up all over my school.
> and i remembered it, and now it is my pseudonym.


Kilroy was here 👍I remember it


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## Andrea Van Scoyoc (Jul 18, 2022)

I use my real name. Always have, always will. 

Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc...that's me. 

However, I do have a Traveller name in homage to my Celtic Viking ancestry, which is quite a pedigree.

I have no idea where my family went wrong and we ended up being just plain old folk by the time it got to me, but...c'est la vie. 

My Traveller name is Greenlee Robertsdottir but, those that wish, just call me Greenlee or Lee.

Most people just call me Andy (because for some reason, people can *not* get "Andrea" right!) and have since Junior High.


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## DandelionSheep (Aug 26, 2022)

yayitsducky said:


> We're all faries on the road, your name is your reputation, and that means something. We all have such funny noun-names, no more than five letters allowed! (I don't know any queers with names more than a few letters, and I've found a decent overlap between the queer community and the traveler community, for obvious reasons)
> 
> I've gone through names like I've gone through people, which is to say, I burned quite a few bridges in my reckless youth (nothing terrible, no bodily harm or anything, just being kind of a spoiled brat) but I am attending therapy and working on being a better steward to my fellow human.
> 
> ...



DandelionSheep or just Dandelion
Came from my love for dandelions. ( I pick them up and put them in my hair) and my hair being really fluffy "like a sheep" as my friend said. So we put two and two together and DandelionSheep became a thing.


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## Gin (Aug 26, 2022)

Andrea Van Scoyoc said:


> I use my real name. Always have, always will.
> 
> Andrea Dean Van Scoyoc...that's me.
> 
> ...



Is your Andrea like Ann Dree Ah 
Or like Ahn Dray Ah? Just curious


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## will eee um (Sep 11, 2022)

Gin said:


> Is your Andrea like Ann Dree Ah
> Or like Ahn Dray Ah? Just curious



William = will-eee-um (or sch-will-eee-um depending on how much I decide to drink 😆)


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## Tony G (Sep 12, 2022)

Kilroy mclee said:


> "Kilroy"
> A meme from WW2 that American GI's used (it has a cool history and many different versions)
> When i was in grade like, the fourth grade or something, i kept on drawing kilroy after learning about the drawing, and put him up all over my school.
> and i remembered it, and now it is my pseudonym.



Yeah it's a great moniker you know they say service people saw his name on ships and thought he was a gi too and they started drawing his symbol everywhere


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## Eng JR Lupo RV323 (Oct 9, 2022)

will eee um said:


> sch-will-eee-um



Ooooh.. yeah, careful identifying yourself as Shwilliam. That name's been burned.


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## sevedemanos (Oct 9, 2022)

hopefully this doesnt offend anybody bc poo throwing isnt my cup of tea but i once knew a human being named william.


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## will eee um (Oct 10, 2022)

Eng JR Lupo RV323 said:


> Ooooh.. yeah, careful identifying yourself as Shwilliam. That name's been burned.



I'm not, just a joke. I usually just use my actual name just to keep things simple.


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## Voidcreep (Dec 2, 2022)

That's a really nice story. Which whenever I hear ducky I'll always think about the medical examiner off of NCIS. I have used different names in the road. Mostly normal names as aliases but the one "name" that's stuck is Void. Personaly I still go by the name my family picked for me. It fits me. But when I meet new people I like to use void. When I was younger i went by Creep. Because I played rogue characters in DND / warcraft. But I learned as I got older it kinda Sully's your reputation to have people call you creep.


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