What's in a name?

[Andraste]

Whilst very carefully typing a username here a little while ago, I started to wonder about how people choose them.

My own for example is a moniker I picked many years ago now for a MMORPG I was wasting time on. Andraste is the Icenic godess of war that Boudica supposedly invoked in her fight against the Roman occupation of Britain & it was appropriate to the game.

As I became more 'internet confident' & joined a few forums etc. I generally kept the username in lots of places. This was mostly through laziness and lack of imagination to be honest, rather than having to think up different usernames (although I was 'Tiny-yard' on the old & now defunct BBC Gardening site at one time, for obvious reasons) in a bid to maintain a little anonymity/security by not putting my 'real' name out into the ether because I was more nervous about that back in the day.

I've used Andraste for such a long time now that I would probably answer to 'Andra' in the street these days - Andra even has her own hotmail account lol.

How did you choose your username? Does it have a story or are you a straightforward 'this is me' kind of person?

[Nicos]

My username was actually my OH’s choice. He joined here using my email address for some bizarre reason and then didn’t want to post as he was more into reading than contributing.
When I tried to join up a few days later with my own username the site wouldn’t allow a second account so I asked to take over his.
Nicos derives from his illegible signature back then…if you squinted and moved the page around a bit it sort of looked like ‘Nicos’

Nice thread Andraste

[Snoop Puss]

Calling all Bren In Pots, calling all Bren In Pots! You're the whizz with the search facility and finding old threads. I have a feeling we have a fascinating earlier thread about our user names. I've looked but come up with nothing. Can you located it, Bren?

[Florence Fennel]

I got dejavou too Snoop, it would be fun to find out

[Andraste]

It would be great if someone could find it - I did look myself but also came up without one If the old thread is still around maybe the threads be merged for newbies like me?

[Bren In Pots]

I’ve had a look but can’t seem to find it, but I do remember the thread.

[Mark Rand]

Umm, my name is the one that's on my birth certificate...

[rary]

My name could come from rarity or rarefied, though phonetically I have to use the y, sadly it's not one of those I used, I happened to have a book beside me and as I had no experience of Internet forums I used the last four letters of the big bold words that was displayed across the page it was opened at, it showed the name of my local town and LIBRARY, so I used rary, easy to remember and easy to spell

[Mark Rand]

A bit like Nosmo King, then?

[Plot70]

I tried a couple of screen names and the forum software did not allow them for unknown reasons.
I ended up with the most obvious one of the lot.
My old avatar worked fine and is a legacy of me trying out my first digital camera 20 years ago.
It is a work of art created by woodpeckers.

[Plot70]

[Jay22]

Mine is first letter of my real name and date of birth.

Just for Nicos … the day of the month I was born!

[Snoop Puss]

I chose my name back in the day when Snoop Dogg was Snoop Doggy Dogg. Snoop Pussy Puss wasn't allowed by one site so I opted for the shorter version. Been Snoop Puss ever since. Looks like I was ahead of Snoop Dogg's game even though it was pure chance.

[mothhawk]

I was Hawkmoth on other sites, but the forum didn't allow it, so I transposed it to Mothhawk, which actually I like a lot better.

[Andraste]

This is so interesting - thanks to everyone for joining in

PS you can tell I was up too early at the a*rse crack of dawn this morning - I actually needed to click on your link Mark Rand to understand the reference