What’s In A Name? The Story of Geocaching Names
On the way home from camping this past weekend, I realized that one topic of conversation that has not been discussed on here is the origin of many of our geocaching names. Since most people use an alias for their name, I thought it would be interesting to write a little bit about how we all decided upon the name we chose for geocaching. Here’s my own story.
It actually goes back to the late 1980s in the day of 300 baud modems and Commodore 64 computers. I’d been a computer “geek” since I was 7 years old so even back then I was playing with them. A friend of mine in junior high school had convinced me to get a modem for my computer so we could talk “online”. At the time, this was relatively unheard of so I got one and sure enough, we both thought it was uber-cool. Turns out, he found some phone numbers of computers that we could connect to. This was pre-internet so some of you may not be familiar with what a BBS was. It was basically a dial-in message board where you could leave forum type messages, chat with the SysOP (owner of the BBS) and sometimes play very basic games. In order to sign up you had to pick an “Alias”. At first, I actually went with Wizard but it turned out that someone else in the area was using that name and hadn’t registered on the BBS I was on with that name. So, I had to figure out what to use.
In the 80s, I was a huge fan or Robotech. When it came time for me to decide on a name, I actually opted for something from that world. Zor. It was unique and no one around was using it so I stuck with it. The biggest problem I had was on many BBS systems, Zor was too short. So for those systems, I used ^Zor^.
In my college days (90’s), I actually started using Zor as my name on IRC. This was shortly after the web was picking up speed by IM had not been invented yet (as we know it anyway). I spent a considerable amount of time on an IRC chat channel called #Moncton and always went by the name Zor.
When it came time for me to start geocaching, it just seemed natural to keep with the same name. However, when I registered, the name Zor had been taken so I used the ^Zor^ alias instead. A few years ago I sent an email to Groundspeak and was able to get my name changed to Zor since the other Zor had only ever logged on once and never returned.
It’s a name that has been with me for a very long time so it was only natural to bring it into geocaching. So how about you? Where did you get your geocaching name from?
my username is the username i use throughout the internet and has it’s origins back in highschool. This is when the internet had just started gaining popularity and the teachers were just starting to preach anonymity on the internet to their students so as i was in a Visual basic programing class and thought for sure programming was were i was going to be after school i started with vbp (visual basic programmer) i am also blessed with two middle names and their initials are ad so i got vbpad. luckily it’s such a rare combination of letters and i have yet to find a site that has that name on it (unless i signed up already and forgot my login details)
mine’s from the early days of nerdism too.
i’m not _really_ evil.
I actually first stumbled onto geocaching back in 2004. I bought my first GPS and set up a geocaching account (CrazyMoose). However, at the time I was working for a non-profit environmental group on a short-term contract that was expiring. I was tired of the lack of direction/guidance, the lies, and the disrespectful attitude shown to me by the Executive Director, so left my contract a month early. With no income and a 7 month old daughter to support, I was left with no choice but to return the GPS, having never found a geocache.
Flash forward to September of 2007. A friend of my wife’s (Roaming Red Retriever) was starting to geocache and encouraged us to take it up. After some begging and pleading, my wife let me purchase a GPS (a Magellen initally, but the non-user friendly interface had me trading it in quickly for a Garmin Etrex Legend), and we were off looking for our first cache. That was September 17, 2007, and I have not stopped since.
When we started caching full-on, I couldn’t remember my original password, so I decided to start fresh with a new geocaching,com account. The original name I chose for myself was MarkWild_Bio; not very original, for sure. After about 500 caches I decided I wanted a new caching name, one that better reflected my varied outdoor interests, my career aspirations, and that allowed flexibility in logging when my whole family was out with me. So, after weighing my options, I choose the name forestfauna, all one word and all lower case for simplicity’s sake.
Three other members of my family currently have their own caching accounts. My wife Elizabeth goes by the name forestflora. She and I met while attending the forestry program at the University of New Brunswick; I went in the direction of wildlife biology, conservation and management, she pursued studies in forest mensuration. I set up an account for my oldest daughter, Hannah (8), last year. She goes by the handle aquakid, because she likes swimming and wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up. I told her she would be better off pursuing something where she can actually have a career, maybe a nurse like her aunt. Just last month I set up an account for middle one, Lily (5); she goes by the name littlefauna. Since she was the only one rushing out the door at 7PM to grab a few FTFs, I figured at that point she deserved her own caching account. The baby, Emeline (11 months), will get one when she can handle a GPS, read, and write. 🙂
My five year geocaching anniversary (Sept.17, 2012), also happens to be my daughter Emeline’s 1st birthday. Complete coincidence, I assure you. 🙂
Mine is similar, combination of old internet chat/gaming name “Slippery” and getting ordained added the “Rev”. Like evulc who is not evil, I am not a “real” reverend, you won’t find me in a church unless there is a cache there.
Ninjas = awesome
Jedi = awesome
That is all.
I wonder if there is a SamuraiSith out there?
Our caching names are the trail names we used on the Appalachian trail in 1999. We chose our own trail names before starting the trail rather than wait and be christened on the trail with a name we didnt like.
We chose MA & PA from our real names
MArielle & PAul
We have used those names for so long that we are really used to people calling us MA & PA
That is so funny, I have had people that I have met through geocaching and they call me Rev all the time and say it sounds weird to call me Ken.
Jim52 who has known us for at least 20 years often called us MA & Pa after our Appalachian Trail hike.
As you know our caching names are pronounced MAW & PAW. French speaking cachers in QC and Ottawa use the French pronunciation which the has the “A” sounding like in MAD & PAD.
We are actually very pleased that our names were still available when we started caching. Although there is a Ma and Pa caching since 2003 http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=4e205524-1ef5-4fc2-92e0-ace77d05e30a and there is a maw and paw as well as maw&paw and there was a ma&pa caching in 2002.
Our Geocaching name, as some of you know, is a combination of 2 previous ‘nicknames’. I, Night, have worked the Graveyard shift for many years and always used the name Nytehawk for IM/gaming/skype,etc. Blossom is a varience of ‘rose’ from a synonym of a name she uses when she creates her beach glass jewellery. Thereby we use NightBlossom for ease of spelling. We have 3GENerations who geocache, Night’s Dad is 5Beaver. Night’s brother also caches “cwgladstone” who lives in the States. We have only been a member of the caching ‘addiction’ for 2 years on September 14th. We are certainly enjoying meeting everyone and the places this ‘sport’ takes us is amazing! Thanks everyone.
When we started caching, Terry and I each had our own accounts. Mine was “milosheart”; using “milo”, a nickname of Terry’s based on mis-heard song lyrics and “heart” because we love each other. Mushy, I know, but it suited me. He logged 19 caches on his own before he gave up and we became team milosheart. 🙂
I was just sitting at my Pc filling out the form to register as a user on gc.com. I wanted my name Ken to be part of it. I tried different combinations using Ken. I ended up with Ken1957, my year of birth. Finally, a unique combination that was available. A couple of months later, I decided to shorten it, K57 was available so I took it..
Some similar stories on here. I remember sitting in the library at the MacNaughton Science & Technology Centre (now Bernice MacNaughton High School) trying to sign up for my first email account from Hotmail. I figured I’d be able to get my name, Heath, as my address, but was surprised to see that it was already taken. I was then (and am still now) big into Scouting and the outdoors and so I tacked the word “tree” after my name. heathtree has been my default username ever since.
I do feel differently about my username than most people. I’m frequently tempted to change my username to something that doesn’t include my name. The top contenders have been Fundy (or some variation) or Wanderluster. But everytime I bring it up, someone poo-poos the idea and convinces me otherwise. For now, I’ll stay as heathtree.
I forgot to mention that there is one nice alternative definition for my geocaching name. A heath is also a name for a kind of shrubland habitat. So heathtree could mean a lone tree in a field of shrubs. An apt description for a place you might go caching.
My caching name is actually from something really lame. I am a member of my local 4-H club and i had to demonstrate something with a freind who is also a cacher. We made this dip that we called chicken dip. The name of demo was triple ccc. Standing for our last names and chicken. When it came I was really thinking about what to call myself. I decided to call myself that. Thats the story of how I became the one and only triple ccc.
Similar to others I had mine from the internet chatting days, I used to be Haha72 but I wanted an alternative for the sports rooms as haha doesn’t always get taken seriously. So Madpuck for Crazy about Hockey although it has a very demeaning term in Aussieland. Anywheres you see the Madpuck name 99% chance it’s mine as I register it everywheres so I don’t lose it or get copied. Oddly enough I’d rather people call me by my real name than Madpuck, it sounds weird but since I’ve been caching it has become more familiar to me being called that
I wanted something easy to log, Hence…bob.nb— Bob from New Brunswick!
I did not know that when you registered for geocaching.com the name you use is the name you are known by. I use Marocma for my name on many sites. Marocma is A. M. Coram backwards. (Audrey Marie Coram, from my maiden name.) I can write backwards very proficiently as well! lol
Had I known that it becomes a name that everyone calls you and that you introduce yourself as, I might have come up with something with a little more imagination.
I also did not know that caching was such a social sport when we started! I think the best swag from all the caching is the friends we have made along the trails!!
My geocaching name is also based on my name Di for Diane and Sco for Scott. the 318 is for the cadet corps that I have been with for the past 12 years. Most people associate the Disco with the 70’s but it is not so!
Many already heard this story, but I like to say things over and over again. So here we go.
My wife is Anglophone, and I am a francophone with a very French (and sexy) name. Down where I come from, I never really had a nick name, beside a bunch of close friends calling each other by our last name. I would guess that because of the “R” pronunciation in my name, instead of calling me by my whole name, all my wife’s side of the family were and still are calling me Mo. Just Mo. (Although I love hearing my name pronounced by anglophone ladies, with the English R sound, but that is another story). My wife’s sister’s daughter, who was probably around two years old when Didi and I met/got married/started geocaching, just out of the blue one day asked where I was: “Where is Nemo?”, probably because of Mo and her favourite Disney fish movie Nemo. The nickname kinda stayed around as it was cute. (I also became Elmo to another niece). The same lovely little girl was calling my wife auntie Didi, (Dydy not DD). So when we signed up for geocaching, my wife did all the work, and just randomly picked up Nemodidi. Ever since we became Nemo and Didi either geocaching or in the trails hiking. I am now so Nemo, that it will also be my biker’s nickname 🙂
This nickname grew on me and I love it!
I changed by geocaching name after a fantastic weekend event in Kejimkujik National Park where it rained constantly. I completed the 5 cache series that included paddling (my very first FTF) and a full day hike (including some hip deep wading) to get the job done. I was even a part of the brave group that camped in the park. Ever since I think I might actually prefer caching in the rain… there are fewer muggles to worry about 😉