How do you pick a screen name?

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
I raised this issue in the "Smoking" thread. I've been "Luca Rescigno" for the whole time I've been here and it seems kind of silly to use my real name when everyone else has a screen name/handle. But I can't think of anything good. Anything I come up with sounds silly and I kind of prefer my real name anyway.



So I'm asking people how they actually pick a screen name. I've read the thread about the stories behind your screen name (I like murbot's of course ), but I'm wondering how you actually decide what to call yourself. My AIM screen name is "AstroManLuca" because I'm into astronomy... but that doesn't seem quite right. Eh, whatever, I'll probably stay with what I have now anyway but I was just looking for some thoughts on this issue.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    back 11 years ago when the internet was new, at work we were doing a thing where each name was based on a Greek god.



    so i just looked for the best greek god name i could find. i've used it ever since. once i have a name, i don't see any point changing it. i have a hard enough time remember who people are as it.
  • Reply 2 of 46
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    Kickaha was a character in a book I really enjoyed as a teenager. Selected it for the BB that the OmniGroup founders ran back before there was an OmniGroup (hi guys!) and have used it ever since. That's what... um... 1986, I think.
  • Reply 3 of 46
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    EmAn just really came about. It's my name on all Mac-related sites. My AIM sn's EmAn z 31, so I just shortened that.
  • Reply 4 of 46
    shawnjshawnj Posts: 6,656member
    SJPSU



    ShawnJoycePennStateUniversity



    I made that screen name about six years ago back when including a sports team with your name was cool. It's not anymore. I don't think it ever was, actually. But everyone knows me by it, so I see no reason to change.



    ....And ShawnJ and SPJ are pretty obvious.
  • Reply 5 of 46
    trumptmantrumptman Posts: 16,464member
    Thank god I'm not the only one on here who a) knows what the hell a BBS is and b) picked their handle back then.



    I play trumpet. I'm a a man. You can add.



    The oddest thing about my handle is that people ask me if I REALLY play trumpet. I could understand if it were some sort of incredible ability I really wanted to graft onto myself or my personality. (like NinjaWarrior, Neo, or something like that)



    Nick
  • Reply 6 of 46
    I was torifile for a LONG time and my .mac address is still torifile. But I just wanted a change for some reason. My current name is from the Harry Potter books. The "pensieve" is the bowl that dumbledore used to clear his mind. When he had a thought that he wanted to come back to, he'd just pull it out and stick in the bowl for later. This way he didn't forget it and he could concentrate on other things. My decision to use this name came from when I started to use my PDA as a pensieve and it's worked well. Now, whenever I have a random thought, I'll come here and deposit it for later. Hence the over 600 posts in a few short weeks.
  • Reply 7 of 46
    \\/\\/ickes...



    Well it is just my last name with \\/\\/ as the W.



    Yup. I use my last name as my handle...

    I feel so loser-ish now.



    If anyone needs me I will be under my rock...
  • Reply 8 of 46
    buonrottobuonrotto Posts: 6,368member
    First thing that pooped into my head.
  • Reply 9 of 46
    lucaluca Posts: 3,833member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by BuonRotto

    First thing that pooped into my head.



    fecal matter?
  • Reply 10 of 46
    alcimedesalcimedes Posts: 5,486member
    someone pooped a burrito into his head. in which case you should visit AO exclusively.
  • Reply 11 of 46
    der kopfder kopf Posts: 2,275member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by pensieve

    I was torifile for a LONG time and my .mac address is still torifile.



    I did NOT know that. I'd even wondered where you were... I guess I'm glad to see you back
  • Reply 12 of 46
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    My original name was Appleseed.



    Hung around Ai a lot but never posted. It was a very sad & painful time in my life.



    Anyway, to start afresh, I decided to call myself Aquafire because it reflects the two most dominant colours in my paintings:



    ( Aqua-being Pthalo Blue ) & ( Fire-being Burnt Sienna )



    A lot of my paintings have background sunrises & sunsets in them. So it's very apt.
  • Reply 13 of 46
    Back in my first year of university I played a bit too much Maelstrom on my old LC 630. People would go to class and I'd be playing Maelstrom, they'd come back hours later and I'd still be playing. I wouldn't move for hours..... hence InactionMan. I'm also very lazy.
  • Reply 14 of 46
    groveratgroverat Posts: 10,872member
    I wish I had registered my real name.



    I'm $$$$ing tired of stupid Internet handles.



    I AM ADAM!
  • Reply 15 of 46
    Hello, Adam.
  • Reply 16 of 46
    daverdaver Posts: 496member
    I'd just go by Dave, my first name, but someone has always taken it. So now I just use Daver, which was a school nickname, unless some David R. has taken that too. Now I usually use akaDaver as a last resort.
  • Reply 17 of 46
    aquafireaquafire Posts: 2,758member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by InactionMan

    Back in my first year of university I played a bit too much Maelstrom on my old LC 630. People would go to class and I'd be playing Maelstrom, they'd come back hours later and I'd still be playing. I wouldn't move for hours..... hence InactionMan. I'm also very lazy.



    Maelstrom..haha.. If you thought that was good..you should have tried playing " Thezone" it makes maelstrom look like a storm in a teacup.



    Try it..but I warn you...start at the beginners level.



    Download here.

    http://dappsoft.dreamhost.com/zone.html
  • Reply 18 of 46
    liquidrliquidr Posts: 884member
    Well LiquidR has been my handle for about 2 years now. It is a linguistic term dealing with the tendency of many Asians to speak R as L. Plus I thought it sounded cool.



    Before that it was Bruce Mclee, from a movie idea my friends and I scripted. It was about a young chinese lad adopted by a family in the Scottish Highlands. Amazingly, he still spoke with a chinese accent and could do Kung Fu. A total spoof. Too bad we never shot it.



    I'm sad to say that I can't remember my first handle. It was 95, on the ISCA BBS.
  • Reply 19 of 46
    Looked on back of a vitamin bottle.
  • Reply 20 of 46
    Well... I can be fascinated by some words. Do you ever hear a word that just sticks in your head and you roll it through your mind over and over again? Like wangle, or ubiquitous. Yeah..... wangle..... Anyway, Nebulous did that for me for a while. Also, my friends have told me that I can be vague at times... which through some strange associations in my brain I connected with "nebulous". It fits.

    For my AIM name, I just based it off of my real name. It's Ashleytree7. I am Ashley, named after an ash tree, so: Ashleytree. The 7 is just a random number because plain "Ashleytree" was taken.
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