# Forum "Handle" - Why'd You Choose That?



## Pluralized (Feb 23, 2017)

.


----------



## msjhord (Feb 23, 2017)

Mine's just easy for me to remember.  I'm easily distracted by life and have short-term memory issues from being epileptic for nearly 30 years.  The less varied, individual handles and sign-in names I have to remember, the better.  There was a time when I was more creative.  Once, my husband and I had a joint email address called borgqueenanddrone.  I'll give you a guess as to which one I was, bwahahaha!  

On that note, Alice Krige was the best Borg queen EVER!


----------



## Deleted member 56686 (Feb 24, 2017)

I can name a few I've seen come and go but they tend to usually last about a week.


----------



## The Fantastical (Feb 25, 2017)

Normally I just use characters from my favorite books... So I have had a wide wide range of ahhh careers over the years on different sites. So I haven't ever been the one with a really cool username. The Fantastical is one of the rare ones that are "original" and that isn't really COOOOOL.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 25, 2017)

I didn't actually pick a username so much as misread the label. I thought it was asking to confirm my email address. That's why it was the weird uncapitalized, unpunctuated initials and last name for so long. I've been here and behind the scenes so much that several members already knew my first name when I realized that with the more visibility I have that it would be nice to have a more pronounceable username.

(I pronounce it "air-e-el")


----------



## PiP (Feb 25, 2017)

Ariel said:


> (I pronounce it "air-e-el")



I've
known you as Ams, for so long that's it's kinda stuck. (amsawtell was a mouthful)  I've always been called PiP as members/staff automatically abbreviated my username.


----------



## sas (Feb 25, 2017)

My niece who is soon 55 was first grandchild. She could not pronounce my name. Called me, Aunt Sas.  Ever since, I've been Sas to most.  She was so intuitive, so young, to know my personality, don't you think? Smiles. Sas
.


----------



## sas (Feb 25, 2017)

Ariel said:


> I didn't actually pick a username so much as misread the label. I thought it was asking to confirm my email address. That's why it was the weird uncapitalized, unpunctuated initials and last name for so long. I've been here and behind the scenes so much that several members already knew my first name when I realized that with the more visibility I have that it would be nice to have a more pronounceable username.
> 
> (I pronounce it "air-e-el")




Ariel knows what I thought her previous name (amsawtell) meant:

(I) am. (I) saw. (I) tell.

I thought it clever for writer.  Ariel?....not so much. Ha.


----------



## Deleted member 56686 (Feb 25, 2017)

That's okay. I wanted to sign on as RubberSoul but the system was acting like it was taken. It's a good thing, really. How do you make a nickname for Rubber Soul? :lol:


----------



## Kevin (Feb 25, 2017)

sas said:


> My niece who is soon 55 was first grandchild. She could not pronounce my name. Called me, Aunt Sas.  Ever since, I've been Sas to most.  She was so intuitive, so young, to know my personality, don't you think? Smiles. Sas
> .


Sascatoon? Sassafras, Sasquatch...Susquehanna?


----------



## moderan (Feb 25, 2017)

The Fantastical said:


> Normally I just use characters from my favorite books... So I have had a wide wide range of ahhh careers over the years on different sites. So I haven't ever been the one with a really cool username. The Fantastical is one of the rare ones that are "original" and that isn't really COOOOOL.



Similar story here...on BBs in the olden days I was "Azog" (from Lord of the Rings). In 1996 when I was on AOL I decided to change that and took the name 'moderan" from the title of a David Bunch book that I thought neatly encapsulated the digital experience and my own personality (the book concerns a group of cyborgs in a war-torn dystopia) and was not well-enough-known in my opinion. I also named my one-man-band, which features a lot of mechanized music, after that book.


----------



## The Fantastical (Feb 25, 2017)

moderan said:


> Similar story here...on BBs in the olden days I was "Azog" (from Lord of the Rings). In 1996 when I was on AOL I decided to change that and took the name 'moderan" from the title of a David Bunch book that I thought neatly encapsulated the digital experience and my own personality (the book concerns a group of cyborgs in a war-torn dystopia) and was not well-enough-known in my opinion. I also named my one-man-band, which features a lot of mechanized music, after that book.



It is so funny that you should bring up LOTR (my all time favorite series) because as I was thinking about my usernames today, I realised that LOTR is the one series I have never used a name from... My favorite series and I have never even used one name or title from the whole series! o.0


----------



## bobo (Feb 25, 2017)

mrmustard615 said:


> That's okay. I wanted to sign on as RubberSoul but the system was acting like it was taken. It's a good thing, really. How do you make a nickname for Rubber Soul? :lol:



Rub so ... ?? :icon_cheesygrin:

Mine is the French abbreviation for bohème-bourgeois.
Bourgeois framework - bohème fillings, which seems to cover it pretty much :hi:


----------



## aj47 (Feb 26, 2017)

An "annie" is any grrl baseball fan, in baseball lingo.  It's why the female lead character in the movie _Bull Durham_ is named Annie.

When I started doing fora, I was a huge Houston Astros baseball fan.  Then, they were sold to the debbil, body and soul.  My first forum was an Astros forum and I needed a handle but the good ones (IMO) were taken so I took Astro Annie .... I then signed up on a forum where you couldn't have a space in your username so it became astroannie and it stuck.  I never really saw the point in having a zillion different names on a zillion different fora.


----------



## Phil Istine (Feb 26, 2017)

Mine is a nod to my working class background and ways - with a little dig at the town where I live.


----------



## escorial (Feb 26, 2017)

Phil Istine said:


> Mine is a nod to my working class background and ways - with a little dig at the town where I live.






something to be man....


----------



## Olly Buckle (Feb 26, 2017)

Like sas I though amsawtell was for 'I am, I saw, I tell', a good description of a writer, is Ariel your parents' homage to 'The Tempest' ? An excellent name.

I thought 'maximum publicity for my writing, I'll use my real name', Then used 'Olly', which everyone has called me since I started school, and used 'Oliver' when I published; Doh !

I did get a PM from someone once saying what a cool user name I had, and asking how I thought of it: cribbed it from my Dad. 

I once asked Mum 'Why Oliver?', she said 'We had real trouble thinking of a name, and then your Dad came in one day and suggested Oliver, I don't know why.' So then I went and asked Dad why I was called Oliver? 'No idea, you'll have to ask your mother'.   So I have no idea why I am who I am, other than that 'Buckle' was originally a man who made bucklers, small round shields for sword fighting, like in 'Frog he would a courting go'.


----------



## bdcharles (Feb 26, 2017)

It's a pen name that I may or may not publish under. Like other character names it simply popped up on the insides of my eyelids one day. It sounds quite "writerly" imo and had its own font too (playbill) so I knew it was a go-er.

Can't think which are my faves here though - drawing a bit of a blank on that I'm afraid  Lots of good ones though.


----------



## Phil Istine (Feb 26, 2017)

escorial said:


> View attachment 17195
> 
> something to be man....



I love that song.


----------



## dither (Feb 26, 2017)

Why?

Because i am, and i do.


----------



## Ariel (Feb 26, 2017)

Olly Buckle said:


> Like sas I though amsawtell was for 'I am, I saw, I tell', a good description of a writer, is Ariel your parents' homage to 'The Tempest' ? An excellent name.


My parents were not that well-read. I was named after a British motorcycle that was produced during WWII.  They're extremely rare now.  Funny enough my family has always assumed that the last name was French but name entomology has led me not just to an origin for the name but the meaning. It's English and means "one who plays the psalter."  A psalter is a Middle Ages instrument that was used during church services. Unfortunately for this branch of the family name my father was an only son and he had only a daughter.

Might be callous but I was happy when I changed my name after marriage. I don't want to share a name with my step-mother. Further, it might not legitimately be the family name. My great-grandmother was a prostitute who may or may not have been married to my great-grandfather who may or may not have been the father of my grandfather. We will probably never know for sure as my great-grandfather died the day my grandfather was born in a train accident and his family refuses to speak to mine on the basis of my great-grandmother's occupation.


----------



## dither (Feb 26, 2017)

Ariel said:


> My parents were not that well-read. I was named after a British motorcycle that was produced during WWII.  They're extremely rare now.  Funny enough my family has always assumed that the last name was French but name entomology has led me not just to an origin for the name but the meaning. It's English and means "one who plays the psalter."  A psalter is a Middle Ages instrument that was used during church services. Unfortunately for this branch of the family name my father was an only son and he had only a daughter.
> 
> Might be callous but I was happy when I changed my name after marriage. I don't want to share a name with my step-mother. Further, it might not legitimately be the family name. My great-grandmother was a prostitute who may or may not have been married to my great-grandfather who may or may not have been the father of my grandfather. We will probably never know for sure as my great-grandfather died the day my grandfather was born in a train accident and his family refuses to speak to mine on the basis of my great-grandmother's occupation.



Oh dear,
the ariel.
We threw those things around fields in my teenage years.

ariel,
i attempted to  research my family's ancestry but one side, can't remember which, there was so much uncertainty, bought for an ox etc. I just gave up. Does it really matter? It's you and the here and now that counts.


----------



## Plasticweld (Feb 26, 2017)

I have always had the same forum name regardless which forum it was.  Many years ago I developed a process for welding plastic motorcycle parts together.  It was a real improvement over the original process, the general thought of the time was that it could not be done effectively. My process is still the one that is used today, but back then I had to educate the public to show them that it was a viable option.  Back in the day when there were tons of forums and face book did not exist, I  belonged to as many as 45 forums to promote my business.  Plasticweld was subtle way of saying yes it works.


----------



## escorial (Feb 26, 2017)

"My great-grandmother was a prostitute who may or may not have been married to my great-grandfather"....that belongs as an open line to a book...id'e have to keep going


----------



## Ariel (Feb 26, 2017)

Doesn't it?  It would have to be mostly fiction as everyone who had information about her is dead or were so scared of my grandfather (from what I understand, grandpa was a cop in the mafia's pocket who once threatened to have his sisters killed) they won't talk.


----------



## escorial (Feb 26, 2017)

Ariel said:


> Doesn't it?  It would have to be mostly fiction as everyone who had information about her is dead or were so scared of my grandfather (from what I understand, grandpa was a cop in the mafia's pocket who once threatened to have his sisters killed) they won't talk.



just write it an fill in the gaps..fiction.non fiction..half n half..now if i read that brief description i would take the book the counter,buy it get home light a candle and start reading...


----------



## aj47 (Feb 26, 2017)

Ariel said:


> My parents were not that well-read. I was named after a British motorcycle that was produced during WWII.  They're extremely rare now.  Funny enough my family has always assumed that the last name was French but name entomology has led me not just to an origin for the name but the meaning. It's English and means "one who plays the psalter."  A psalter is a Middle Ages instrument that was used during church services. Unfortunately for this branch of the family name my father was an only son and he had only a daughter.
> 
> Might be callous but I was happy when I changed my name after marriage. I don't want to share a name with my step-mother. Further, it might not legitimately be the family name. My great-grandmother was a prostitute who may or may not have been married to my great-grandfather who may or may not have been the father of my grandfather. We will probably never know for sure as my great-grandfather died the day my grandfather was born in a train accident and his family refuses to speak to mine on the basis of my great-grandmother's occupation.



Didn't Buddy Holly own an Ariel Cyclone?


----------



## Phil Istine (Feb 26, 2017)

My first thought when I saw the name Ariel was the character in Disney's _The Little Mermaid._


----------



## Olly Buckle (Feb 26, 2017)

> My parents were not that well-read. I was named after a British motorcycle that was produced during WWII. They're extremely rare now.



First time I ever went over 100 mph was on the back of my mate Dave's Ariel square four down the A11. It is a motorway now with speed cameras and a 70mph national speed limit, but back then it was a single carriageway concrete strip road and there was no national speed limit. We used to put Blakeys (metal studs meant to save the heels of boots) in our heels and let our feet drag, it raised showers of sparks from the flints in the concrete. There were no helmet laws in those days either, Dave was lucky to survive when he hit the back of a coach. He ended up *in* the boot and lost the use of an arm; not so bad a thing really, sobered him up some, he became a teacher and got married. I stayed wild and we lost touch


----------



## midnightpoet (Feb 26, 2017)

My moniker has been around since the 1970's, evolved from MidnitePo8. I was always writing something in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep.

Oh, and I did my ancestry a few years ago and was disappointed that I didn't find a single horse thief, outlaw or pirate - so I gave up.  However, since I did have a few lawyers, that probably made up for the discrepancy.:icon_joker:


----------



## Ariel (Feb 26, 2017)

That is the exact motorcycle I was named for, Olly. Not many people stateside know of it so it is a pleasure to hear of people who have actually used them.


----------



## Deleted member 59879 (Feb 26, 2017)

I like Sassafras - it's the name of a town in Victoria Australia


----------



## SummerPanda (Feb 26, 2017)

I went the boring route with my username here, Summer is my first name and Panda is a nickname I've had for years. A while back on another forum I got more creative and called myself PandaliciousWench, but ended up changing it after i got to know a lot of those people in person and got tired of them tripping over that mouthful or just calling me Wench.


----------



## Terry D (Feb 27, 2017)

It's like... well... it's sorta... my name, you know?


----------



## bobo (Feb 27, 2017)

Terry D said:


> It's like... well... it's sorta... my name, you know?


Whou - what a phantasy


----------



## Bloggsworth (Feb 27, 2017)

It's the only photograph I had that made me look in the slightest bit interesting...


----------

