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.
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.
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?
Sahwa fwend! (Ludo-speak) And in my spare time, I enjoy yodeling for boulders and modeling for Selsun Blue. 
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.
…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! 
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.
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 who calls herself Mara_Trinity_Scully. 
Confused loyalties, or just a well-rounded geek? 
–Nenya E.
Not really a problem for me, I’m as unmemorable as they come.
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 ;).
well…
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
Of course, there’s also the option of choosing an obscure character from a popular book.
I noticed it!
If I make up a sock puppet I am going to call her LadyintheRadiator
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.
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.
At least you guys aren’t named after comic book characters. That would be really pathetic.
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.
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.