How do you choose your name?

[LaRoza]

I found myself reading the user names at the bottom of the main page, and wondered how people chose their names. Some seem to base it off a movie or story, some might be using a variation of their real name, and some look like they typed something fast so the could ask a question.

So the question is, How did you choose your name?

[dca]

I wanted to be cool like Richard M Stallman (rms) and Eric S Raymond (esr) so I used my initials too so I wouldn't be trumped... *ah, just kidding*

[WalmartSniperLX]

I just used my gamertag from Prey, a fast paced 1st person shooter game.

[ghostboy]

My username is the same username I use for almost everything. I have been using this screen name since 8th grade, and I will NEVER change it!!!!!!:D

[LaRoza]

I use LaRoza for everything also, different passwords though.

It is a Basque name, not mine though.

[bonzodog]

This is also discussed in this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=332724

There is also a much older thread from 2005 that discusses this subject, but I don't know how to get search to display really old results.

[sonny]

I got mine for "The Godfather".

[lepz]

My nickname at school was Lep (as in Sean..Sean the leprechaun) but Lep was already taken. ;)

[LaRoza]

This is also discussed in this thread:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=332724

There is also a much older thread from 2005 that discusses this subject, but I don't know how to get search to display really old results.


I know, the first one, but I wanted something mathematical. I realize this poll isn't statistically valid, but it gives me a better idea of how these names where chosen. I'd didn't take part in the poll for that reason.

[bonzodog]

addendum to that:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=347944 is yet another nickname discussing thread.

But, anyway, my nickname is about 20 years old. I had it on CB, after having got it from a UK rock band in the 1970's (The Bonzodog DooDah Band), and when I started on the net in 1996, I simply carried on using it.

[lepz]

I know, the first one, but I wanted something mathematical. I realize this poll isn't statistically valid, but it gives me a better idea of how these names where chosen. I'd didn't take part in the poll for that reason.

Need more options. :)

[Enalia]

<.< >.> Tell no one...


The name I usually use for everything is Enalios- which I got from combining a random word in a Dungeons and Dragons manual and a random word from a newspaper (turns out it's also a greek word meaning 'of the sea', pretty cool). But for support forums I change it to Enalia... because then people might think I'm a female and I'd get help faster.

[LaRoza]

It is not statistically valid because I cannot get a truly random dispersement. More options might have been useful, but I could not think of anyothers, based off of the names I saw. Perhaps "I use this name for everything online" should have been added, that is what I would have selected.


<.< >.> Tell no one...


The name I usually use for everything is Enalios- which I got from combining a random word in a Dungeons and Dragons manual and a random word from a newspaper (turns out it's also a greek word meaning 'of the sea', pretty cool). But for support forums I change it to Enalia... because then people might think I'm a female and I'd get help faster.

Do females get support faster? I never noticed. If you want people to think you're female, using a female avatar might reinforce that notion.

[ThinkBuntu]

ThinkPad + Ubuntu

And, once you've reached a certain mindset, you ThinkBuntu, like my Avatar. Of course, that hasn't stopped me from trying out many other distros.

[Chayak]

I got mine from the author of the Sholan Alliance series who happens to be a friend.

[skwishybug]

I like polls :D

[lepz]

Do females get support faster? I never noticed. If you want people to think you're female, use a female avatar.

I would have thought a female name would have been better, I see a lot of penguins on this forum but I haven't for one second thought that Penguins actually come in here, would prolly find it a bit difficult to type with those wings. ;)

[LaRoza]

I would have thought a female name would have been better, I see a lot of penguins on this forum but I haven't for one second thought that Penguins actually come in here, would prolly find it a bit difficult to type with those wings. ;)

If I saw an actual photograph of a person that I didn't recognize from a movie, I would assume that it was a picture of the user.

Either way, I don't think it would matter, it's not like flirting would do any good on a forum.

By the way, I am a penguin, and function just fine. ;)

[loathsome]

My nick suits me quite good. lol.

[WaeV]

I couldn't think of a username so I came up with "Wave". Then my freind went to get me a photobucket account and wave was taken so he randomly decided to try WaeV. (Pronounced the same)

[Dragonbite]

I wanted to go with DragonByte as my gmail account, but it was already taken and since I was running out of time I took the first dragonbite I could find.

My other usual nickname was fairly comical because I was taking it from HP Lovecraft's writings, but since I didn't have the book in front of me, I spelled it out as best I could. Too bad, though, "cthuhlu" was already taken. So I added a "2" on the end for "cthuhlu2".

It wasn't for a while later I realized I misspelled it by switching the last "h" and "l" ("lhu" not "hlu") and the best part was I WASN'T THE FIRST TO MISSPELL IT!:p

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one on the 'net with bad spelling!

[reclusivemonkey]

I think choosing a name no one else will choose is very helpful. I can sign up for just about anything on the net and pretty much guarantee no one else will have chosen "reclusivemonkey"... I'm a monkey, and I'm also reclusive =]. I've used lukejah, guatamasiddhartha and grizzlybear in the past, but when I used to use grizzlybear people used to ask if I was a big fat hairy gay bloke, when in reality I'm not gay or big, just fat and hairy.

[dolphin_oracle]

i got my handle several years ago. I wanted delphi oracle, but its ALWAYS taken. dolphins were associated with apollo and the oracle at delphi, so...

[InuyashaDuelist]

It all started when I was 12...

[MOS95B]

None of the above....

Military Occupational Specialty 95B = US Army MP (1984 - 1996)

http://www.mos95b.com/New/MPCorps.jpg

[steven8]

Someone once said a million monkeys using a million keyboards could reproduce the complete works of William Shakespeare.

They didn't come up with the works of William Shakespeare, but they did pen a sequel to "Dude, Where's My Car?"

[ButteBlues]

My username is the same username I use for almost everything. I have been using this screen name since 8th grade, and I will NEVER change it!!!!!!:D
Ditto. Plus, people know me by this name. And it's fairly original.

[borris.morris]

Mine is from Jessie my name, and so "The Jester" is my usual. Borris was a nickname I got in 7th grade P.E. and Morris is my last name.

[BWF89]

BWF89 = Ben W Furrer born in 1989

Originally I was stuck between BEN89 and BWF89 but chose the latter instead. Have been using it for years now.

[Junixx]

I made my name from a mixture of two names from a game with a little change in the ending...

[Tux Aubrey]

Aubrey, Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy via Patrick O'Brian's "Master and Commander" novels. If Linux had been around in the early 19th century Jack still wouldn't have had a clue.

And here's me with my friend, Stephen.

http://ubuntuforums.org/g/images/167727/1_AubreyMaturin.png

[dbbolton]

it seems like when i signed up for the forums, you had you have a launchpad account, and the forums took my launchpad user name, which was just the first half of my old email address, which was based on my name.

i could be wrong. but i didn't actually pick my name.

[Spr0k3t]

I used to go by Spork ages ago... but then since sporks are quite cool, everyone had been taking that as an internet handle. So, I had to come up with something different that very few people used so I could stick out like a sore thumb... something that was misspelled... but easily recognizable a la web 2.0 dribble. So I took Spork, mashed it up with pr0n, and added a twist of The Jetsons for a spacey lamast of yesteryears. I ditched the "c" though to give it "web 2.0" appeal. I used the number 3 in place of e to show it as my 3rd internet handle. Also, it kind of looks "1337" which takes me back to my roots as to who I was when I first signed on to arpanet. A sprocket is also a basic building block. I ditched my original handle "<invalid pointer>" (referencing to C coding) when the "internet" was live. So the move from "web 1" to "web 2" was significant to dig down from whence the handles gave birth in their forms of nidocrity.

"Because it sounds cool, looks cool, and even tastes cool"

[Dayylin]

I got my name from Everquest back when I played. It was a completely random choice but it seemed to stick and I have now had it for about 8 years.

[jclmusic]

i wanted JCL because it's my initials and the name i do my music under, but it was taken.

[Celegorm]

The name I wanted was taken, and I really hate names with numbers in them, so I just picked a random and obscure name from Tolkien's works. Celegorm is one of the sons of Feanor, who made the silmarils, and if you knew this without me telling you, I bow to your superior geekiness :D

[Chilli Bob]

I got this as a nickname after a failed get-rich-quick scheme. Now it is my persona for everywhere on the net. Will never change it.

[Outrunner]

It's a type of centaur from Warcraft 3. I voted for 'I like polls'

[guitarmaniac]

When I first signed up for GMail, I spent probably a whole HOUR trying to find an unused user name (this is when it was still in invite only so I was amazed at how many names were taken).
Finally I just started writing stupid long names and the first unused one was guitarweildingmaniac.
I shortened to guitarmaniac where possible.
If you see a guitarmaniac, guitarweildingmaniac or guitarfreek anywhere, chances are its me!

[AndyCooll]

I use the same nickname just about everywhere. It was a nickname originally given to me by my church friends.

If only its meaning was true! :-(

:cool:

[LaRoza]

The name I wanted was taken, and I really hate names with numbers in them, so I just picked a random and obscure name from Tolkien's works. Celegorm is one of the sons of Feanor, who made the silmarils, and if you knew this without me telling you, I bow to your superior geekiness :D


Alas, I didn't know that, but I know of the silmarils. I haven't read those books in a LONG time.

[Tom Mann]

My usual name is mrguitarmann (cause I'm Tom Mann, a Mr. Mann, who plays guitar.) Sad I know, but it kinda stuck and I've been using it for about 10 years now :)

[Ozor Mox]

I use Ozor Mox most places online because it's unlikely to already be taken and I think it sounds quite cool. The Mox are an alien race in the game TimeSplitters 2, on the Planet X level. The Ozor Mox are a faction.