What's in a name?

That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

Or would it?

I've been wrestling with the idea of trail names since we returned from our second shakedown hike. Really I've been thinking about it since the moment we met our first thru-hiker on the trail and sort of awkwardly looked at one another and shrugged as we introduced ourselves. I'm Kelley, and this is Chase. That sounds way more lame than Two-bit and Mini-Moose (I just made those up, so they aren't that cool). I found I was embarrassed of my own name on the trail, and I'm curious if this happens to others...

I feel like not having a trail name makes you an outsider. To me, a trail name is an instant invite into the cool kids club; and without it, you're just another nobody. I want to make it clear, we weren't treated any differently by hikers, I just felt like I didn't quite belong. I might be a little lot sensitive to this sort of thing, as my self-confidence isn't really the best (one of the many reasons I decided to hike).

From the beginning I've viewed a trail name as something that is bestowed upon you as you struggle through the first few weeks of the AT, something that really speaks about your character or your odd habits or something silly that happened to you. I was really willing to embrace this, to be nameless until the universe decided I should have a name. But now I'm having second thoughts.

We won't be staying in shelters and having the dog complicates some things, so I'm just worried about being nameless for a month and a half. According to the whiteblaze 2014 registry, there is a little bubble of people heading out in February, so my thoughts that we will go nameless seem a little unfounded, but my worry remains.

I thought it might be a lot of fun to let our closest friends and family name us at our going away party, so we could carry a little bit of who we were starting out. A reminder of where we came from. I like this idea a lot, though Chase isn't warming up to it very well. He wants to be named on the trail. And I have to admit, choosing a name before hand may take away from our trail experience.

We could always name each other, but again I think it takes away from the experience. Maybe I should just stop worrying about it.

All good things take time.

Kelley and Sheila on Blood Mountain