How did you pick your SL name?

"Torley" is my offline birthname -- so my "real name" by any standards. It's actually part of a much-longer Thai name which is VERY long. And even with 6 letters, some still choose to abbreviate it. Fine by me!

"Torgeson" I chose 'cuz I like the alliteration.

TorTor

Eldritch, cause it's neat: reminds me of ancient magicks and such.

Alicia, because it seemed to fit.

Mmm... very cool reasons. I've often wondered about the stories behind names folks choose for themselves, so thanks for making this post.

Like Torley, Lyra is my birthname. While occasionally I wish I had gone with something else, I am usually not able to pick my "real" name in online venues, so I was terribly pleased when I could this time. It was chosen by my father, who has always loved astronomy - my namesake is the constellation.

Muse, well... I quote a website, speaking of the lyre that Jupiter eventually placed in the sky to make Lyra. "[Mercury] noticed the resonance when he tapped the [tortoise] shell, which gave him the idea to drill holes along opposite sides and lace these with linen threads. He used one each for the nine Muses." I have always enjoyed Greek, Roman and Irish mythologies above all others, so this seemed a logical and fun choice for me.

I love your name! I thought it came from that Philip Pullman series "His Dark Materials." Didn't know that it was a constellation. Wow, that's cool.

Talen because its an old nickname......morgan because I like pirates

I am a Scorpio, my rw hubby is a Gemini. We have been Gemini and Scorpio online since we first met in 1996 in Worldsaway (but names reversed obviously).

The day before we joined SL I had been talking about Pygmalion and Galatea with a friend of mine in another world, so it was the obvious choice.

Olmy ap Sennan was a character in some Greg Bear sci-fi novels. He was one of the most capable individuals in the service of the Hexamon, an advanced human civilization that inhabited an artificial universe. He was born biologically, but also lived for a time in the Hexamon's virtual environment, where most of its citizens lived due to limited space and resources.

Seraph because it sounded nice, and I like the mythological overtones.

Uh, paolo, beau is just french for beautiful. It can also mean lover or boyfriend. Feminine is belle, plural is beaux.
As for my name, egg or eggy has long been my RL nickname.
There's a boring story behind it. It's short for "ecstasy", the drug. I've never tried it, but when the internet was new and E was all over the news, we were all at my birthday party checking out this wonderful new thing called IRC, and a friend of mine who was really into clubbing went first... she picked that nickname for her and then everyone else just went with it.
Since we had met some interesting people, I kept it for myself.
After a while, my mom suggested that I could change it to eggstasy because some channel operator kept kicking me, claiming my nickname was offensive. I got tired of being mistaken for a drug-addled raver after a few years and changed it to eggy. Some friends were already calling me egg or eggy anyway, so it was the next logical step.
I picked Lippmann because my last name is Lima.

Tanaquil - the name I gave to one of the main characters in a story I've been working on. I didn't want to use my real name or my more known internet-alias for SL, as I wanted something "specific" to SL, so I picked this name, which I had used a few times on some forums. (The name itself comes from Tanaquil, who was the wife of L. Tarquinius Priscus, first Etruscan king of Rome; she was said to have knowledge in the arts of divination. I think I've already rambled about this to a larger extent somewhere in my blog, in fact *lol*).

Karuna - Nope, I don't come from There When I signed up I looked for the various available last names, I wanted something a tad bit "exotic" (but not Japanese, contrary to what some could think, wouldn't have worked with the first name anyway). I thought it sounded well enough with 'Tanaquil', so I picked it.

Well I picked a last name I liked... Fauna. And spent about 2 hours (with Cristiano telling me in yahoo to HURRY UP AND PICK WOMAN!!) staring at the create screen trying to find a name. It's important to me what my name should be. And since I didnt feel Yourstruly(my there name) Fauna was really all that becoming... I decided to make up a name that rhymes.

Only later did I find out Launa is a real name in Hawaii. Oh well hehe! Some people have been know to sing my name. It amuses me.

I also considered names that were puns. Like Falonda Flora. Or Mopda Flora. The list goes on and on. -_- You can blame my father for those.

<3
The other LF

It came to me as if the gods themselves told me. I was signing up for ICQ (when I had a 5 digit #) and wanted a new name besides the old name I used on the BBSes. A commercial on TBS for Cool hand Luke came on. My hands were cold. I commented on it and said "he thinks he has cool hands... LOOK AT THESE". As my g/f at the time started warming them for me, she once again commented how nice and strong, yet soft they were and how she couldn't wait until rubbed them all over... oh... started day dreaming again. So, figured koolhand it would be!

Koolhaas just seemed like good alliteration and kept with the kool theme.

Hmmm... my hands are cold... wonder if I still have her number....

I chose Fonzarelli because of the inherent humor.

My RL name is Mark and a hispanic guy I used to work with called me "Marcos".

I chose Paris because I admire Paris Hilton......NOT....that is so a joke...but seriously I chose Paris bc I am a such a gay, romantic individual and one very romantic place in the world is Paris, France. I chose Cellardoor bc of my favorite movie of all times...Donnie Darko...

Jonquille is a flower, and a name I've been using for various nefarious internet purposes for a long, long time. Noir was short, French (to match Jonquille) and means Dark, or something along those lines.

My other choices were Bette Noir, and Jet Valkyrie.

Well I've been called Ananda (or some variant thereof) off and on for a couple thousand years now.

You saved Darko from typing a reply

I ran into a Donnie Darko (never seen the movie) web site the other day and was gonna ask Darko if it was related to your nicknames. Now I know for sure!

- T -

In "The Shadow of the Torturer" by Gene Wolfe, the names of duelists are called out at the Sanguinary Field, and Cadroe of the Seventeen Stones is one of them. I first used Cadroe as a name in Medal of Honor deathmatches. Since Wolfe borrowed the name from an Irish saint, and my real name is conspicuously Irish, Cadroe Murphy seemed to fit.

Hehe...yeah...I think the quote in the movie goes "This famous linguist once said that of all the phrases in the English language, of all the endless combinations of words in all of history, that "Cellar Door" is the most beautiful." by Drew Barrymore.

pandastrong Fairplay....

A little bit of math-rock (courtesy of oxes) for the masses. The first time i saw these guys, I was really there to see Trans-am and Of Montreal.

I walked in as oxes were just getting started, and pandastrong quickly became my theme song.

And for Fairplay.. who doesn't?!?!?!

I'm a boring bastard .. I chose Siggy because it is my name.

Romulus happened when I tried to pick 'Tesla' and my dog decided I shouldn't be on the computer.. in the usual manner he grabbed my arm with his paw and yanked.. right at the time my finger hit the mousebutton.....

Siggy.

Lisse because it is close to my RL name, without actually being a name itself. I first used it on DawnsistersMUSH (Pern-themed) where I played a studly bronzerider in charge of a space station weyr

Since then I've used it in a few online forums where I'm being myself more than playing a character. And once I decided to use it for SL, I had to find an 'L' last name to go with it, as I'm a big Lois Lane fan. I first picked Llewellyn, but the credit card I used for that sign-up wouldn't let me have a free trial, so I had to sign up again, and picked Livingston.

Now I finally am a member of a group where I get the Dr title! It all fits.....

Sarah because it's my real name and Flora because I'm a Master Gardener...

My first name in RL Is Dan , and there is a furniture store called Rhodes furniture down the road from me. When I signed up at the beginning of July 2003 I was just checking SL out and picked the first last name that I could remember easily when logging in I ended up keeping it.

Hah, y'know.. I use my real name in World of Warcraft as well, and you'd be surprised how often people ask me if I'm trying to be Lyra Silvertongue. I was the ORIGINAL Lyra Silvertongue thank you so much people!

This is a great series, or so I'm told. I'm still slogging my way through Golden Compass while I moan and groan about George R. R. Martin's "A Feast for Crows" getting pushed back repeatedly.

I am done steering this thread off-topic! Keep up the great stories about your names....

I was looking to escape drama and staleness from my current online habitat when on a search I found SL.

I decided I'd keep the first letter of the name I used most there, to help the folks who'd known me for years under that handle, get used to my new moniker after I dragged them into here.

I chose Brace for several reasons. The first and foremost it being pretty androgynous, since I planned from the get go to be playing around with gender.

It's also the nick of a pretty amazing person I met in a text based MUD billions of years ago...

I also like how it hints at BRACElets, (wll cuffs really, but I digress ) being emBRACEd and of course: "BRACE yourself! Here come's errrmm...Brace!" LOL

I chose Coral as a last name because it is of the ocean and I have a thing for huge bodies of water and although coral comes in lots of colors it is mostly known for that lovely pinkish hue....and I love PINK, cuz its ALL about the PINK baby!

OH and Lo - I love your name! When I see you, I always think of the homeplace for the folks in Octavia E. Butler's Xenogenisis series of books. It is called Lo