(Image Source: David Kennerly / The Huffington Post ) 

BY HARUMENDHAH HELMY
With contributions from Courtney Tezeno and Dan Kennedy

It’s one of the perks of becoming important enough to get Secret Service protection -- your very own codename! Paul Ryan is the latest to get his nickname revealed.
 

This week, an exclusive on GQ says Ryan is now Bowhunter to the Service. The name is chosen because the congressman is reportedly “ a skilled archer, a hunter of deer, and an aficionado of [bowhunting] .”
 

If Ryan got the nickname because of his hobby, others may have gotten theirs just because it sounds cool...
 

President Barack Obama is Renegade.

George W. Bush is Trailblazer.

Bill Clinton is... Eagle.

And George H. W. Bush is... Timberwolf.

 

But wait -- what’s the point of having secret code names when everyone knows it?
 

The Telegraph says now that radio communication among Secret Service agents is encrypted, codenames aren’t used so much for security purposes as much as simply shorthands. Now, the names also “provide an occasional glimpse at the personalities – or humour –- at play in the White House. ”
 

A historian tells NPR how the delicate process of codename selection usually goes...
 

“Usually a president or anyone else who’s protected gets a list of possible code names and they get to choose, and if it’s something too awful, they can choose something else...”
 

According to the Guinness World Records , Harry S. Truman was the first American president to get a Secret Service codename. It was General.
 

And GQ , which earlier this year also broke GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s codename -- it’s Javelin , if you’re curious — says there’s really no method to the nickname madness.
 

“The only real rule the Service has is that the word chosen be comprehensible over the radio and not be similar to someone's else's. That's why code names tend to have two or three strong syllables.”