User Name
Password
AppleNova Forums » Creative Endeavors »

The "Explain Your Username" Thread


Register Members List Calendar Search FAQ Posting Guidelines
The "Explain Your Username" Thread
Page 1 of 3 [1] 2 3  Next Thread Tools
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-06-26, 04:52

We haven't ever had one of these, have we? Most other forums I've been on have had one. It seems overdue.

Some of you have boring usernames and others I can figure out. But some of them seem to have stories behind them...?

Mine is pretty straightforward. There is a game called Chrono Trigger. One of the characters is named Robo. This is he:


he's cuter as a sprite

I used "Robo" as a username on other sites (mostly gaming-related) at the time. But when I registered here, "Robo" was already taken by somebody who made two posts and left. So, yeah.

Robo is my favorite character in Chrono Trigger (duh) and if there's a robot character in a story I often like them. Not realistic ones (bo-ring!) but clunky punky fantasy ones. I've written three: one in an abandoned movie script, one in a concept album, and one in the sci-fi project I'm working on now. In a weird full-circle thing, the latter ended up having my name (not Roboman, my real one). In Soviet Russia, robots name themselves after you?

Your turn.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
  quote
chucker
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: near Bremen, Germany
Send a message via ICQ to chucker Send a message via AIM to chucker Send a message via MSN to chucker Send a message via Yahoo to chucker Send a message via Skype™ to chucker 
2010-06-26, 04:54

Where does the name 'chucker' come from?
  quote
PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Send a message via Skype™ to PB PM 
2010-06-26, 05:01

I like my boring user name. When I joined Applenova many moons ago I owned a PowerBook G3 (PB) and a Power Mac G4 , (PM).

I think we have had a thread about this in the past, but this is a better place anyway.
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-06-26, 05:05

OK, chucker just won the thread. That's just awsum.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PB PM View Post
I like my boring user name. When I joined Applenova many moons ago I owned a PowerBook G3 (PB) and a Power Mac G4 , (PM).
I don't think it's boring. I mean, now. Now it's like an homage to Macs gone by.

Quote:
Originally Posted by PB PM
I think we have had a thread about this in the past, but this is a better place anyway.
It is pretty much a stock forum thread, so I wouldn't be surprised, but I searched (honest!) and didn't find anything, so.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
  quote
PB PM
Sneaky Punk
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Vancouver, BC
Send a message via Skype™ to PB PM 
2010-06-26, 05:09

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roboman View Post
I don't think it's boring. I mean, now. Now it's like an homage to Macs gone by.
Yup, at the time I seemed so fitting, and now it is a window into the recent past.
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-06-26, 05:33

By the way, I just now noticed that Chinney was, in fact, Chinney, and not Chimney. The "n"s just blurred together for me.
  quote
psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2010-06-26, 05:54

I've got one of those "boring" ones, I guess...it's my first name initial (many here know it by now and refer to me that way, which feels familiar and friendly...so feel free to do so) and last name (not the roller kind, as it's spelled with a "c").

The "2.0" refers to my migration/new start here from the old place (AI forums).

Ta-da! Simple, but thrilling, I know...
  quote
scratt
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: M-F: Thailand Weekends : F1 2010 - Various Tracks!
Send a message via Skype™ to scratt 
2010-06-26, 06:29

I am a sabre toothed squirrel.
  quote
dmegatool
Custom User Title
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
 
2010-06-26, 06:49

Letters from 3 of my favorite bands Dream Theater, Megadeth, Tool. The combination sounds like I'm really useful or a complete idiot. I'll let you decide witch fit regarding the situation I've been using this name for like 7-8 years now...

Dave Mustaine :"God created whammy bars for people who don't know how to solo."

Last edited by dmegatool : 2010-06-26 at 08:08.
  quote
psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2010-06-26, 07:01

It would work as a good porn star name.
  quote
dmegatool
Custom User Title
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
 
2010-06-26, 08:08

Actually my girlfriend started the whole thing...
  quote
turbulentfurball
Right Honourable Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Québec
Send a message via ICQ to turbulentfurball Send a message via AIM to turbulentfurball Send a message via MSN to turbulentfurball  
2010-06-26, 08:10

About 10 years ago, I used Hotmail as my email provider. I got fed up of spam so I closed my account, but decided that I wanted something else for using MSN. Every name I wanted was taken, so several suggestions were given - adjectives in front of nouns. I saw turbulentfurball and thought it was hilarious. I've used it ever since.
  quote
Banana
is the next Chiquita
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
 
2010-06-26, 08:12

Contrary to popular belief, my username has nothing to do whatsoever with a sterile yellow bent fruit. It's actually a homage to my favorite computer-that-could-be. You know, the one that Gene Simmons' mother wished she bought for her son.
  quote
Noel
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Chicago
 
2010-06-26, 09:03

Um... it's, like... my name.
  quote
billybobsky
BANNED
I am worthless beyond hope.
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Inner Swabia. If you have to ask twice, don't.
 
2010-06-26, 09:20

My name is Bruce Robert .... (and no I am not Scottish). I was born/raised in Charleston, SC and went to college in Pennsylvania. I am not particularly southern in my mannerisms, speech, ideology or political affiliation and this was a source of some intrigue early on (and still to this day) in college. As a response to this attention I came up with the AIM handle brucebob which "southernized" my name. Years later, while playing serious sam on our lab LAN, i switched from my usual name of bruce to brucebob. There was a postdoc who found this hilarious but thought that I was more of a billybob than a brucebob. That name stuck for a short time, but I felt that it was missing something that made it mine so I added the sky (pronounced ski) to reflect the eastern european muttness of my familial lineage hence billybobsky....
  quote
Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2010-06-26, 09:50

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roboman View Post
By the way, I just now noticed that Chinney was, in fact, Chinney, and not Chimney. The "n"s just blurred together for me.
How do you think he earned his title? Hint: it wasn't a self-imposed one.
  quote
Capella
Dark Cat of the Sith
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Rochester, NY
Send a message via AIM to Capella  
2010-06-26, 11:09

Capella is the name of a star. I acquired it in my last year of middle school, which I guess would be 2000, as my Sailor Senshi identity for a fan-character Sailor Moon LARP I was running. That game ran for about two years and I got somewhat used to answering it, so when the game ended, I recycled it for a character for a heavily Harry Potter inspired RP which also lasted two to three years.

Around that time I stopped just reading the internet and started joining the internet in a participatory form- I am rather pleased that I am still a member of the first forum I ever joined, actually- and I was at a loss for a username, so since I was used to answering to Capella in real life, I registered with it.

Fun fact: I answer better to Capella than I do to my birth name. I hate my birth name, and I hate people using it. If I'm meeting a stranger I'm never going to interact with again, or if it's my parents, I use my birth name. With everyone else, it's Capella. In fact, when I eventually change my legal name, which I plan on doing when I have the money, Capella is going to be my middle name. So I plan on sticking with it for a good long time.

"A blind, deaf, comatose, lobotomy patient could feel my anger!" - Darth Baras
twitter ; amateur photographer ; fanfiction writer ; roleplayer and worldbuilder
  quote
julesstoop
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Leiden, the Netherlands
 
2010-06-26, 12:08

First name: Jules
Surname: Stoop (Pronounced like 'stow', with a 'p' added on the end, which is sort of a common name in the Netherlands and Belgium. A 'stoop' is vessel for holding 2,5 liters of beer or wine, but nobody uses the word any more nowadays. The beer and wine still flow richly though )

I just use my real name about anywhere on the internet. Years back, when I was younger and more idealistic, it was a conscious choice and part of resolving sort of an identity crises. A friend of mine had committed suicide and part of the personal circumstances leading do his tragedy, was him leading several parallel lives which in the end led to him loosing touch with himself. So I decided to always be myself and part of that was to always use my 'real' name.

Nowadays I realise I'm not him, but I stuck to the habit.

A black hole is where god divided by zero.
http://settuno.com/
  quote
Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2010-06-26, 12:18

My first name.

Pronounciation: Ma-ch(like checkers)-yay

At least that's how I would write the pronunciation off hand, probably a better way to do it if I looked things up. Better yet, why don't you look it up!
  quote
kieran
@kk@pennytucker.social
 
Join Date: Jan 2005
 
2010-06-26, 13:00

Mine is simple. It's my first name.

Used to have "23kk" at the end, which was my sports number throughout HS and my initials.

Pretty simple
  quote
torifile
Less than Stellar Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Durham, NC
Send a message via AIM to torifile  
2010-06-26, 13:19

Tori Amos was one of my favorite musicians (no, I'm neither gay nor a woman. I used to fancy myself a feminist. But mostly it was her outspoken views on religion of your family of origin that meant/means something to me.)

Anyway, back in the days of free 1 month trials of AOL and various other dial-up ISPs , I used toriphile first then, because toriphile was taken, torifile. I liked the way the misspelling looked and so it stuck.

Funny timing of this thread. I recently just started really listening to tori's music again and found a live recording of her performing at Bonaroo (STFU, scates!). Serendipity or roboman controlling the universe?
  quote
psmith2.0
Mr. Vieira
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Tennessee
 
2010-06-26, 13:32

Bonaroo is just up the road from me. The freeways around there get really nutty up in the area, and get routed off to the shoulder for miles and miles (because it's out in the middle of nowhere, right off I-24). It's like a mini-Woodstock every summer.

Last edited by psmith2.0 : 2010-06-26 at 13:44.
  quote
adamb
Formerly “adambrennan”
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Northern Ireland
 
2010-06-26, 13:36

Put me on the 'it's my name' pile. I had thought of asking Brad to change it but know that's often a dangerous thing to do so never built up the courage...
  quote
Dave
Ninja Editor
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Bay Area, CA
 
2010-06-26, 13:37

When I went to college, I had to pick a username for logging in and emails and such. I had never even thought about it, so after a couple of seconds of drawing a black, I said "how about 'dave'?" to get some more time to think of a good name. The person on the other side of the counter kinda chuckled and typed it in. Apparently, in the school's near forty-year history, nobody named Dave had thought to try just their name. Ever since then, I've always tried it whenever I'm registering on a forum like this. It's usually taken though, in which case I go for TheOtherDave. There is one place where I'm TheOtherOtherDave, but it usually works.

When I was a kid, people who did wrong were punished, restricted, and forbidden. Now, when someone does wrong, all of the rest of us are punished, restricted, and forbidden... and the one who did the wrong is counselled and "understood" and fed ice cream.
  quote
Bryson
Rocket Surgeon
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The Canadark
 
2010-06-26, 13:44

I used to have a cat, who I named Bryson after Bill Bryson. (His brother was Mikesh, after George Mikes. It was a comedy-travel-writer theme, I guess.)
Anyway, Bryson had a habit of climbing across the keyboard when I was using the net, looking for attention. So much so, I used to joke that he typed more than me. Hence, when the time came to select a username, I chose "Bryson".
Sometimes I add ...430 if I can't get Bryson, which was the first lighting console I bought for work. Now that's dorky.

The weird thing is that I've been using Bryson for so long, that I quite often meet people in the real world who know me via the net (especially via the other site I frequent for Theatre Techs) and they call me Bryson to my face, which I still can't quite get used to.
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-06-26, 13:52

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brad View Post
How do you think he earned his title? Hint: it wasn't a self-imposed one.
However did you get your username, Brad?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Capella View Post
Capella is the name of a star. I acquired it in my last year of middle school, which I guess would be 2000, as my Sailor Senshi identity for a fan-character Sailor Moon LARP I was running. That game ran for about two years and I got somewhat used to answering it, so when the game ended, I recycled it for a character for a heavily Harry Potter inspired RP which also lasted two to three years.

Around that time I stopped just reading the internet and started joining the internet in a participatory form- I am rather pleased that I am still a member of the first forum I ever joined, actually- and I was at a loss for a username, so since I was used to answering to Capella in real life, I registered with it.

Fun fact: I answer better to Capella than I do to my birth name. I hate my birth name, and I hate people using it. If I'm meeting a stranger I'm never going to interact with again, or if it's my parents, I use my birth name. With everyone else, it's Capella. In fact, when I eventually change my legal name, which I plan on doing when I have the money, Capella is going to be my middle name. So I plan on sticking with it for a good long time.
Capella is also the name of an online university I see ads for all the time.

Off-topic (click to toggle):
My parents and my dad's dad are and always were the only people who call me by my birth name, too, and of course they always will. It weirded me out, hearing strangers use it, until I finally (legally) changed it. But I was one of those weird people whose "real" name was always different than their birth/legal name. I briefly thought about changing my name to something actually different but I thought that would be hard to get used to.

If any of you have the misfortune of being John, I highly recommend being Jack instead. It's a simple but dramatic improvement, like dropping the "-ley" from Bradley. The Importance of Being Ernest apparently had it in reverse, as I have had several attractive women tell me that they had always wanted a boyfriend named Jack. Alas, they were fated to continue wanting a boyfriend name Jack. But clearly, the name is in short supply. (Won't someone think of the attractive women?)

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
  quote
Kickaha
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2010-06-26, 14:25

Philip Jose Farmer's The World of Tiers series has a character named Kickaha in it. Originally an Irish-American, kidnapped to another world where he uses his wit, charm, and mad lovin' skills to build up several lives and mini-kingdoms. He goes by many names, but his favorite is Kickaha, the Trickster, given to him by the descendants of an American Indian tribe kidnapped centuries ago.

For some reason, I liked it when I was 15 and selected my first BBS handle. Twenty-five years later, I'm still using it online.
  quote
Robo
Formerly Roboman, still
awesome
 
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Portland, OR
 
2010-06-26, 14:31

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryson View Post
I used to have a cat, who I named Bryson after Bill Bryson. (His brother was Mikesh, after George Mikes. It was a comedy-travel-writer theme, I guess.)
Anyway, Bryson had a habit of climbing across the keyboard when I was using the net, looking for attention. So much so, I used to joke that he typed more than me. Hence, when the time came to select a username, I chose "Bryson".
Aww, that's adorable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bryson
The weird thing is that I've been using Bryson for so long, that I quite often meet people in the real world who know me via the net (especially via the other site I frequent for Theatre Techs) and they call me Bryson to my face, which I still can't quite get used to.
My suggestion? Roll with it. "Bryson" is hot in the way last-names-as-first-names usually are (hi Anderson Cooper!). Plus, you could be Bri for short. Like Briareos!

Off-topic (click to toggle):
Which brings us back to...


he's the one on the right

Robots.

and i guess i've known it all along / the truth is, you have to be soft to be strong
  quote
Xaqtly
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2010-06-26, 14:42

Um... well it's a two sided pun...thing. "Xaq" is pronounced the same way as my name, which is Zak, and "Xaqtly" is pronounced like "exactly" without the "e" in the front.

I came up with this one a long time ago as I was looking for a unique name to slap on the music I was writing at the time. Shockingly, the domain was also available so I grabbed it. And it's been my online handle most places ever since.
  quote
GSpotter
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: A small town near Wolfsburg, Germany
 
2010-06-26, 14:51

I was a long time lurker over at AI. At some point in time, there was a rumour from a german site, and somebody asked for translation help. So I registered (it was my first forum registration). My first tries of usernames were already taken, so I had to improvise. My train of thought was something like this:

I was on AI to spot news on the then rumoured G3s, so I thought about G3Spotter. I didn't want to tie my username to a specific computer generation, so I dropped the '3'. I liked the result as it looked like a real name (Gerald Spotter or something like that) which had nothing to do with my real name and had a little twist to it (G-spot ). When I moved from AI to AO, I used the same user name for easy recognition. I tend to use different user names on different boards, normally with a relationship to the forums context.

BTW: My real first name is Volker.

My photos @ flickr
The man who trades freedom for security does not deserve nor will he ever receive either. -- Benjamin Franklin
  quote
Posting Rules Navigation
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Page 1 of 3 [1] 2 3  Next

Post Reply

Forum Jump
Thread Tools
Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
The other day my friend asks me "how does a computer work?" and I couldn't explain it Kraetos Programmer's Nook 37 2009-10-11 09:51
The "List your favourite 3rd party iPhone application announcement" thread. Gizzer Third-Party Products 5 2008-06-11 07:12
The Official "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" Movie Thread! PKIDelirium AppleOutsider 31 2007-07-22 12:03
HELLOROBO Part Deux: The "Help Robo Decide When to Buy an iPhone" Thread Robo Purchasing Advice 27 2007-04-03 17:43
Please explain "index" in MySQL nassau Programmer's Nook 7 2006-10-04 16:49


« Previous Thread | Next Thread »

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 04:10.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2024, AppleNova