I know you think girls with taut buttocks hitting each other is the best part of roller derby, but you’re wrong.
It’s the names! Each derby name (skaters, referees and officials) has to be completely unique within the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association. Brainstorming and deciding on the right name can be a bigger challenge than those first spaghetti-legged weeks of re-learning to quad skate.
Most of the names are clever puns and allusions that follow an equation of themes. Names tend to include one or more of these themes:
- Puns. violence puns, sexy puns.
- Local flair
- Modified given names
- Pop culture
- Skater occupation
- Names that reflect physical or personality attributes
- Double entendre
- And lastly, the HER names
Next time you’re cozy in your seat watching girls fall, see how many of these themes you can pick out from skater names. Try these themes to form your OWN name. What kind of rad alter-ego might you be able to assume?
Bonus question, worth only your own self satisfaction. What themes does Knockin’ Das Boots fall into?
~Knockin’ Das Boots