Poll

Do people know your username's...

proper pronunciation?
7 (31.8%)
origin?
2 (9.1%)
spelling?
8 (36.4%)
nicknames?
4 (18.2%)
other users?
1 (4.5%)

Total Members Voted: 10

Author Topic: All Things Username  (Read 8936 times)

sortitus

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All Things Username
« on: August 21, 2009, 12:50:42 AM »
I have noticed that many people use usernames that are either confusingly spelt or capitalized and that people sometimes care about these things as much or more than their real names. Discuss your username and other peoples'. With abandon!

I'll start it off. Note that I like names. I'm completely obsessed with them.

My name comes from Latin, but I first encountered it when reading The Aeneid by Virgil. It basically means "the process of determining by chance", though many people simply define it as "casting lots". It shares a base with the French word sortie, which isn't really surprising, since French is a Latin language. :P

I use it because chance is an interesting concept to me, and I've got a bit of a dose of the "Luck of the Irish". Plus, it contains my real name, which is Titus. :)

It is pronounced sore-TEA-tooce (flipped "r", if you can manage it), but people tend to pronounce it as sore-TY-tus.

Spelling is sortitus, always lowercase.

Nicknames are easily acquired by knocking sounds off the end, and some that have been used in the past are sor, sort, and sortie (or sorty). Titus is acceptable and I'm used to it, but I've gotten rather fond of my screen name.

I have used Titus as a screen name, but the name is often used by others, and sometimes those others are dumb. I only use Titus as a name when I'm in a place that real names are common (handy, since the username is hardly ever taken at places like that).

I was the only sortitus until this year (since 2006, when HS ended and my friends and I found fancy new names that we thought suited us), when another dude used the name for a WoW character. I do not play WoW. Also, this guy seems to like capitalizing the first letter, so maybe we'll be distinguishable. Any posts by a sortitus before 2009 are me. Sometimes I wish they weren't, but I'd rather learn from the past than try to erase it, so record of my idiocy as a youngster lives on. And on in this post. I'm a rambler. Sorry.

QUICK! Post about your username! Discuss other peoples'! Push this post off the active page already, dannit!
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firstRainbowRose

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2009, 01:39:19 AM »
Mine is really simple to understand once you get down to it.  (And I'm sure those who knoww me or talk to me often will go "Yeah, that's her all right.")

RainbowRose was my original user (like, back when the 'net started getting popular, and I had to go to the library to use it).  It's based on an OLD natie american legend where a guy gets it as a wedding present from the garden of the moon god.  (good story too.  But way too long to explain.)  I have always loved roses, and don't really have a favorite color, so of course I instantly fell in love with the rainbow roses.  (Side note: a company in the netherlands now makes rrs.  And doesn't import to america.  *cries*  But if you want to see them, just google happy roses.)

However, after a while a lot of people started using RainbowRose.  Well, being the vain child that I was, I wanted to say I was the FIRST to use the name of RainbowRose (and for a long time, I really was.  I was able to use it as my handle everywhere for the first two or so years of my internet use.)  I would have made it original, but 1, that's way too long for most websites, and 2, at the time I didn't spell original the same way twice (I still have issue with that word.)  So I made it first.  Since I've only had one problem where someone tried using it on a website, and they were kind enough to hand it over to me once I explained the story behind it.

So, that's mine.  Simple enough to pronouce and if you search for "firstRainbowRose" "1stRainbowRose" or any varient you can find, that's me.  (I did a google search one just out of idle curiocity.  They're all me.)  So if you see it on another site, drop me a note.

I forgot to add that as far as shortening is concerned, I've seen a lot of different ones, and don't have any that I hate or love.  So, just call me whatever really.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2009, 04:54:37 AM by firstRainbowRose »
"The custom of royalty in referring to oneself is to naturally employ the royal 'we'.  We are very happy, we are very sad, we are bored and suffer from ennui.  For a royal prince there's no such word as 'me', It's always 'we'.  So rightfully I should be two or three, don't you agree?"

stridera

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2009, 03:19:43 AM »
Strider Aragorn, Ranger dude from Lord of the Rings.  I used 'strider' it on a MUD I played over GOPHER at my local library while I was in Jr. High (so about 1991) and kept it as my username.  After that, I had the same story as RainbowRose where it started to pick up everywhere and so I just started to use StriderA instead. 
Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.
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little wilson

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2009, 03:37:37 AM »
I'm pretty sure everyone knows how to pronounce my username. It's very simple. Just two words. Normal pronounciation....yes.

Origin, though. It came from 7th grade (approx 1999). We had a substitute teacher who knew my brothers (who were each referred to as "Wilson" since my last name is Wilson), and when he came to my name on the roll he looked up and said "Oh, so you're the little wilson." I did not appreciate this comment, since in 7th grade, I didn't like being short. And short I was, and still am. Unfortunately, I had friends who took readily to this name, and dubbed me it for the next 2 years....until I finally actually liked it.

So yeah. It's been my handle ever since about 2001. Or 2002. Somewhere in there. Don't bother googling it. There's way too many results. Most of them not me, too. Although, if you can find actual posts and stuff--or myspace pages--that's probably me.

As for spelling. I prefer, if the full name is used, for it to be all lowercase.

Nicknames. My name gets shortened all the time. Wilson is probably the most common--and the one that I most prefer. I've also seen lw, little w, lil wil and a few others. I've even seen 'Little' once. The last is slightly ambiguous, since there were multiple people in the discussion (it was on a forum similar to this), and it really could've been directed at someone else too....Hence why I prefer more direct nicknames. Like 'Wilson.'

...And that is the riveting description of my username.
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ryos

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2009, 03:42:42 AM »
My first user name was "fatbob". The origin was simple: it was the name of my snowboard (K2 Fatbob), which I loved. However, like what happened to firstRainbowRose, it turns out lots of other people like to use "fatbob" as a user name, and it was always taken everywhere I went. Well, I refuse to suffix my usernames with numbers, so naturally fatbob was out.

The name "ryos" was given to me in high school by my brother's "anti-friends", so called because they were "anti-everything" in a joking sort of way. They were obsessed with giving everything and everyone a "greek" name, which they concocted by tacking the suffix "-0s" on a word. My name is Ryan, so they called me Ryos. It's pronounced as you might expect—rye-ohs.

It turns out that "Ryos" is almost never taken. When it is (or when a service stupidly doesn't allow names as short as four characters), I use "cheleball", which has only failed me once. I came up with that one on my LDS mission to Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, "Chele" means "light-skinned". Since my name is hard for spanish-speakers to read/pronounce, most everyone just called me Chele. When I needed a username for the church-run webmail service for missionaries (and it wouldn't take ryos), I took "chele" and tacked the first bit of my last name (which is Ballantyne) on the end.

Ironically, it's very difficult for english-speakers to pronounce this nickname (I say it's ironic because the name stemmed from the inability of spanish-speakers to pronounce my real name). It's read like a Spanish word: chay-lay-bahl.

There was one service where cheleball was taken: ebay. I fell back on the anti-friends again: I used "ballantos". I like the way it rolls off the tongue, but it's a bit long so I haven't used it for anything else yet. Maybe that will change someday...

Yup, my nicks are boring. Oh well.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2009, 03:47:57 AM by ryos »
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sortitus

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2009, 04:54:33 AM »
I think it's interesting that so many of us have a screen name that we used to use but got rid of because other people use it.

Those roses are awesome. I like the tulips better, but the roses are wicked-sweet. (link to the site for the lazy) I really thought that your name meant firstRainbow Rose (as in the first rose after the rainbow). :P I'd love to hear the story it comes from. Does it have a name?

stridera, I'll be honest. I started this thread partially because of your name (the other one was Eerongal). Your username is all lowercase, and I didn't know how to pronounce it or shorten it (I was thinking stree-DARE-uh, which sounds kinda girly).  I saw your blog (with a capital "A"), which helped with the pronunciation. Do you prefer using lowercase? Is Strider ok?

LW (it's ok to do the initials caps, right?), I'd say that your name gets shortened because it would otherwise take 13 strokes to type. I'd say that mine and stridera's are borderline, but anything beyond that is asking for trimming. 7-8 characters seems to be the max most people want to do. Not wanting to type "titushilton" every time I logged into a service that required a username of 6+ characters is what made me start using the name OL.

ryos, I totally thought that your name was either a fantasy/RP name or some Greek god. I was also pronouncing yours wrong. I was saying the slightly different RYE-oss. It's quite a fancy sounding name regardless.

My friends and I called each other by our Roman names for a while there. Good times. I was Titus Andronicus, the others were Kendalius Caesar, Downius Coximus, and, uh, err... Matteauwoo.
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CthulhuKefka

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2009, 04:57:42 AM »
Cthuhlu

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu


Kefka

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefka

 ;D

I dunno, this has been my Gamer tag for the longest time. Just a simple combination of two of my favorite evil characters.

firstRainbowRose

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2009, 05:05:09 AM »
I can't seem to find a good copy of the legend as I found it, so I'm going to post it to my blog *gasp* and update this with the link.  It will be a nice writing activity for the night.
"The custom of royalty in referring to oneself is to naturally employ the royal 'we'.  We are very happy, we are very sad, we are bored and suffer from ennui.  For a royal prince there's no such word as 'me', It's always 'we'.  So rightfully I should be two or three, don't you agree?"

sortitus

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #8 on: August 21, 2009, 05:14:53 AM »
I amazingly got both references in your name, CK (is Calvin ok?;)). I spent too much time playing FFIV as a kid because it was the only console RPG I had access to. Turns out it's also a darn good one! Cthulu will always have a special piece of my heart. He also stole my innocence. And my illusion that all "classic" authors could write. Mostly, though, I miss my aorta.
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좋아! This time with more ecstatic! 좋네!!! I'll say it again in french! Trois fois voiture!!! Ça va. C'est vrai. C'est bien.
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Andrew the Great

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #9 on: August 21, 2009, 05:42:23 AM »
Mine should be pretty easy to figure out. Andrew because (you'll never guess....) that's my name, and the Great because I first started creating random accounts for various sites at about age 8. At the time, I thought that 'Andrew the Great' was a pretty epic title. I still don't think it's bad, just lacking originality. But I've never changed, mostly due to the fact that no one else uses it as a handle anywhere and I'm too lazy to switch. Then I'd have to remember various usernames and passwords. Well passwords, I already do for when some services decide to require more than 8 characters, but it's still better than changing both my user name and password.

Spelling.... Can't get much simpler. I'd probably cry if anyone seriously misspelled my name. I've never seen any other spelling for Andrew, and if you can't get 'the Great,' you might have more serious problems on your hands.

Only nickname I've ever really had was Andy, which I hate with a burning fiery passion. I've only ever had about 2 people call me that. The rest say it just doesn't fit me. I agree. In the meantime, I attempt to not strangle the other 2....

Pronunciation.... Pretty Self explanatory.

So yeah, for the most part, my username is a result of my laziness.
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stridera

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #10 on: August 21, 2009, 06:17:26 AM »
Most people call me Strider whenever they're talking to me.  :)
Now we sit through Shakespeare in order to recognize the quotations.
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Eerongal

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2009, 01:00:19 PM »
My nickname was created by me! So far as I can tell, it's fully unique. Searching google for it only turns up stuff I've signed up for. I've used it since about the mid 90's when we had AOL. The way I created it, was I opened a user directory, and I decided I wanted a unique nickname, so what I did was jot down three user names, and took portions of them to make a unique name. The first username began with a double E, the second one was Ron and some numbers, and the final one was something like Hot_gal and some numbers, so i took the double E, Ron, and Gal and mashed em together.

Unsurprisingly, it pronounced in a similar manner, Ee-Ron-Gal, though I hear people pronounce it Ee-Ron-Gall, but mostly (those who don't know) I've heard them say it as e-rongle (the last part pronounced like dongle)

I generally capitalize the first E as if it were a proper name.

As far as nicknames for it, my friends usually call me either E, or Eero (pronounced like e-row)
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Recovering_Cynic

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2009, 03:59:23 PM »
Alright, so as far as I can recall, this is the first time I've ever used the handle "Recovering Cynic" on a forum or website.  I've used lots of others, but never felt a particular attachment to any of them, and none of them were especially interesting.

Actually, Recovering Cynic is more of a combination psycho analysis/statement than a username.  I was a cynical pessimist growing up, but I didn't want to be.  I harbored those warm fuzzy romanticized ideas deep down somewhere, but I hid them well so nobody knew I had chinks in my armor.  Two things happened though: 1) a lot of those ideas got crushed by some of the brutal realities of the world, and 2) I pretended to be a cynic for long enough that it happened.  I'm not saying that's a good thing, but, well, it happened.

As a cynic I loved poking fun at the world and the over romanticized optimistic view points of so many.  Despair.com was one of my favorite websites, and I even had one or two of their calendars.

But then two more things happened; I had a broken engagement at about the same time I went to law school.  Between the two, I hit rock bottom.  All of those "funny" posters I saw on despair.com were no longer funny... they were accurate.  They were true. 

I threw them away, stuffed them in a drawer somewhere, and decided it was time to take a fresh look at the world with a new attitude.  It wasn't easy, and it's been a rough climb since then.  I'm still cynical, but I'm no longer trying to be.  In fact, I'm trying the opposite; I try to be supportive of those around me and keep an open mind that things will not always turn out the worst way possible.  I don't always succeed; it's a work in progress.  I'm a recovering cynic, but, unfortunately, by their nature, cynics are very skeptical of recovery.
this is the way the world ends,
not with a bang, but a whimper
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The Jade Knight

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #13 on: August 21, 2009, 06:47:54 PM »
That's really kind of cool, Recovering Cynic.

Despite my user icon, my name has nothing to do with the Green Knight (which is an interesting tale, but unrelated).  The Jade Knight actually relates primarily to a character in a world I wrote.  Some 15 years ago I started writing a book featuring him, but I didn't get very far, and I don't think I'll ever write another story where he is a protagonist; he's simply better "NPC" material, if you take my meaning.

Additionally, I had at one point imported him into RhyDin and played him there (FFRP).  Anyway, I'm the only Jade Knight I've ever run into, but the name has been taken in various places.  Whenever I can't get Jade Knight, I fall back on the username Knighted Dawn (which to date has never been taken anywhere I've tried to use it).  The character behind "Jade Knight" is essentially a sort of fictional alter-ego for me.  That, and the fact that I love green and deep jade stones, and I'm all into Medieval stuff, makes it a particularly appropriate monicker.  On rare occasions, I'll go by "Knight" or something similar.

Nickname is usually Jade, which I don't mind and is natural.  I somewhat like the name Jade, and in the past (some 10+ years ago), I've gone by Jade + other things.  Occasionally I get called JK or jk, which I don't really prefer, for 2 reasons:  1.  jk = "just kidding", and also, J.K. Rowling.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: All Things Username
« Reply #14 on: August 21, 2009, 08:00:59 PM »
I always said ryos as one syllable.

My nickname's from the filk rock band. I usually use my real name nowadays though.

My sister knows someone in Estonia whose actual name is Eero.
« Last Edit: August 21, 2009, 08:03:47 PM by Ookla The Mok »
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