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A derby name, roller derby name or skater name is a nickname used by a skater while playing or officiating roller derby.
Derby names can be seen as an opportunity to adopt an alternative on-track persona. Many derby names are puns, and in some cases this may extend to the skater's number. Other names may be chosen to reflect a skater's playing style or ability. Tablet Magazine describes the ideal derby name as showing "both aggression and humor" and "reveal something about the skater". For example, Hydra, a former Texas Rollergirls skater, chose her name in part due to her profession as a hydrologist, and in part in reference to the mythological creature. Fagundes suggests that the ideal derby name "sounds something like a real name", in that it has a plausible first- and last-name, "connects to derby", and contributes to an "overall persona". He gives LA Derby Dolls skater Tara Armov as an example of an ideal-type name.
Although some skaters in pre-2000 banked track roller derby did have nicknames, the tradition of derby names did not emerge until the early-2000s revival in Austin, Texas, which was mirrored by Ivanna S. Pankin of Arizona Roller Derby, who had previously used her derby name while working as a musician.
Around 40,000 skater names are registered on the International Rollergirls' Master Roster. The roster originated as a spreadsheet kept by Hydra. In November 2004, Axles of Evil proposed that a centralised record of derby names be created, and Hydra then launched the roster publicly. Hydra passed responsibility for the roster to Paige Burner, Soylent Mean and Jelly HoNut late the following year, by which point it already had more than two thousand entries.