What's in a name?

[Spookie Monster]

I'm always curious about why people call themselves what they call themselves, and I definitely see a lot of interesting and bizarre usernames here. Sometimes I can't even pronounce them! :o My question to you is this, therefore: Why did you choose the username you chose? What does it mean? Why do you identify with it?

For instance, my username here is Spel; I derived it from George Spelvin, which is the name I use when I discuss, oh, I don't know, monster rape and so forth. George Spelvin isn't my real name, though - it's a name that American actors use when they don't want to use their actual name. It's kind of like how Alan Smithee is used by a director when he (or she, I suppose) doesn't want his (or her) name attached to a particular movie. I felt like Spel would be appropriate enough, given the circumstances. (And besides, I like the play The Actor's Nightmare; its protagonist is named George Spelvin.)

Does that make sense? :o I hope so... :)

Anyway, why did you choose what you chose? What does your own username mean? Why do you identify with it?

Spel

[Amberghylles]

Well, it goes back years.  I was ditching AOL and needed an e-mail address, I went with hotmail.  At the time my primary use of my e-mail was an online newsgroup collective story, and I took the name of my villian Bryce Amberghylles as my e-mail.

Since then, I've found that Amberghylles is almost never actually taken as a username and thus gives me a strange sort of uniformity.  Plus I kinda like the name. <grin>

[kat]

Mine is my actual nickname, no strange or interesting story there. Sorry. ;)

[Hunter]

Old shadowrun character.   :)

[Vandren]

Comes from the main character in my first "real" decent to good story.  I later found out it means something in some Scandinavian language too, but I don't know what or which.  :)

[Keelin]

A mischievous elf I played back on RPoL  :)

[Lirliel]

The name of my Elf lover on RPOL, this is to Honor her :)

[nick012000]

Well, when I first needed to make an email account, I decided to use the name of Warhammmer 40k character Kharn the Betrayer. But it was taken. Okay, Kharn01. Taken. So I put in Kharn012, and stuck three 0's on the end just to be on the safe side. Not taken. So, I started using it as my username on the Internet. Then, on the Wizards of the Coast forums, I decided to try to alter my account's age so I could access the "Mature" forums.  ::) The result was that account being locked out. So, I made another account, but this one needed a new name. So, I decided to take out the Kharn, and stick in my own first name, Nick. And, after that, I started using it pretty much everywhere, except for one forum I registered at before the username change.

[Pixie]

Mine is pretty disgustingly simple, I like pixies. I also like the Pixies. So it works for me.

[Moridin]

I stole mine, from a character in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.

[NightBird]

Mine is simple.  I tend to the nocturnal, and 'nightowl' seemed too clichéd.

Et voilà!  NightBird was born.

[Lancis]

Lancis is part of my very first Characters name which was Shadai Lancis, so i use either one or the other in most places, often finding lancis availible when Shadai is not...

Shadai Lancis= Shadow Lancer :)

Lancis

[Jonol]

I  stole my name from the book Ghosts in the Snow. And if anyone decides to read it, they will find that the Risley in the book is very different from the Risley I play.  ;D

[Ajoxer]

I was playing a MMO type game, and I always loved Joxer, from Xena. I decided to edit with the A. Only one person has ever guessed the origins. I also use to go by the name Durahan, because of my love of selfsame character in Monster Rancher 2- Best monster EVER.

[Brandon]

the guardian angel part came from the fact that Ive always been like a guardian angel. Ive always been someone who helps those who cant help themselves and who protects people, so it just fit. The 98 part was just a few random numbers I threw in

[Lilian]

Lilian is a character I came up with for a couple of games and eventually used with on Maidens and Monsters. I absolutely loved the background from which she was born and the concept was rather attractive. I also find her absolutely beautiful, something I can cherish. Is it so strange to, in a way, watch yourself in a mirror and not help but smile?

[Silk & Steel]

Mine is pretty disgustingly simple, I like pixies. I also like the Pixies. So it works for me.

Yeah they gotta be one of the best bands out there with a really orginal sound, probably one of the most in the last 20 years. Besides you gotta love the way Frank Black sings UP into his microphone, and chicks who play bass gotta be the sexiest women in the world.

I choose mine becuase, in my heart of hearts I'm a Romantic (like the styles), I like Silk, and I love the way stainless steel looks. So in a foppish swash buckling kind of style, I think Silk and Steel works - like the hard and soft, the sharp and the smooth. Contrasts.

Cheers,

[GolGol]

Vandren means wanderer in either Danish or norwegian...In Swedish it's vandraren.

Mina is from a Werewolf character that is really cool, my usuall nickname was to long for this site :/

Oh and I have been playing with Keelin before, as her master actually :D

[Lyria]

From a Fantasy Hero character I had. There was no meaning to choosing it for her, I just thought it was pretty. My husband teases me about most of my character names start with 'A' or 'L'.  ;)

[Stumpy]

real life nickname for the past 18 years for me, in fact at one stage there loads of people who had known me four or five years who didn't actually know my real name.

[bloodrose]

I'm from Yorkshire, and the symbol of the county is the white rose...

[Rett Butler]

From the Tokyopop manga Rebirth, not to be confused with Gone in the Wind'; Rhett Butler. And I've always use the name Butler because I like to. So I found a name that had Butler in it while I was reading and it stuck.

[Humble Scribe]

Because I write for a living, and I'm not an especially important or well-paid scribe, and because I have a tendency to drop into cliches when I'm put on the spot and suddenly have to come up with a name on the spur of the moment. I'm not in fact a particularly humble person, but 'Arrogant Scribe' might have been a bit offputting and 'Actually Quite Comfortable With Himself Scribe' well... it just wouldn't work.

[3ldr1tch]

Mine should be Eldritch, but someone kept beeting me to that username so I went with 3ldr1tch instead. The Reason? H.P. Lovecraft had a tendancy to use the word a lot when describing the horrors or the Cthulhu Mythos.

[Valerian]

Valerian was one of my first AD&D characters, and the first truly long-running one, way back in the second edition days.  She was actually a reluctant assassin who passed herself off as a thief, and was eventually sold into slavery on another plane, due to some extremely bizarre circumstances.  But the name's easy to spell, and not taken too often, so I use it quite a lot online.  And yes, that is a valerian plant as my avatar.  :)

[TheWolf]

I've been WolfMan in some form or another since I started using computers, which was a long time ago, when I discovered the internet it seemed to be the natural progression for the WolfMan to move to this medium...

As for how I selected it?  Well, I tapped into my inner wolf, ever since that wolf bite I received all those years ago, and the outbreak of hair and fangs......

*feels the sudden urge to break out into Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" once more...*

*chuckles*  Always liked wolves, always liked werewolves...  What else can I say?

[Lord Drakestone]

Drakestone came straight out of the dictionary.  I like the sound of it.  I like both its actual meaning and the meanings people seem to want to attach to it.  I have even split it and call my character Drake Stone.  One unexpected twist is that some people associated the word drake with dragon. 

I have always believed that names have power.  It is an ancient belief.  In Genesis, Adam is given the right and duty of naming the animals.  In many cultures, it is believe that you gain control over an object or person by knowing its true name.

As you can tell, this is a subject that fascinates me.  If anyone shares my fascinating, please contact me.

[Zakharra]

The name of my Elf lover on RPOL, this is to Honor her :)

Aaawww. Thank you!  *huggles Lirliel*

I chose my name because it seemed to fit and still does. Zakharra. Somewhat mysterious and foreign sounding.

[girlieq]

Well mine is boring, just my real nickname, or one of them. I have several, but my sister always called me girlieq. It's a play on curlicue, my hair has always been really long and it spirals at the end, lol.

[Lord Drakestone]

Well,  Zakharra, I can't say that your chosen name does anything to excite me, but I really like  :o your chose avatar.

[Zakharra]

Well,  Zakharra, I can't say that your chosen name does anything to excite me, but I really like  :o your chose avatar.

  ;D ;)   *bounces a bit*

[Valkos]

Valkos Maranin is the name of one of my AD&D characters. 

I enjoyed Bruce Campbell in the Evil Dead series.  When I saw him in Xena, I was intrigued and started watching the program.  Usually used it as background noise while I did other things, but when the King of Thieves was on, I watched closely.  Once I started gaming, I created a character based off of him, Dolomitre Bosovich.  The character was fun to play, though with his stats, he wasn't as close as I wanted.  Later I created a new character for a modified 1st edition game, and this time the stats worked out well.  Had the campaign lasted longer, he would have made quite a name for himself in the world of Greyhawk.

;D

[menndebi]

Mine is self explainatory...men n debi... ;D  ;D  ;).  I like that idea!!

[ZK]

My name is basically something I merged together from my affinity with felines and that of the Tzimisce Clan from Vampire: The Masquerade.

Zulo Form aka Horrid Form was my inspiration. Now mix it with a cute kitty and bam. You have an eight foot tall hulking anthropomorphic kitty with inhuman strength and a perversion of the flesh. Let alone being a Tzimisce. ^-^

[Hunter]

Mine is self explainatory...men n debi... ;D  ;D  ;).  I like that idea!!

*watches the fairy bounce up and down*  No idea....   ;D

[WarDragon]

Well, as my introduction says, I like dragons.  Probably my favorite aspect of the fantasy genre, in fact.  The "war" part comes from having used this name first at a WarCraft fansite.  I liked it, and decided to use it elsewhere.  Pretty straightforward, really.

[Mistiq]

My screenname wasn't hard for me to think of. One day I went to a Tekken info site and I wanted to join as I did want be apart of this discussion. Mistiq was the first name that came to mind. (No, I was not thinking of X-men's Mystique) It got it's meaning later.

As a got a little older, I found that was different when I was Mistiq. Everything I wanted to say that couldn't say aloud, I could say typing and as Mistiq. No one, could tell me I was wrong, or say "Lord have mercy". Everything I had suppressed as Shannel, I could let out as Mistiq. We were two seprate entities, Shannel was what the world expected of the quietly, careful, sunny girl. While Mistiq is the creative, outspoken, Scropio that lives up to her sign's characteristics, good and bad.

Now, out of respect for my mother, my legal name is still Shannel. Though my signiture and my screenname read Mistiq

[Valkos]

One of the nice things about being online is that all the things that hold you back in real life don't apply here.  I don't mean to say you become a completely different person, but rather all the negatives aspectsof life can be pushed aside and you can let  you hair down, so to speak.

[Siegfried]

My screen name is my actual last name.  Translated it means "peace" and "vctory".

[BlkSatinSlkNLace]

A mischievous elf I played back on RPoL  :)

Ooh! I love that pic for your profile, Keelin! I use it for medieval & historic fantasy games =)

[BlkSatinSlkNLace]

Lucky= My favorite magazine
GUESS= my favorite attire
79= my birth year

;D

[GoldenChild]

Have no idea where mine came from, I needed one when I applied to the site and it popped up in my head (that happens rather often btw... that things pops up in my head, both for good and bad)...

[National Acrobat]

My favorite Black Sabbath song. 8)

[Nothing]

I stole my name from a Poppy Z Brite book, Lost Souls

[Elvi]

What Fred? *grins Evily*


Elvi, as you may have guessed is an anagram of Evil.

I needed a quick name for Hel (The norse goddess of the underworld, for the want of a better description), to use, instead of her own, in a roleplay I was doing and that was the first thing that popped into my head.

It stuck with her and it stuck with me, I am quite fond of it now......*smiles*

[Nothing]

lol, Nothing came from Poppy Z. Brite, Fred came from Elvi :P

[Elvi]

Fred's a lovely name and it suites you better than Nothing......*smiles*

[Nothing]

*whines*
But I like Nothing!!

[Atari]

ORiginally Atarifendera
-atari from the band (my friend and I had a song we listened to by Slayer and Atari-she got slayer I got atari) And also from the gaming system >.<
-Fender-the guitar...my first guitar...
a-just to make it sound more feminine...tehee

Now it is just Atari...

[Elvi]

Atari?
So you're not a games consul after all? *looks dissapointed*


Now Nothing, if I were truely the evil tyrant that I have been dubbed, I could abuse my powers and change your name then block your account and you would be Fred for ever more............*truely evil Elvi grins*
But, you call yourself what you will and I'll still think of you as Fred.....*smiles*

[ZK]

I found out, my first and last name has meaning... odd as it is.

It comes up with "Victorious Red"... o.o

What am I, a communist? X.X

[Nothing]

lol, that would be absolutely terrible, Elvi :P

[Atari]

I can be anyones 'game consul' *grins evily* No disappointment dear Elvi! Atari can definately have two meanings...tehee

[Swedish Steel]

She's my game consol for sure, but for some darn strange reason I seem to be the one with a joystick.

[Oreida Wesker]

I have a lot of trouble with names only because, for me, it can sum up a character's entire personality and attitude. Perhaps why i never choose anything soft sounding. [ Though, for a time, i wanted to have a character named Yogart. No reason, it's just sounded cute. * and also she's a slight Sorcerer Hunters fan.. Just a little one.

'Oreida' is a anagram of my real name, it also, thanks to google, is a type of tropical, or was it an oriental flower. -taps her jaw- Oh well.

'Wesker' came from a Military revolution man I befriended in a RP. He had no true name as he was genetically created in some laboratory and so on, but his Alias was wesker, given to him by his brethren.

[Elvi]

lol, that would be absolutely terrible, Elvi :P

Don't worry, I won't.....though it is tempting in some cases.....*grins and hugs*

I can be anyones 'game consul' *grins evily* No disappointment dear Elvi! Atari can definately have two meanings...tehee

Well that's ok then....had me worried.....*laughs*

[Moondazed]

Mine's pretty self-explanatory... I love the moon, and have been caught standing a bit dazed staring at it :)

[Eloquent Surreal]

My name was a gift. Literally. It was chosen for me by someone really special to me who introduced me to roleplaying.

[MagicalPen]

Bit late to hop in this thread, but my name is the name of perhaps one of the first Characters i ever wrote a story about or played as in a game. Silvestine - an Elf.

[Spookie Monster]

Hands vermillion,
Start of five,
Bright cotillion,
Ravens dive,
Nightshade promise,
Spirits thrive,
To the living,
Let now the dead
Come alive!

Well, it's been over a year and a half since I first started this thread.  The replies that it's received during that time have been truly great - interesting, informative, and, as often as not, danged funny.  A big thank you for each and every one of them.  That said, I'm convinced that there are still replies to be made.  Therefore, I'm resurrecting this old bugger in hopes that people will share the myriad origins of their usernames...

Come on, maidens!  Come on, monsters!  Tell us why you're called what you're called! :)

Spel




Edit: I forgot to thank people for the many outstanding replies!  Shame, shame, shame...

[Rasberry Angel]

Like I said in my introduction thread, I call myself that because those flowers match my hair color. I was playing a nymph one time and wanted to give it a flower name. I based the nymph of myself, so it had the same color hair I have. I think snap dragons were the best flower I could think of, and the name stuck.

[HairyHeretic]

A friend of mine dubbed me the Hairy Heretic some years ago. Hairy, for reasons that would be obvious if you ever saw me, and Heretic for my choice of wargames army (Chaos).

[Insaneiac The Maniac]

It began with my idea for a sandwich, which evolved into a small arguement with my best friend. From sandwiches, we got into a fight of who was a better wrestler at the time, Stone Cold or the Rock. At one point, my friend called me a crazy freak. It was then I uttered:

"Hell no! Screw crazy, I'm insane. I'm the bloody Insaneiac. And you're a freak, which is like the unpopular kind of odd person. I'm a maniac."

And even since, it stuck. All over a sandwich idea turned wrestling arguement.

[Celestial Goblin]

When I came to the site, I was impatient and couldn't decite on a good name. I remember playing with the words 'sexy' 'bishounen' 'agent' 'bondage' and 'that got caught', then realised that as fun as they are, I don't want to restrict myself to a single, albeit fun role.

Celestial Goblin is the result of combining 'yin' with 'yang', mischieviousness with radiant beauty. I really like angels:)

[alahendra]

Kinda just rolled off my tongue one day when I need to make up a user name for RPoL...  One day I googled it and discovered it's a fairly common Sri Lankan surname.  But that wasn't my intent. It was an accident. Unless maybe I was Sri Lankan in a previous life. Hmmmmm.... *wanders off to ponder*

[Longblondanimal]

My name i made up when I had to choose a hotmail account. I have long blond hairs. And the first name that came up was Longblondanimal, which is also the name of a song from the dutch band The Golden Earing.

[sindyloo]

    :o ::)  So DONT want to do this but you`all will get a good laugh so why not??  My parents really loved Dr. Suess and I came along so BAM!!(Hey come on now/I hear you chuckling already)  So Real First name is Sindy and Real Middle name is LOO. :-[ 8)

   So of course when I meet people its first name only Y`all!!! ;D