Ah yes, I forgot to count the name I gave myself as a tiny kid, since as you can imagine I had trouble pronouncing Gwendolen. It’s in my hotmail address.
From the BBS era: War Pig, Klapaucius, Dr. Ruthless
From LJ: Klaproth, which LJ friends morphed into Kaltrop
Other internets: Book of Og, Flobey Tenderson
rl: Eric
Most people know me as Chuck.
People online know me as RealityChuck
My wife uses Dragon (we were reading a lot of Anne McCaffrey when we were first married).
My daughter still uses Daddy
Some of my close relatives use Chuckie. Not long ago I got into an Internet flamewar and people tried to call me that. They didn’t know the name had some very positive connotations to me.
People who never met me and doctors call me Charles. It usually a sign they want to sell me something.
Laura in professional and work settings. Laurie by family, friends, my boyfriend, and informal settings like here. Laurita by my Brazilian college roommate and BFF. Looney Laurie by a high school teacher who HATED me.
Pops by my kids, PopPop by their kids, Mike or Michael (interchangeably) by my wife and one or the other by anyone else who knows me. I don’t care. Obviously Hari Seldon here.
By my initials
Goomba
By strictly my first name which is a derivative name of another. Ex: Named Larry by my parents so I didn’t like to be called Lawrence
By the name of a song which vaguely resembles my last name.
Studster or Stutz in college: Not from attracting women but because I wore a pair of shoes that were hideous. Friends called them the Studsters and eventually it wore off on me.
Martha: a joke
Captain Midnite: my nickname as an engineer who got called frequently at night for power outages.
Dogshit by my wife. I will not stand for this and insist that she calls me Commander Dogshit.
Dad - my favorite for obvious reasons.
Uncle Aweome
Julie by most
Julia by the bank and the government
Julio by one of my brothers
Tui (rhymes with hooey) by one of my sisters
Joalie (rhymes with goalie) by my other sister when she’s being a punk
**Jessica **by more and more people every day
**Jess **to most of my family
**Jessi **to people who mistakenly think that is my nickname
**JJ **to anyone I met since second grade, and anyone they ever introduced me to (this is actually the highest percentage of people) Auntie Jess to my actual nieces Auntie JJ to my friends’ kids
**ZipperJJ **online
On the SDMB, I’m DLuxn8r-13, sometimes informally just “Lux”.
My street name, the way I sign my poetry and introduce myself to folks, is Sparrow 13. Been using it for many years now. The 13 is important as it distinguishes me from another poet named [just] Sparrow, who’s been around a lot longer than me and has much more stuff published. But since Sparrow’s been my monicker since God was a tadpole, I figure I have a right to use it too.
Online other than here, I use various variants of The DeLux One and Sparrow 13, including **Dirtybird DeLux **and His Extreme DeLuxitude. Occasionally Richie Petronia, or just Petronia, Petronia being the taxonym for a certain kind of sparrow.
Sometimes my boyfriend calls me Mister Vinnie “ThunderChoad” Sparrone.
My rels who don’t indulge me by calling me Sparrow, call me Richard, Richie, or Rich.
Officialdumb knows me as Mr. Richard Surname.
I sign my mail art with any number of variations and plays on Velcrow. That’s Velcrow with a W.
I also have a four-letter first name and there’s no way to shorten it (or lengthen it to anything recognizable). I don’t have a middle name, either. I’m always just “[FIRSTNAME].” Fortunately, it is unusual and I have never had a problem with getting confused with a co-worker or other family member.
When I was five, the -y was dropped from my name, and has been gone ever since. I have a formal first name, used for business with middle initial only, but otherwise known by the familiar name.
When studying Spanish, as is the custom, I was known in class by the Spahish equivalent, and my ex-wife (whom I met them) used it endearingly, but otherwise, only by my informal first name, and a few people, by my last name. There has never been any kind of a nickname, and I strongly dislike nicknames, and never call anyone by one unless their real name is not widely known.
I have lots of names that I go by around town and other places. My “real” name is my middle name and several variants of it including a pseudo-hispanic version. My technical first name is a family name but a very common one that no one in my family actually goes by. It is amazing how many strangers refer to me by variants of my first name. It is useful to show who doesn’t know me at all and I just hang up on phone calls when someone uses my first name or a variant of it.
It doesn’t stop there though, I have many nicknames that I will answer to given to me by other people. Shagnasty is just one of many and I would turn my head if someone shouted any of them in a crowd.
My real name is so distinctive that I don’t always like to use it around people I don’t know in places where it isn’t important. My daughters think it is funny that I just make up new names on a whim when talking to salespeople or doing mundane things like getting a haircut. I love it when they repeat it back over and over to try to be friendly. I have been everything from Pedro to Stalinoff in the past year plus many more.
In everyday life, there are about 15 names and variants that I will answer to without even thing about it.
If you know me online, I am Janis to most and Pearl to da MMPers
If you know me in meatspace I am probably** Beth**, unless:
You know me at work, where I am Elizabeth. (Liz to a few)
I teach you in Sabbath school, where I am Ms. Beth (I don’t insist upon it and the kids switch back and forth)
You are my nevvies, then I am Aunt Sissy
A few names online, T by some “fool” family members. A nickname fromy uncle, and my real name from everyone else.
Old names included an intentionally was long name from a neighbor as a joke, and Mr. Last Name by some teachers in school. But it doesn’t come up in real life as much, oddly. Everyone wants to move to first names now, it seems.
That is “cool” family members. I just mean the type of person who would name people by letters. It’s what my username is based on, since I wanted a name I’d associate with myself.