I tried to finesse the issue in my Brotherhood of Rangers game (3.5e) by having all the PCs be gestalt-rangers (fighter-ranger gestalt, wizard-ranger gestalt, cleric-ranger gestalt, etc.) None of the PCs were "the party Ranger" because they all were rangers in the wilderness-heavy setting. But it was still useful for them to pick different classes for the non-ranger side of their gestalts for the sake of each PC having a niche (and in the case of the two fighter-rangers, for them to pick two different fighter-niches; one specializing in archery & the other in two-handed sword.)