Do I need a leader name?

If you’re new to Guiding (or presumably Scouting), you may have noticed that lots of the adults go by weird names. How do you get one of those?

Well, that depends on the unit and the existing leaders and what they’ve established. Sometimes the leaders pick the names. Sometimes the girls pick the names. Sometimes the leaders come in with names from previous units. Sometimes everyone just uses their own name.

With my Rangers, I go by my own name. Girls of fourteen to eighteen are too old to call me by some contrived nickname. Maybe if they’d come up from Guides accustomed to my leader name we’d just continue it but they don’t.

As a Young Leader, I became Bumblebee and it’s still what I’d call “my leader name” despite not having used it in literally decades. That unit used animal names beginning with B and I picked Bumblebee from a list suggested by the girls that I remember including Baboon and Bison. The next new leader became Butterfly and after that, they gave up on the Bs and now include Koala and Raccoon among their leaders. I gather the girls voted and the leaders picked from the top votes.

However, I think the only time they use leader names rather than actual names is at the closing ceremony. Taps, followed by “Goodnight Guides”, “Goodnight Bear!”, “Goodnight Guides”, “Goodnight Koala!” etc. Some units are stricter about it – I guess it’s that extra bit of distance/respect, or a greater love for tradition.

It’s traditional at Brownies for all the leaders to be owls. The main leader is usually Brown Owl (hi!). It’s as much a title as a nickname at this point. Sometimes leaders will switch roles and then they either confuse the girls by changing names or the girls confuse them with statements like “Snowy is now Brown Owl”.

When I entered my current Brownies, we didn’t use names. The unit had been rescued from the scrap heap by a couple of parents who just didn’t know about leader names and so they never got into the habit of using them. With my first Brownies, I didn’t want to use them because it felt hierarchical. I was the experienced leader playing second to an absolute newcomer, so we were Bumblebee and Butterfly (a different Butterfly to the Guide leader mentioned above). But with my second Brownies, when I found myself in the Brown Owl role, I wanted to be called Brown Owl. It’s not sticking yet but it’s getting better. My unit helper has finally decided she’d like to be Snowy (not Tawny, because The Other Brownies have a Tawny) and my new leader is deciding on her name over the Easter holidays. Leave owl names to the girls and you’ll get all sorts of nonsense.

As a guideline, the main leader is usually Brown Owl but occasionally Wise Owl. Second-in-command is usually Tawny but sometimes Snowy and whichever of those two hadn’t been used usually goes to any third leader. Young Leaders, obviously, are often Little Owl. No one opts for Long Eared Owl for obvious reasons. Fluffy Owl is getting popular nowadays. I’ve rarely heard of Eagle Owl or Barn Owl being used but there’s no reason why not. And these guidelines are just that. They’re not hard and fast rules or even the sort of tradition that gets you hard stares from older leaders if you get it “wrong”. It’s just nicknames.

I believe the owl names were official in the early days and so many units keep them because they’re a nice old tradition. But they were discontinued as an official thing in the 1960s, I think, so you’re entirely within your rights to use any name you please.

Whatever you or the girls pick, you have to be prepared for it to be yelled at you across a crowded public place. No one wants “Babooooon!” to be yelled across Tesco at them. It’s never happened to me but then I’ve always lived ten miles from my girls. Strangers will understand “Brown Oooooowwwwwwl!” but you don’t want “Goblin Benderrrrr!” (A delightful alternative offered by one of my previous Guides. I declined it in favour of sticking with Bumblebee.

What about badges? There are no official name badges and no need whatsoever to wear one unless your unit has decided to. You’ll see a lot of people with little wooden trefoil badges and their name burned in curly letters across the bottom. I have one myself. Nine times out of ten, it means the wearer has visited the woodcarver in Adelboden on a visit to Our Chalet, the WAGGGS World Centre in Switzerland. They’re popular souvenirs – small, cheap, personalised and practical. The tenth time, they know someone who’s been to Our Chalet and brought the badge back as a present.

One unit in our district wears sew-on badges from Badgefreaks, which seems to have gone under at some point since 2018. The local Guides have been wearing smart little rectangular name badges in the last few months but never used to. I have a pewter bumblebee pin from my local tourist information centre on my badge tab but it’s not a name I’ve used in a long time so it’s there just out of habit.

I’ve just realised that all the examples I’ve given are animal names. Your unit might not use animals. I’ve known a Snowflake and I think I’ve heard of units using different Stars. Your unit, your name theme – or not theme. Names don’t have to be themed.

And I emphasise that there’s nothing wrong with just using your real name. Plenty of people feel silly being addressed as Tawny Owl or Badger or Twinkle Star and if you’re happy for the kids to call you Jane or Britney or Sophie or whatever, go ahead. You can even have a name badge for your ordinary real name if you want. Or not.