Making Your Own Alias for Cowboy Action Shooting

How to Cre­ate a Unique Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing Char­ac­ter Name

 

One of the most fun things about Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing is that it allows its mem­bers to assume the char­ac­ter of an Old West per­son­al­ity, and even choose an appro­pri­ate alias. It comes as no sur­prise to hear attention-getting names like Fire­wa­ter McGrath, Kat­rina Tum­ble­weed or Straight­shootin’ Sam Bart­tle­son. It’s like play­ing a grownup ver­sion of Cow­boys and Indi­ans, except that every­thing is real, from the Stet­son hat down to the snakeskin boots.

The Sin­gle Action Shoot­ing Soci­ety requires all mem­bers of affil­i­ated Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing orga­ni­za­tions to pick an alias that rep­re­sents a char­ac­ter or pro­fes­sion from the wild days of the Old West or a clas­sic west­ern film. The alias should be unique and not dupli­cate any other member’s alias. The SASS gen­er­ally has the final author­ity whether an alias can be used or not.

You can use any alias you desire, as long as it’s not morally or legally objec­tion­able and no one else is using it.

Choos­ing  unique, strik­ing, mem­o­rable, or sim­ply funny alias is an inter­est­ing activ­ity all new mem­bers must go through. While com­ing up with a great-sounding alias is sec­ond nature to some peo­ple, it could be a real chal­lenge to some. Some will come up with a fan­tas­tic name only to find, to their dis­ap­point­ment, that another mem­ber has already beat them to it.

 

Meth­ods of Gen­er­at­ing a Cow­boy Action Shooting Alias

 

There are sev­eral ways to come up with a Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing alias. Look at your character’s pro­fes­sion. If your char­ac­ter is in the med­ical pro­fes­sion, Doc or Saw­bones is a good place to start. Your character’s gen­eral dis­po­si­tion, such as Speedy, Grumpy, Smi­ley, Lefty or Cool are exam­ples of name mod­i­fiers you can use.

Phys­i­cal fea­tures are another point of ref­er­ence, such as Tubs, String­beans, Four-Fingered, or One-Eyed. While names dur­ing the time of the Old West weren’t always polit­i­cally cor­rect, the name you choose shouldn’t be offen­sive or obscene by any means.

Some mem­bers make a play on Span­ish terms and turn them into an alias. “Que bonita!” (How pretty!) can become Kay Bonita. Many mem­bers would like to be nick­named “El Guapo” or “El Guapa”. You can open a lot of pos­si­bil­i­ties if you look up Span­ish phrases.

Sev­eral decades ago, a clever way of select­ing an alias was using the “two towns” method, adopt­ing a name which involved the names of two state towns. Erst­while singer Mar­ion Slaugh­ter was able to make many records by chang­ing his name to Ver­non Dal­hart, a com­bi­na­tion of two Texas towns, Ver­non and Dal­hart. Con­way Twitty derived his name from two towns in Arkansas.

Josephine Sweet­wa­ter, Tom Bean Wood­creek, and Honey Grove Hitch­cock are exam­ples of names cre­ated from com­bin­ing two Texas towns. The pos­si­bil­i­ties are end­less. Try doing the same with the name of your home state and you can come up with a num­ber of orig­i­nal and mem­o­rable Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing aliases that are less likely used by someone else.

The phys­i­cal char­ac­ter­is­tic + name is a favorite way of com­ing up with a unique alias, such as Big Jim, Curly Bill, and Hand­some Bob. You can also use the “dou­ble first name” method, as in the case of James Alfred “J.A.” McFaddin and John Wes­ley Hardin. And, of course, there’s the city (or state) + nick­name + last name for­mula, like Texas Jack Ver­mil­lion and Arkansas Tom Jones. The names you can cre­ate are only lim­ited by your imagination.

 

Don’t For­get to Reg­is­ter Your Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing Alias – It’s Easy

 

Mem­ber­ship in any SASS-affiliated cow­boy shoot­ing orga­ni­za­tion requires the reg­is­tra­tion of a unique alias under which you com­pete in events. The SASS Shoot­ers Hand­book doesn’t allow the use of an alias that dupli­cates or can be con­fused with another reg­is­tered member’s alias.

The SASS strongly rec­om­mends the use of an alias spe­cially when par­tic­i­pat­ing in shoot­ing com­pe­ti­tions, as it adds to the fun and spirit of Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing. Your alias, once reg­is­tered, is yours alone as long as you stay a mem­ber. Remem­ber that if an alias sounds the same as another, it is basi­cally the same; a play on its spelling won’t make it any dif­fer­ent. Like­wise, aliases that don’t fit your char­ac­ter or sounds vul­gar won’t be allowed.

Here’s a use­ful tip. When you’re ready to join an SASS shoot­ing sport orga­ni­za­tion and want to reg­is­ter your alias, you can eas­ily do it over the phone. They can check up for any name dupli­ca­tion, and you can have your mem­ber­ship num­ber and alias while you’re still on the phone!

Choos­ing your own unique alias can be a chal­leng­ing yet enjoy­able activ­ity. It gives you an oppor­tu­nity to be who­ever you want to be within rea­son. Your cow­boy attire can be tai­lored around your cho­sen char­ac­ter and alias, which only adds to the fun of this shoot­ing sport. Choose your Cow­boy Action Shoot­ing name wisely and don’t for­get to reg­is­ter it with the SASS.