# Do not take your screen name from a popular book or movie. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2002, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778 "2002-04-21T04:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Flamsterette\_X](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/41988e/32.png) [@Flamsterette\_X](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flamsterette_X)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/41 "2002-04-22T02:08:32Z")
Well, thanks for the explanation, **Atreyu**. At least now I know where it comes from, though I will probably never read the books. **Eutychus** , I remember that story from Sunday School… **Baker** is right, you know: Peter **will** resurrect you! **Miller** , it’s amazing, isn’t it? You never know how popular a certain last name is until you take it for yourself! Luckily, there will be nobody surnamed **Flamsterette** … hahaha. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/42 "2002-04-22T02:24:35Z")
I’m glad I chose my handle from a lesser-known (though not exactly obscure) literary work. Choosing the name of an inanimate object helps, too. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/43 "2002-04-22T02:29:05Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Terminus Est** : > I’m glad I chose my handle from a lesser-known (though not exactly obscure) literary work. Choosing the name of an inanimate object helps, too. I’m glad I didn’t pick **Severian The Lame**. ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/44 "2002-04-22T02:42:57Z")
I want to discuss Gene Wolfe. So I think I’ll break down and finally start a thread: In Cafe Society, because I got really close to expressing an opinion here. Want to join me, **Terminus Est**? ---
**Author:** ![Ludo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Ludo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/45 "2002-04-22T04:56:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Speaker for the Dead \* > \*\* > > Ludo’s sooo cool!!! And clueless looking 🙂 \*\* Sahwa fwend! (Ludo-speak) And in my spare time, I enjoy yodeling for boulders and modeling for Selsun Blue. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![HoldenCaulfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@HoldenCaulfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldenCaulfield)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/46 "2002-04-22T05:21:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Narrad \* > \*\*Paging **Holden Caulfied**. 🙂 \*\* This is the only places I use this handle. Other places I go by either **bass2496** or **CaptainHughFitzgerald** (10 bonus points if you can nail the reference on the last one without looking it up.) But, if you really want to hear about it, I _chose_ the handle because I felt like they were talking about me. I guess any teenager can say this, but Holden is a helluva lot like me. ---
**Author:** ![Soup\_du\_jour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Soup\_du\_jour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soup_du_jour)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/47 "2002-04-22T05:21:04Z")
…And here I was, holding my Cambridge Latin Course textbook, when I saw the character **Eutychus**! Apparently, Eutychus is a thug from Alexandria who likes to mess up Clemens’s glass shop, which Quintus helped set up! Shame on you! No, my handle isn’t from any particular book or movie. It’s in many of them! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/48 "2002-04-22T05:50:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jasmine \* > \*\* > So, would that make changing it an emotionally difficult thing for you to do? \*\* When I switched from **beatle** to my current _nom de poste_ I had already, after two and a half years of being beatle, begun to identify with the name. And Dopers I met IRL called me by that name. So, yeah, it was a bit rough. For a couple of months after the change, I’d post something as Ringo and several respondents would post back directly to beatle. And then I sent an email to **Lynn** asking her to change it back, which she, thankfully, did not act upon until I sent her another one the next day wherein I had decided that we all, including me, should just get used to changes. ---
**Author:** ![Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@Nenya\_Elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nenya_Elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/49 "2002-04-22T06:59:39Z")
It _does_ get weird when I start thinking of myself as Nenya or one of my other screen names instead of my real name…that’s when I know I need to go visit my life in the real world again. 😃 If I was _forced_ to change my nickname now, I think it would be emotionally traumatic. But sometimes screen names just get old and need to be changed, because you’ve changed and want to be called something else. I like Nenya, though; it’s pretty and as close to the name Galadriel as I can get without feeling that I’m getting delusions of grandeur! I thought this thread was going to be a Pit-ish rant about how the OP didn’t want us to choose such names because he didn’t like them or they confused him or something… Then, of course, there’s the author over at [FanFiction.net](http://FanFiction.net) who calls herself Mara\_Trinity\_Scully. 🙂 Confused loyalties, or just a well-rounded geek? 😛 –Nenya E. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/50 "2002-04-22T07:41:59Z")
Not really a problem for me, I’m as unmemorable as they come. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/51 "2002-04-22T12:42:41Z")
Upside of picking an obscure name: Very few people pick up on the fact I’m a pretentious David Lynch fan who took a name that isn’t even used in the movie (except for the credits). Downside: People just assume Henry’s my real name ;). ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/52 "2002-04-22T13:18:17Z")
well… ---
**Author:** ![TelcontarStorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ab097/32.png) [@TelcontarStorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TelcontarStorm)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/53 "2002-04-22T14:50:09Z")
I am of the house of the King, only a lowly servant who chooses to use the Kings name in open alligence to the free peoples everywhere. You may call me Storm (reference to highly esteemed Fleetwood Mac tune too) It also happens to be the name given to me by someones else _natch_ ---
**Author:** ![Protesilaus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Protesilaus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Protesilaus)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/54 "2002-04-22T16:40:18Z")
Of course, there’s also the option of choosing an obscure character from a popular book. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/55 "2002-04-22T17:05:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HenrySpencer \* > \*\*Upside of picking an obscure name: Very few people pick up on the fact I’m a pretentious David Lynch fan who took a name that isn’t even used in the movie (except for the credits). > > Downside: People just assume Henry’s my real name ;). \*\* I noticed it! If I make up a sock puppet I am going to call her LadyintheRadiator 😃 ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/56 "2002-04-22T17:24:27Z")
Strangly enough **Biggirl** there is a doper here that I know IRL who’s name is Jim and I do call him Jimbo. I just took the name years ago coz I needed a nick for Quake and yojimbo seemed to fit quite. Have used it since anywhere I need a name on the net. I am quite attached to the name now and wouldn’t change it unless I really had to. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/57 "2002-04-22T17:27:04Z")
I have had this hande in various places for so long that I respond to it in real life as well. There is more than a little affinity between myself and the character of the same name. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2002, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/58 "2002-04-22T20:17:17Z")
At least you guys aren’t named after comic book characters. That would be really pathetic. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/59 "2002-04-23T00:09:45Z")
I still feel faintly silly and embarrased about my screen name, even though practically no one recognises it. And yes, I do respond to it in real life. Just for the record, I share nothing with the character I’m namd after- particularly not the possession of a highly intelligent dog. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778/60 "2002-04-23T01:02:27Z")
Oh, now now, **Lissla** -you have to tell us where it comes from! Mine, is a combination of Guinevere and Anastasia, as I’ve stated previously. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-not-take-your-screen-name-from-a-popular-book-or-movie/104778.md?page=4)