Originally posted by Canuck:
Just a quick question; suppose my real name was Rainbow Bright (first name: Rainbow; last name: Bright). Would this be acceptable as a camp name, or would I have to change it to something like Joe?
LOL... some of my camp friends and I were talking about this a while back. I jokingly said that I should change my name to Teenster because everyone, at camp and at home, calls me Teenster. Then my director said that I would have to change my camp name if I did that. So, I guess that if your real name was Rainbow Bright, yes you would have to change it for camp, but you wouldn't have to change it to something like Joe. It could be another nick name type thing.
Northwoods, I do see both sides... but really camp names aren't a big issue. True some campers might feel betraied by their counselors for not telling them their real names, but like I've said, I have never heard that before. Until someone can give some evidence, like an article of something that really happened... Or, have you talked with campers that went to a camp name only camp? Did they feel that their counselors weren't being "real" with them because they had camp names? Have you worked at a camp with camp names? Someone said it earlier in this topic... you can't really talk so poorly about something when you haven't experienced it.
Now, I don't agree with the whole change your personality with your camp name thing... that just doesn't settle right with me. I don't think that you should really act any different at camp than you do when you are at home... I don't. I might be a little more outgoing at camp, but that's it. Yeah, you tell people to be yourself at camp, but ask them to change their name... weird.
To tell you all the truth... I like the whole tradition argument the best. It's pretty hard to argue with tradition, no matter what the tradition is.
- Teenster
