What's in a name?
 

I've sometimes wondered where people's screen names came from. So, I'll start.. my given first and middle name are Tobias Lee, and this chick I used to IRC with a lot started using it as an adverb, as in "you're acting very tobiasly". So I started using it for login names, because it's never taken. Either that or "Toby-Wan", which my dad used to call me sometimes when I was little.

So, how'd you pick your screen name?

perth

yes, i know its technically a 'female' rune. i dont care.
also, i find it kind of interesting that _this_ is my 200th post.

~james

<b>D</b>avid <b>Ham</b>, employed at <b>SAIC</b>. So stunningly creative, I know.

The name that has really stuck with me is <b>becoming</b>, from Nine Inch Nail's <i>the becoming</i>. The song means a lot to me, the name fits... a lot of people shorten it to "bec", so that's how I'm commonly referred to in Q3/IRC.

Thanks Nic, although I figured this had been done a time or two already, but there's always new people along..

Dave, even though I knew (from various threads) your full name and where you worked, it took me like 6 months to figure out what the hell your name meant. Simplicity can be deceiving!

The Undertoad is from <i>The World According to Garp</i>. Garp takes his boys to the beach and they become terrified of this mystical "undertoad" in the ocean.

My name comes from the days when I was heavily into witchcraft. I was.. misguided. But man, I thought I could do everything.. My friends and I thought we were the equivalent of demigods. We had a very detailed religion of our own making, based on our explorations of the spirit world and what we discovered to be the heirarchy of the various planes of existence. The sad part is that <i>everyone</i> believed us and feared us. People came to me with thier life problems, and everyone I know wanted me to teach them. I had lots of students. Good times.

So, through a communion with the "mindstone", which is on another plane of existance (Necrala), we determined that my true name was Jujunaxidiouslyinixdel. That's what I was known by in the spirit world.

Or just 'Juju' for short. :)

I've radically altered my beliefs since then, and I now consider myself agnostic. I don't believe any of it anymore. Now i'm sort of anti-religion, because I understand first-hand how completely fucked up not using <i>reason</i> can make your mind.

All my friends that have known me for a long time still call me Juju, though. I enjoy being called Juju, because it reminds me just how <i>long</i> i've known that person in real life. So the name has just stuck.

Very interesting.

For me, religion is not only based on faith, but reason. That's probably because I'm a scientist at heart and strive to have everything explained.

I remember dissecting frogs, sharks, and fetal pigs in high school, and thinking "there's no way this just <I>happened</I>." Even if I had no faith, it is only reasonable to conclude that God exists.

At any rate, glad you chose to use a nickname instead of your full name. :)

Short shameful confession:

Back in my college days, I played a lot of netrek. I loathe Star Trek, but the game itself was addictive as hell (and still is -- servers are still out there) and requires no Star Trek fandom whatsoever.

In netrek, you have to select a character name of no more than 15 characters. I started digging through Jello Biafra's "Names For Bands" track off of "No More Cocoons," looking for something that'd sound good and fit the size limit. The best one I came up with was Video Sex Pope, which was the name I used the most in my college-gaming career.

Reduce it to its initials, and voila. It's been habitual ever since.

And now you know... the REST of the story!

Griff is 5/7 of my last name and my meat world nick. I figured I'd cellar for two weeks so why bother with creativity?

Sycamore's story can be found here.

Hello All,

I guess as I am trying to find my way around, being a newie and all, I thought this was the best thread to start on to get an idea of who you all are.

My user name is a nickname given to me by a friend years ago because of my surname which has the word rum in it so there for I became Bundy. I must admit to quaffing a few Bundy and Cokes in my time also. :D

Welcome.

Thanks Mate! :D

Hey, an Emo Philips tag! I'm a big fan.