Garmin Connect names an uploaded ride itself, after the place where it started and the sport, and ignores the name written inside the file. A ride you called “Lake loop with Anna” on Wahoo or Strava arrives as something like “Sankt Gallen Cycling” unless the name is set again after the upload.
What did we measure?
On 13 September 2026 we uploaded a 12-minute test ride from the Nabe app to Garmin Connect. The FIT file carried a workout name in its wkt_name field: “NABE TESTUPLOAD, bitte löschen”. Garmin accepted the upload, and the activity appeared in the list as “Sankt Gallen Radfahren”, which is “Sankt Gallen Cycling” on an account set to German. The name from the file was nowhere to be seen.
The same happened the day before with a ride uploaded through Garmin Connect’s import page: Garmin called it “Sankt Gallen Radfahren” as well, although the ride had a name at its source.
Why does the file name not survive?
The Wahoo ride files we read carry no ride name at all: you name a ride on the service after riding, so the name lives at Wahoo or Strava, not in the file. Where a file does carry a name, as in our test, Garmin did not use it.
How does Nabe keep my name?
After an upload, Nabe sets the name of the activity in Garmin Connect to the name from the source, but only when the source has a real name. In our test Garmin confirmed the rename, and the activity showed the intended name from then on.
Which names does Nabe leave alone?
General names such as “Cycling”, “Radfahren” or “Virtual Cycling” are what a device or service writes when nobody named the ride. Nabe leaves Garmin’s own name in place for those, because “Sankt Gallen Cycling” tells you more than “Cycling”.
Does renaming change anything else?
No. The rename is a separate request after the upload and changes only the title of the activity in Garmin Connect. The uploaded file is not sent again.