The anonymous diarist's name is never revealed in the book.[16] In an episode where the diarist describes having sex with a drug dealer, she quotes an onlooker's remark indicating that her name may be Carla.[17][18][19] Although a girl named Alice appears very briefly in the book, she is not the diarist, but a fellow runaway whom the diarist meets on the street in Coos Bay, Oregon.[18][19][20]
Despite the lack of any evidence in the book that the diarist's name is Alice, the covers of various editions have suggested that her name is Alice by including blurb text such as "This is Alice's true story"[21] and "You can't ask Alice anything anymore. But you can do something—read her diary."[22] Reviewers and commentators have also frequently referred to the anonymous diarist as "Alice",[1][9][10][13][16][23][24] sometimes for convenience.[25][26]
In the 1973 television film based on the book, the protagonist played by Jamie Smith-Jackson is named "Alice".[27] The protagonist is also named "Alice Aberdeen" in the 1976 stage play adaptation.[12]
