Names (schoolwork, no spam please)

[Yeltsu]

Ok, I have this big project coming up at school (særemne for those of you who understands that) In which I plan to take a look at internet names, and find out what they mean to people.

If you would be so kind as to fill in the template below, it would be very appreciated, please be as thruthful as possible.

1: Name (handle, nickname, username etc..)
2: Your country
3: Your age
4: Your proffesion/how far you are in education
5: What does your name mean? does it have several meanings? Is there a story behind it? Or is it just "cool"?
6: Do you have several names? If so, why?
7: How would you react if you wanted to register an account somewhere, and found out that someone had had already taken "your" name?
8: Anything specific you'd like to add?

That's it for now, I might come up with more later

Oh, and if anyone know of any research that has been done on this subject, please say so

Thanks for participating

EDIT:

New question:

Please post the first reactions and thoughts (social background etc) you get when seeing these names:
1. Malsolle
2. Somnophore
3. Maxhavelaar
4. Wisedragon
5. Nightfalcon
6. Z00ze
7. Mor

[slade]

[QUOTE=Yeltsu]
1: Name (handle, nickname, username etc..)
2: Your country
3: Your age
4: Your proffesion/how far you are in education
5: What does your name mean? does it have several meanings? Is there a story behind it? Or is it just "cool"?
6: Do you have several names? If so, why?
7: How would you react if you wanted to register an account somewhere, and found out that someone had had already taken "your" name?
8: Anything specific you'd like to add?
[/QUOTE]

1:slade
2:USA
3:20
4: one year of college
5:I think I heard it in an anime that I loved...I choose it because at the time it was unique and it felt strong...
6:yes I like using Sesshomaru.....anime...think it means something
7:furious...but I have not seen anyone with my name yet..except people I know who have taken it...I have had slade for over 13 years....
8:I would like to add a question...when picking a name what qualities in the name are you looking for...what does it have to mean in order for you to decide?

Im glad you thought of this...hope you add more..

[dragon wench]

There are several threads around about the origin of GB user names, you might want to try digging them up. They won't answer all of your questions, but they'll provide a little data even so.

[C Elegans]

1: C Elegans
2: Sweden
3: 35
4: neuroscientist (human brain researcher), Ph D
5: C Elegans (Caenorhabditis Elegans) is a roundworm, the first multicellular creature to get its whole genome sequenced. A model animal in science, see Nobel laurate Sydney Brenner's lecture about this wonderful nematode he calls "Nature's gift to science" here:
http://nobelprize.org/medicine/laureate ... cture.html
6: I have used the name "Wiwaxia" at another message board, Wiwaxia corrugata is one of the fossilied creatures in Burgess Shale. Read about this beautiful mollusk here:
http://www.nmnh.si.edu/paleo/shale/pwiwax.htm
7: If somebody had taken the name "C Elegans" I would be pleased to know there was another science geek there
8: How do you plan to compile and analyse your data? What is the aim of your study? Just curious.

[Dottie]

1. Dottie, Monocell
2. Sweden
3. 24
4. No education to speak of, no proffesion to speak of.
5. There is a story behind both, and a meaning behind Monocell. Do you want me to fill in the actual stories?
6. Yes, Because I have changed the username I usally use several times in my life, but I don't usally change it in places I have already registered a username.
7. I would use a variant. Instead of Monocell I might use Cell for example.
8. Nope, not that I can think of.

[Rondoor]

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 1: Name (handle, nickname, username etc..) [/QUOTE]
Rondoor

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 2: Your country[/QUOTE]
Wouldn’t it be a nice thing if I would answer to the question? But I find that question as just too personal to be answered.

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 3: Your age[/QUOTE]
Age discrimination is an awful thing and I refuse to support it.

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 4: Your proffesion/how far you are in education[/QUOTE]
Same reply as in section two and three.

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 5: What does your name mean? does it have several meanings? Is there a story behind it? Or is it just "cool"?[/QUOTE]
Well that user name was originally supposed to be ‘Run to the Door’. But in most forums such username is just too long to be valid one. So I left those two middle words out and combined first and last word with end result of ‘Rundoor’. But typo mistakes happened quite often and on the first forum I used it such thing happened. But I wouldn’t consider that to be all that great loss.

After leaving that forum I have noticed how keep creating accounts with same nick in about of two year periods. But I do the same thing with most of the user names that I have come up during the years.

I also remember having one of my childhood drawings left where there is fierce dragon called Rondoor. But when I look at that picture nowadays I can only admit that the dragon resembles more of an old boxy Volvo than a fierce dragon. But hey Imagination is the salt of life or at least the chilli.

Then each new username also contains quite a story or simply description on my present feelings. These things are rarely spot table from my usernames

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 6: Do you have several names? If so, why? [/QUOTE]

Yes I have. I like different names and the illusion of online privacy which those other handles offer. Then each new username also contains quite a story or simply description on my present feelings. Other people don’t really understand those because mostly those names don’t even make sense to others. Well at this state of mind I am not able to describe it any better.

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 7: How would you react if you wanted to register an account somewhere, and found out that someone had had already taken "your" name? [/QUOTE]

That rarely happens and I have that big list of names to choose from. Why should I care about that?

[QUOTE=Yeltsu] 8: Anything specific you'd like to add? [/QUOTE]
In reply to #3

Yes search could have been nice thing to do and it could be quite useful to mister Yeltsu. But in this topic forum members give their permission to use such data, where as in those earlier topics Yeltsu might need to ask permission to use such information.

Sega is silly.

[CM]

1: Fas, CM
2: Pakistan
3: 23
4: Diplomat - Masters
5: Like i am telling you why I chose CM. People haven't been told in 6 years and now you expect me to just tell you for the good of your survey? Keep dreaming.
6: Yes, Because CM is too short for websites now as they want at minimum 3 characters. But then again Fas is too short for them as well. So not sure what my new nick will be if I join another website.
7: How the hell did they break the 3 letters minimum rule
8: Nope.

[Athena]

1. My name is Athena
2. I live in the USA
3. I am 21
4. My passion in life is training horses
5. My name's sugnificance is Athena is the Greek godess of war
6. Maybe I have several names, but who knows why.
7. I would be pissed if someone already took my name. But whatever..
8. (I would like to add the line from Lord of the Rings when the elf queen goes into that mystical blue light and preaches at Frodo.)

[penguin_king]

[QUOTE=Yeltsu]

1: Name (handle, nickname, username etc..)
2: Your country
3: Your age
4: Your proffesion/how far you are in education
5: What does your name mean? does it have several meanings? Is there a story behind it? Or is it just "cool"?
6: Do you have several names? If so, why?
7: How would you react if you wanted to register an account somewhere, and found out that someone had had already taken "your" name?
8: Anything specific you'd like to add?
[QUOTE]

1: Penguin_King (PK for short)
2: England
3: 14
4: year 9 (9th grade for you yanks)
5: just random, me and a friend were looking at funny videos of penguins the day before so...
6: i usually use darklight nowadays
7: i'd add numbers, underscores, hyphens, whatever is needed to reclaim what is rightfully mine!
8: no, not really

[ik911]

1. ik911
2. Netherlands
3. 18 years now, but it'll be different next year.
4. 1st year Architecture student.

5. It started with 'ik', dutch for 'I' (first person, sg.), for no apparent reason besides the fact that I'm ik. But, as CM mentioned, most websites require a minimum of 5 characters. So I added an almost random number, the alarmnumber of the USA... Nowadays I tell people it's because of the events of september 11, ofcourse, because it makes more sense to them.

6. Yes, Dragonryders* for instance for nationstates, because I didn't want my nation's name to have a number in it. And if I find ik911 inapropriate (for example in RPG's etc.), I make up variations like Ike Nileve or Isaac Niyawa...

(*completely utterly random choice)

7. I'd be surprised, yes. As far as I know, I'm about the only one on the face of this earth with ik911 as a nickname. (except on MSN, there was a south-african registered under ik911@hotmail.com, so I had to find an alternative. Go phish the african pirate, ye search engines )

[Hill-Shatar]

1: Name (handle, nickname, username etc..)
2: Your country
3: Your age
4: Your proffesion/how far you are in education
5: What does your name mean? does it have several meanings? Is there a story behind it? Or is it just "cool"?
6: Do you have several names? If so, why?
7: How would you react if you wanted to register an account somewhere, and found out that someone had had already taken "your" name?
8: Anything specific you'd like to add?

1. Hill-Shatar (formerley Hill1)
2. Canadian, orginally easterner, now a prarie man.
3. Almost 26 (Ýes, I am that young, as far as you all know)
4. Honours in both Immunology and Microbiology. Also going back to school to get yet another degree based around totally different subjects.
5. Hill was my last name, and Shatar is a word I liked. Also, one of my old friends was going to name her child Shatar, but decided not to. C Elegans also told me what my name meant in Mongolian, so I like it even more.
6. This site is the first forum that I used this particular name. Moslty because all my other names didnt make sense any more, as I first used them while still in highschool.
7. I would be surprised. Hill-Shatar would not make much sense for many other people.
8. not at the moment, but perhaps later.

Anyways, IIRC, CM is bgecause he did not have any idea for a name, and before then his display name, when they were available, was Fas. The secret is out!

[Fiona]

Clipe!

[Chimaera182]

1: Chimaera182
2: USA
3: 23
4: Operations Assistant (official name; really, I'm head stock boy ); few years of college.
5: Chose "Chimaera" because it was the name of a Star Destroyer in my favorite Star Wars books; 182 comes from Blink 182, who I loved back when I first came up with the Chimaera182 moniker.
6: Only use the Chim (have two s/n's on AIM, neither of which are Chimaera, but they're very old; the second one I came up with because I forgot the password to the first, and the second one was based on the fact that some guy in my Calculus class said I reminded them of Milton from Office Space [not that I looked fat, ugly, and nerdy; just that I looked like I'd burn the building down]).
7: I'd wonder if I had an account there already first, then try my password to see if it's actually me.
8: I'll add that I've had this s/n for almost a decade now; I'll change it every once in a while in a chat program (like WinMX) but other than that I'll probably keep this name forever. 'cuz I'm not that creative.

[stanolis]

1: stanolis
2: usa
3: 24
4: associates in compter information technology
5: it's my last name, no known meaning. i think it was originally greek and we migrated up into the russian area. some believe it is a deriative of stanislaus = "defender of mankind"
6: for boards my name doesn't change, but for my email, it changes constantly. i've been number J, blindvirtu, cyberianshark, urbanoperative. i try to keep it unique
7: pretty pissed, i'd probably call my family to find out who did it and complain. honestly, we're a small group. if you did a google search, i'd probably know who everyone was.

[Faust]

1: Name (handle, nickname, username etc..): Faust

2: Your country: U.S.A.-

3: Your age: 29

4: Your profession/how far you are in education: I am a Ph.D. in historical studies. I have a B.A. and two masters degree. I teach and research to pay the bills, right now.

5: What does your name mean? does it have several meanings? Is there a story behind it? Or is it just "cool"?: The name comes from popular German tales about a scholar who, in his pursuit of knowledge, trades his human soul for the devil's aid in seeking out forbidden knowledge. In the most famous rendition of the tale by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe the Faust inevitably struggles with whether his ambition is worth his life in an epic poem (sort of a reverse Book of Job).The name has some symbolic value, in that it represents the way that values become inverted for me in the wake of other pursuits from time to time. Otherwise, it can just be understood as something I chose because I tend to fall back on historical and literary references for handles.

6: Do you have several names? If so, why?: Not on this board. I frequently use the name "Erasmus" or a variation of my real name instead of Faust. It's usually based on availability of handle.

7: How would you react if you wanted to register an account somewhere, and found out that someone had had already taken "your" name?: I might add a number, or chose a different name.

8: Anything specific you'd like to add?: No, not really.

[Yeltsu]

Great guys! keep it up!

Oh and the age, country and proffesion thing is just to see if there is a connection between a certain type of name, and for example an age group.

@CE: I am trying to find out how much internet nicks means to people, after all, your birthname is given to you, while you choose your handle for yourself. I also believe that for many people internet comunities are very important, maybe (in exreme cases) more important than RL. And if that is the case, how big a role does the name play in how you and others percieve you?

Since the project is in my norwegian class, i have to add something norwegian to it, so part of it will be to examine if there is any obvious difference between names that norwegians choose, and names that others choose. (don't worry, i'll visit norwegian pages for that, I won't take it all from Fib and grimar )

When it comes to compiling data, I think i'll make a form which i'll fill out to easier get the overview, then i'll go through it thourogly and see if i can find a pattern.

The project will not be handed in as a paper, but will be presented for my class, therefor, i'll have to adjust it that way. Nevertheless, I'll write all my findings down for later, who knows, i might need it sometime

[quote="slade]8:I would to add a question...when picking a name what qualities in the name are you looking for...what does it have to mean in order for you to decide?[/quote"]

Thanks alot, that's a very good one, if anyone have the time and opportunity, please answer it

[C Elegans]

[QUOTE=Rondoor]Yes search could have been nice thing to do and it could be quite useful to mister Yeltsu. But in this topic forum members give their permission to use such data, where as in those earlier topics Yeltsu might need to ask permission to use such information. [/QUOTE]

You must be American to think of copyright issues at a public internet message board

@Yeltsu: it's usually quite difficult to get anything out of qualitative information like this. Please post a brief summary of your results/conclusions here when you are finished, it would be interesting to see!

EDIT: my reply to #8

8. I have only used two names, C Elegans and Wiwaxia, and both are names of creatues I like. I have a certain fondness for animals used in scientific research and I also have something in common with them although in my case it's voluntarily. So, I choose a name of something I like that is in some way connected to me.
I've never considered "coolness"-factors, such things are for babies.

[Chimaera182]

To Rondoor's comment, once you type something in a public forum, it's pretty much been entered into the public consciousness (public domain, if you want to go by copyright terms). Anyone in a previous thread who posted that kind of information put it out there for people to see; therefore, for someone to take that information and use it as this thread implies doesn't need to ask to use the information; at that point, it's only common courtesy, as the person who posted the information has given implied consent.

9.) I just chose a name that appealed to me. I used to go to the Internet Gaming Zone many, many years ago, and my first user name was a completely random bunch of letters and numbers (well, 6 really). Then, I joined a gaming clan and I changed my name to Raptor; why, I don't remember, I just did. Then, I joined a different clan, and Raptor was already taken; I wanted to take "Thrawn" (he was like my role model from the Heir to the Empire trilogy), but it seemed so obvious. So I chose his flagship--Chimaera--instead. That's why Chimaera appealed to me, and that was it.

[Deadalready]

1: Name (handle, nickname, username etc..)
Deadalready

2: Your country
Australia

3: Your age
20

4: Your proffesion/how far you are in education
Hrm, what don't I do is easier. I prefer to say I'm a sports intructor foremost, but I work part time sales and Signwriting.

5: What does your name mean? does it have several meanings? Is there a story behind it? Or is it just "cool"?
Deadalready is simply a ironic name that I decided on for humour back in the days I played Quake 1, I thought that I needed a name that would bring a smile to a person's face whether I won or lost. Deadalready was the product of my invention and due to my tendancy to persist with things it's been with me for years.

Dead - Already(!)

6: Do you have several names? If so, why?
I do have several names, usually because Deadalready isn't always appropriate, for rpg games in particular I take things a little more seriously because of the time and effort. Names I commonly use are Artanis Frost and River Siege.

Artanis Frost is made up of the "cool" word Artanis that I got from Starcraft, Artanis was a fast scout unit; Frost on the otherhand describes myself a little more personally. I like the winter, rains and colder months and have a tendancy to act coldly if I get serious, frost also describes my fondness for icecream and the colour blue.

River (Ry-ver) Siege, I'm not sure where River came from but siege is a small description of the type of character class I like to take in online RPGs, the tanker.

7: How would you react if you wanted to register an account somewhere, and found out that someone had had already taken "your" name?
"Nutsack"

It's only happened twice with Deadalready@hotmail.com and the game Gunbound, but I'm surprised how often I've gotten first choice. I usually resort to Artanis Frost or another name, I don't use many though.

8: Anything specific you'd like to add?
I sometimes like to have things in my signiture relating to my username, past ones have been:
"Damn Lag"
"I hate this map"
"Splash Damage?"
"But I just spawned!"

[Fiberfar]

1: Fiberfar

2: Norway

3: 16

4: Second year in Highschool

5: Fiber(Agent 47 from the Hitman series' favourite weapon of choice)
far (father in Norwegian). A friend of mine made my avatar and he got the
name Fiberfar. He made a whole family out of that .

6: Either Fiberfar or Norseman. Fiberfar is my first username, Norseman was something I made when I registered on the ManowaR forums. I figured I might as well show where I come from in my username.


7: As far as I know nobody else did combine a weapon and the word father into a word...I would be supprised to see something like it.

8: I want to use a name that nobody else have. Nothing like Gandalf13 or that sort. I would rather combine something I think is cool with something Norwegian.