Whether I carved my name into that tree back in my hazy, Drunk Hiking Days and just have no recollection of doing so, or whether it was put there by one of the other 886,709 estimated Ryans in the United States, we may never know. So I don’t want to hear about it.

Yes, yes, I know it’s wrong to carve your name into trees. In fact, I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure if anyone does that @CovingtonNursery, we simply shoot them on site. 🤷‍♂️😝

And especially when hiking, you’re supposed to Leave No Trace… Pack it in, Pack it out... I know all this. So, I understand how some of you might feel about seeing names carved into trees. It makes me a bit angry, too, when I see a name (that isn’t Ryan) carved into a tree.

I think you’ll agree, though, that the name Ryan seems different. It’s special somehow, more awesome than the other names, and you even get the sense that the trees like it, right?!

Besides. Even if you don’t agree with me, I’ve learned that there are 886,709 people who probably do. 🤣

Geez. That’s a lot of Ryan’s, huh? But I’m not surprised.

Throughout my life, I am rarely the only Ryan in a room, and all through college, I was even roommates with a 6-foot-tall drag queen named Ryan Smith. We always thought he was quiet… special, but now I see (on MyNameStats.com) that “Ryan + Smith” is actually the most common pairing of names in the United States, by a landslide.

Huh.

I wonder how many of these other Ryan Smiths are also enormous female impersonators that steal their roommates’ clothes and stretch them all out into oblivion by shoving them full of fake knockers and butt cheeks made of socks and duct tape?

There was nothing about this on the chart I found.

😝😝😝