western trope - the "man with no name" as MC?

how the heck you write about a "man with no name" type character/? i mean, if said character is your MC you've got to use something to refer to him and can you really go a whole book refering to your MC as "The Drifter" or some such??
Film makes it so much easier!!
any ideas on how to handle this?

the story i'm toying with is sort of a semi-Western, it's got Western elements but I'm not trying to 'write to the genre' if you get what i mean. i may well end up naming the character but i wanted to explore the option of NOT naming him (or her... hmm....) because i'm trying to do something different than i normally do and exploiting an existing trope seems like it might be fun.

What POV is it?

It can be tricky, because you have to use something to identify the character. It's easier in the first person POV, but even that can be tricky. What's wrong about giving him some sort of generic identifier?

Well, what's wrong with calling him the Drifter? I'm not particularly familiar with westerns, so maybe I'm missing something, but I don't see a problem with assigning him a generic identifier as Jifflion suggested. I would likely be more content if there is some kind of discussion about why he doesn't have a name, but if he genuinely doesn't then he doesn't.

I've actually got a character who's only ever refered to by the narrator as the Priest. He has a bunch of aliases, but he doesn't really consider any of them his actual name, so I didn't feel like it would be right for the third person narrator to use them. I think it works pretty well

By no name do you mean no physical name? There were Lone Ranger books, I think, and I'm sure they just referred to him as that. And others called him Kemosabe, stranger, that sort of thing. So, in that realm, sure, you could have others come up with a nickname for him.

When describing him (presumign it's 3rd person POV), which will be a lot trickeir than 1st) you can do like Stephen Crane in "Red Badge of Courage." I recall that he would use character descriptions like "the tall man" or "the tattered man" - quite a bit, though not for the MC if I recall. In other words, one time you could describe him as a "tall, dark stranger" and other times as the "Loud Voice" or something like that, which you've estblished for the reader is your MC.

The trick there, of course, would be to make sure readers understand it's the same man; at least with the Lone Ranger you have the fact your audience knows the character. But I think it's doable if you establish firmly that, for instance, your character is in disguise with a red beard at this moment, and then refer to him as "Red Beard."

So, it's doable, but very tricky. I agree that there should be some discussion as to why the character doesn't have a name and who he/she is. Indeed, that's where you can perhaps get out more descriptive terms you can then use for him/her.

it's in 3rd person... trying for 3rd limited but i almost always write in 3rd omniscient (i like pretending i'm a god :-p ) so sometimes i slip. but 3rd limited is the goal.

the thing is i haven't read many Westerns either which is why i wasn't sure how this sort of situation would be handled. i just figured it would annoy readers to constantly refer to the MC as some title/descriptor but maybe not.

the character probably does have a name, but doesn't use it because of being on the run from something/someone and just being an all-around mistrusting, very reserved introvert. so if someone were to ask "what's your name?" the character would either avoid the question or come up with some smart-ass answer.

cool. thanks for the answers - like i said, i just assumed that having the MC constantly referred to as something like The Drifter or The Stranger or such would annoy people. i totally forgot about the Lone Ranger (*headdesk*).

I think i'll just run with it then, but if anyone wants to add their thoughts/opinions, please do.

Drifter sounds cool.
Gray (or brown or blue - just not black please) - he wears the same color/monocromatic clothing
Stranger
Words (though he never says much)
Jones
Smith

Which direction did he drift in from? Or geology of the terrain? Plains Man? Flatlander?
What about physical characteristics? scar on face; missing an eye; silver tooth? ear missing? right arm paralyzed? color of hair or eyes?
Are others aware of his occupation/reputation before he arrives? Sheep herder - Shep; former lawman - Rules; gunslinger - McDraw (okay, corny); bank robber - Cash.

As others have mentioned, the "name" you use for someone who doesn't use their real name is generally a name that is either given to them by others or an alias that is provided by the person themselves.

One thing to consider is how the name came about and the reason for the lack of a name.
If it's a name given by others, the name could derive from either physical traits (like Scar from Full Metal Alchemist) or behaviour (like the Lone Ranger posted previously) or possibly something else. If it's an alias, then it can be based on physical traits, something they are striving towards or liken themselves to (like many superhero names).

A reason for not having a name can be a need/desire to hide the real name (running from something/someone as was mentioned in a previous post) or they abandoned their name. (In Full Metal Alchemist, I believe Scar never mentions what his name was and regards it as unimportant. He also never refers to himself as Scar.) Other possibilities for why they don't have a name is they forgot it due to amnesia or they were never given one (the latter more common in sci fi settings where the character was raised as some sort of experimental subject).

Oh, like Eastwood movies...

I think he didn't have a name in most of them, especially the Italo ones.

In Stephen King's "The Gunslinger", although the main character does have a name, he's usually just refered to as "the gunslinger".

You could call him what everyone else refers to him as. In full metal alchemist there's a guy with no name, but people have to talk about him, so they start calling him scar.

I have a character with no real name. He's eventually referred to by everyone as 'Zero', the name they give him, but in his first story he's referred to as 'the Kid' or 'the Boy'.