Sojourner

Sojourner is a noun describing a person who stays in a place temporarily; it also functions as the verb sojourn, meaning to stay somewhere for a period of time. The term is used as an adjective in the sense of describing a temporary residence or visit. It derives from Old French sejourner, meaning to stay for a time, and has been part of English since the Middle Ages.

Notable uses include Sojourner Truth (c. 1797–1883), born Isabella Baumfree, an American abolitionist and women's rights advocate who adopted the name Sojourner Truth in 1843. She traveled widely to speak against slavery and for equality, becoming a prominent figure in 19th-century reform movements and a legacy of American social justice.

Another widely recognized use is Sojourner, the name given to NASA's Mars Pathfinder rover. Sojourner landed on Mars in 1997 and conducted surface exploration for several weeks, marking the first successful rover deployment on the planet and contributing valuable data about Martian geology and the planet’s past.

Beyond these, Sojourner is occasionally used as a given name in modern times, often chosen for its connotations of travel, exploration, and seeking. In literature and popular culture, it appears as a character name intended to evoke a nomadic or exploratory identity.