ill Ehrman, 18, usually surfs at Toes and Secrets in Maunalua Bay, and he grew up in nearby Niu Valley, but he couldn't tell you how those breaks got their unusual names.

"Honestly, I have no idea," said Ehrman, hanging out with buddy Alvaro Andres at Portlock Point one morning. "I never really thought about it."

Not many people in Hawai'i do, actually. Sure, we know the surf breaks — Populars, Pipeline, Pounders — but do we know the real story behind their names?

Most people who surf have no idea why the spot has its nickname, beach expert and retired deputy fire chief John Clark said, but he thinks we should. "It's important to understand that correct story behind every place name. It helps to give all of us a better understanding of Hawai'i and the people who live here."

Different things inspire surf-spot names, and going back to the sources can be like leafing through a scrapbook — bringing back memories of old restaurants, long-gone public baths, forgotten families and graffiti that faded decades ago.

Perhaps the most common source of break names are landmarks.

Old-timers can remember the Green Lanterns Restaurant that, until 1958, sat across from the Ma'ili break that bears its name.

Other spots are named after the families whose homes fronted the break.

In the '50s, Henry J. Kaiser owned eight acres of Waikiki beachfront property where the Hilton Hawaiian Village now sits. Kaiser's is the break directly offshore from the hotel.

Still others were named after anything that acted as a marker: Seventh Hole, off of Kahuku Golf Course, or Third Dip, located off the third drainage ditch in Farrington Highway at the west end of Yokohama Beach.

Wave shapes and nearby geological forms have also inspired names.

Alligators off Ka'alaea Beach on the North Shore got its name from the huge limestone rock on the beach that's shaped like an alligator's head.

Then there are the strange, obscure names that have made even longtime surfers shrug their shoulders.

Here are examples from each shoreline on O'ahu — and we know there are more — that we uncovered.

(SEE BELOW FOR MORE SURF BREAKS AND THEIR ORIGINS.)

SOUTH SHORE

Most people know the stories behind many of O'ahu's more famous south-shore breaks.

Canoes in Waikiki was named after the outrigger canoes that surfed the gentle waves. Concessions at Ala Moana Beach Park is in front of the food concession stand. And Publics got its name from the old public baths on the beach.

But there are some south-shore breaks whose names aren't as easy to figure out.

Consider the not-widely-known second-reef break in Waikiki called Techniques.

Formed only during large south swells, Techniques is the connecting break between Publics and Cunha's.

Its name comes from the fact that "you had to know how to maneuver the section to get from Publics to Cunha's," said legendary surfer George Downing, 76, who grew up surfing in Waikiki. "You had to know what you were doing."

NORTH SHORE

The North Shore's famous seven-mile stretch of surf breaks boasts some of the best-known waves in the world.

But there are a few break names that even some locals can't explain.

Gums, found between 'Ehukai and Pipeline, is a prime example.

The story behind its name has become part of North Shore lore.

On the empty lot now filled with picnic tables at 'Ehukai Beach Park stood a home where an older man lived with his mother. In the early '70s, as most surfers swapped their longboards for shortboards, this guy continued to paddle out to that middle spot on a tanker.

During a particularly bad wipeout, the man's longboard knocked out his dentures — and he never replaced them.

"So he would surf there without any teeth, just his gums," recalled Randy Rarick, veteran surfer and contest promoter. "And that's how it got named."

WEST SIDE

Sometimes when water-safety expert and Makaha native Brian Keaulana finds new tow-in breaks, he gives them honest — and vividly descriptive — names, like "I Shouldn't Be Here" and "I Wish I Nevah Drop Down."

But Keaulana has a deep respect for the Hawaiian names for the surf spots up and down the Wai'anae coast.

"It's different what they named the areas before," said Keaulana, who uses the name Keawa'ula ("red bay") instead of Yokohama. "They gave essence and power and life to the place."

Less sacred is the origin of Pray for Sex, a break off the east end of Makua Beach.

In the '60s the catch phrase was spray-painted on a large rock on the beach.

Though the graffito faded, the name hasn't.

EAST SIDE

Sometimes you can't know the real story behind a place name unless you talk to the source directly.

Rarick grew up in the '60s, right on the beach in Niu Valley — and in front of the break now known as Toes.

Back then, no one surfed out there, and he'd walk his 35-pound longboard half a mile down to 'Aina's.

One day, at high tide, he and his friends decided to paddle out to the break fronting his house.

To their surprise, the wave was totally rideable.

"At first we were going to call it Rarick's House, but that was too vain," he said, laughing.

The popular phrase at the time was "toes on the nose." And when one of Rarick's friends ran up to the nose of his longboard, Rarick yelled out, "You got toes! You got toes!"

The spot has been called Toes ever since.

ANOTHER GENERATION, ANOTHER NAME

Even well-known breaks sometimes get a name change over the years.

That's what happened to Cornucopia in Waikiki, which is now called Baby Royals, and Noll's Reef on the North Shore, which is better known today as Jocko's.

"Every generation is going to introduce new names," said beach expert John Clark. "The only names that will stay permanently are the ones constantly used by everyone. Those names get reinforced from generation to generation. But the smaller breaks, those might change."

Sometimes what the break was named after — a street sign, a family's home — moves or disappears.

And unless the name is passed on to younger generations of users, it can get lost in history.

Take, for example, Incinerators off what is now Kaka'ako Waterfront Park.

The break was named after the city incinerator there. In 1946, a new incinerator was built next to the old one. So by the '60s most users — by now, only bodysurfers — referred to the break as Point Panic.

Surfer and contest promoter Randy Rarick remembers referring to a surf spot between Toes and Secrets in Maunalua Bay as Signs back in the '60s.

"There was an old parking sign some fishermen stuck in a coral head in a reef," Rarick said. "So we'd just call it Signs."

Today both the sign and pole are gone. Kawaiku'i Beach Park was built inshore of the break, and many surfers now refer to the spot as Parks, Rarick said.

Let's see how long that name sticks.

— Catherine E. Toth

STORY BEHIND THE NAMES

Different things have inspired the names for surf breaks, from geological features to the people who surfed there. Here are examples of how some O'ahu breaks got their names:

LANDMARKS