How Did You Come Up With Your Screen Name?

Baron Fel · Unread post by **Baron Fel** » Mon Feb 16, 2009 7:35 pm

yes, he is the father of Jagged Fel. I'd launch into a long history thing but I'll just say that the Fel's are an interesting clan and your daughter's namesake might have made Empress. No one but the authors are sure currently.

The Crab · Unread post by **The Crab** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 11:49 am

My nickname was actually given to me by my father.

As an infant, I was learning how to walk. But I couldn't quite get it right, as I was walking sideways...

Like a crab.

Around the age of 15 or 16, I made it more than a nickname my Daddy-O gave me, and turned it into an alter ego. Now, around seven years later, half the people I know don't even know my real name. XD Only as 'Crab'.

It's awesome.

MaxG · Unread post by **MaxG** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 11:13 am

Max is my first name and the G is the first letter of my last name.

guruhamboy · Unread post by **guruhamboy** » Thu Feb 19, 2009 1:14 pm

At school me and some friends dubbed on of us - 'hamboy', and then over time we all took up variations of the name.

Since I couldn't think of anything better, I decided to use mine as my online screename. I'll change it one day.

Unread post by **Razor One** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:43 am

Depends on the community I happen to be in.

In the Half Life and PC Game community, I go by Cronos, from the greek mythology, father of Zeus. Always moderately amusing when someone mistakes me for Chronos, the greek god of time.

In the World of Warcraft community, I tend to go by either Kranis or Shodan. Kranis was used initially because Cronos was taken and Kranis served as an adequate corruption of the name. I drifted over to Shodan when Paladins became available for the Horde as a kind of ironic (though obscure) statement, since Shodan was the Artificial Intelligence in the game System Shock that went nuts and slaughtered the entire crew of Citadel Station.

In TV Fandom, such as Transformers or Farscape, I tend to go by Razor One. This has its roots back in the days where I used to play Battlezone, an FPS/RTS hybrid. My favorite unit, the Razor Scout, was fast, agile, lightly armored, and could run rings around any more heavily armored opponent.

I eventually began writing my Nanowars fiction long ago, and when it came time for me to register a username here, I was in the midst of writing a character profile for "Razor One", a character that had the same vehicular mode as the Razor scout. The name was good enough, so I took it, and now it's stuck

Jagna · Unread post by **Jagna** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:50 pm

Hm. Good question.

It all started with the character Jagna, nearly 5 or so years ago, methinks. Maybe longer. I knew I wanted a leopard femme, but I wanted a clever name. So I thought of the whole, 'her pod malfunctioned and thought it had scanned a Jaguar'...and then I added something to make it unique and special.

Then I adopted the name for BWInt alone...and it's kind of become my name too.

I said it out loud to my sister yesterday...

It sounds so stupid.

I mean, imagine shouting JAGNA! across a room. I mean, you'd get used to it, but haven't you noticed (or maybe it's just me) that I use 'Jag' a lot more than 'Jagna'?

But yeah, there's my story.

I was actually thinking of changing my screen name to Jag's (<--there, see?

) alter-ego Pred self, Jaggid.

Maybe, maybe not.

Rakshash · Unread post by **Rakshash** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 2:09 pm

Rakshash was a character in a fanfic that never culminated. It means demon or beast in Hindi. I thought it was cool...once.

How things change.

btw Jagna, in Urdu there the word "Jagna" means to awaken. Thought you might like to know

Unread post by **Nurann** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 4:58 pm

Jagna, none of us have any idea how silly our names sound until we hear them screamed from across the street for the first time. Starath and I once spent an entire day at the zoo fumbling between screen and real names; by the time we got all the way around to the tiger pen, we had given up and reverted to screen names. The first time I heard her shout "Nurann!" I was like "huh? oh yeah, that's really me!" Now after 2 Gatherings and a Botcon, I respond to it faster than my real name, 'cuz I know they mean me and not the person two feet to my left who may share my real name. You're right, it takes some getting used to, but once you've found the right name it really becomes your unique, true-to-you identity.

Gregatron · Unread post by **Gregatron** » Fri Feb 20, 2009 11:39 pm

My name is Greg and the last two letters of my name are in Megatron's name so i combine Greg and Megatron and end up with Gregatron.

Unread post by **Sapphire** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 4:57 am

Well mine's rather obvious. I like gem stones and sapphires are my favourite. Blue is also my favourite colour, and while sapphires come in many colour variations, the classic blue is what they're most famous for. I've used it as a pen name for about 10 years now. Goodness.

And Nurann's right, after a few Botcons (and Skype voice chats with fellow Bwinters) you get very used to hearing your screen name. I would respond to it just as quickly as I respond to my real name.

Kamikaze · Unread post by **Kamikaze** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 11:09 am

I like Kamikaze. Rolls of my tongue quite well.

Blazemane · Unread post by **Blazemane** » Sat Feb 21, 2009 1:37 pm

Needed screen name to enter into Beast Wars International for the Action/Adventure fan fiction challenge in April 2007.

Loved lions. Still do. Had to allude to them in some manner. Took their mane and added something to it.

Rolled with it.

Actually, though, I really like it. It's embarrassing when one of my siblings comes across it and says "Blazemane? Hey Blazemane, hahahahahaha!", but still I like it.

Just a heads up, if any sibling of yours laughs at your screen name, the proper retort is "Laugh 'a while 'a you can, monkey boy!"

Although, I don't speak from experience.

starshadow · Unread post by **starshadow** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 3:55 am

mine pen name started when i watched Transformers Cybertron and they have this toy named Skyshadow so i was thinking instead of sky it would be star so it came out Starshadow

haha.

Unread post by **Starath** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:00 am

Nurann wrote:Jagna, none of us have any idea how silly our names sound until we hear them screamed from across the street for the first time. Starath and I once spent an entire day at the zoo fumbling between screen and real names; by the time we got all the way around to the tiger pen, we had given up and reverted to screen names. The first time I heard her shout "Nurann!" I was like "huh? oh yeah, that's really me!"

xD Oh slag I remember that! It was a crazy day. Hearing "Starath" was odd for me at first because it's not a name that easily rolls out of the mouth unless you've had practice. I had quite a few "Oh hey, that's me!" moments until I realized that I generally preferred being called "Starath" because my given name doesn't feel right coming from others (except family and coworkers). Plus, even though my given name is uncommon, I know there's only one Starath.

"Starath" is a name I created in high school for my Beast Wars OC after she went from Maximal to Predacon (long story-- mostly Megatron's fault). Her previous name, Tigress, no longer fit. She had the name Lazorbeak after awhile (named after the purple Terrorsaur toy repaint she became). Still, it wasn't quite right either. About this time I found the Redwall series by Brian Jacques and read the novel The Outcast of Redwall. In it there was a hawk named Skarlath-- he was fierce, loyal and very much loved by his companion Sunflash the Mace. Unfortunately Skarlath was killed in battle and Sunflash mourned the loss of his friend. I mourned Skarlath too and hoped I would be a much-loved friend like he was.

Somehow, Starath came out of Skarlath. I answer to Star and Starry, although the latter name I kind of cringe at cuz it sounds too cute. >_>

In other places I go by another BW OC's name, Deathray. His given name is Mercer D. Blastcharge, which I'll shorten to MercerD or its female version, MercyD. Deathray's character eventually becomes a Prime, and his name becomes Mercer Prime. I use that name once and awhile to feel important.

While playing Halo I go by Starath and Wyoming. Freelancer Wyoming is one of my favorite characters from Red vs Blue , and I'm sure I'll someday go by my RvB/Halo OC's name, Freelancer Indiana Jane.

And there you have it! I'm going to bed now. xD

Jammer · Unread post by **Jammer** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:20 am

Well, when I first started my online adventures about 10 years ago I used use a variety of names, most of which were Transformer related. When I first went into online multiplayer with a Mech game called Starsiege I did the same thing: a whole handful of Transformer names and, on some occasions, my real name. However, after playing Starsiege online for a few weeks I decided a more steady name was needed, so I choose the name of my childhood hero, Optimus Prime.

Fast forward roughly 3 years and I finally decided to stop being a forum lurker at the Transformer's website BWTF.com and sat down to create an account for them. Well... I should say an unregistered lurker.

Anyways, I immediately realized that I would need a name other than Optimus Prime if I wished to avoid a ugly number scenario (e.g. Optimus8568456). I spent about 15 minutes brainstorming ideas when with an absent gaze looked up at a nearby shelf in my room. On it was a R/C monster truck (well, monster car) I had decided to put up there many months before due to a rearrangement of my room and forgot about it. It was called Jammer. I immediately liked the name and have from there on been using it for practically any forum or IM I use. (I normally add CZ to the end if its already in use)

Over the years I've really enjoyed using the name. Not only that, but I also realized after a short time that it looked like an altered version of my middle name making it fit in an interesting way. Add to that that I have an absolute love for rotary guns (which jam in some games) and tend to use ECM-type equipment when I can in games the name "Jammer" fits all the more.

I still use "Optimus" from time to time. I mostly use it for gaming since it's a fairly unique name for those environments, but since the release of the 2007 movie I've been shying away from it due to its less than unique nature now.

*edit*
Some proof of how well my name fits: http://jammer-cz.deviantart.com/art/Namesake-114174115