# I figure the French probably have a term for this. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 17, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181 "2005-01-17T13:33:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/1 "2005-01-17T13:33:37Z")
I, personally, never used the term “pen name” because I much prefer the term “_nom de plume_” I am likewise fond of the term “_nom de guerre_”, and although not as commonly adopted into English (only 7 hits on Google) I will often choose to use the term “_nom d’etage_”. Now, I figure the French must have a similarly cool term for the names we assume for ourselves whilst anonymously harassing each other on the internet (I hope I’m not shattering any illusions here but, E.g. it don’t say **bienville** on my driver’s license). ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/2 "2005-01-17T13:36:04Z")
I just reread the “question” in my OP and I realized that there isn’t actually a question there! :eek: My question is this: Is there a common French term and what is it? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/3 "2005-01-17T13:46:47Z")
I have no idea, but I wish to propose _Marionnette de Chaussette_ ---
**Author:** ![SavageNarce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@SavageNarce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SavageNarce)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/4 "2005-01-17T13:53:40Z")
Nom d’utilisateur? (Username) Nom d’abonné? (subscriber name) Nom de toile? (webname). For that matter, what do you call them in English? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/5 "2005-01-17T14:10:19Z")
> [@SavageNarce](#): > > Nom d’utilisateur? (Username) Nom d’abonné? (subscriber name) Nom de toile? (webname). > > For that matter, what do you call them in English? 🙂 I don’t know in English, but I nominate _nom de toilet_, which is not so far off from **SavageNarce** last one. ---
**Author:** ![Josh\_dePlume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Josh\_dePlume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Josh_dePlume)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/6 "2005-01-17T15:02:31Z")
Some of us just broaden the meaning of “pen name”. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d26b3c/32.png) [@UncleBill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBill)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/7 "2005-01-17T15:09:20Z")
_nom de clavier_? (Keyboard Name)? ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/8 "2005-01-17T15:26:45Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I have no idea, but I wish to propose _Marionnette de Chaussette_ LOL. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/9 "2005-01-17T15:37:47Z")
I’m gonna start using _nom de toile_ toot sweet. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/10 "2005-01-17T15:40:34Z")
Nom d’autonatuer? (Autonateur = poncy french attempt to come up with a non-english word for computer that you have to use in official correspondence with the cockpockets whenever you have the misfortune to deal with them or their government). Yours, Temps s’étendant d’hibou - un rosbif. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/11 "2005-01-17T15:52:34Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Nom d’autonatuer? > > (Autonateur = poncy french attempt to come up with a non-english word for computer that you have to use in official correspondence with the cockpockets whenever you have the misfortune to deal with them or their government). > > Yours, > > Temps s’étendant d’hibou - un rosbif. 😛 Don’t you mean ‘ordinateur’?? ---
**Author:** ![Asteroide](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@Asteroide](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asteroide)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/12 "2005-01-17T18:39:54Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I will often choose to use the term “_nom d’etage_”. Storey name ? > [@bienville](#): > > Now, I figure the French must have a similarly cool term for the names we assume for ourselves whilst anonymously harassing each other on the internet (I hope I’m not shattering any illusions here but, E.g. it don’t say **bienville** on my driver’s license). I think you might be disappointed, but these are generally referred to as “_pseudos_” in France, shortened from _pseudonyme_. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/13 "2005-01-17T19:01:06Z")
> [@Asteroide](#): > > Storey name ? “Stage” in English has many meanings, and is rendered by different French words. The theatrical “stage” is not “etage”, though - it’d be rendered by _théâtre_ or, if you mean the literal stage where plays are acted out, _scène_, or even more physically, _les planches_. “etage” sounds like a literal, incorrect, Babel-fish like translation to me. ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/14 "2005-01-17T19:31:09Z")
I’d call it a screen name. That term applies more to AIM that to a message board, but I think it’s still valid. What would be a French translation of “screen name”? ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/15 "2005-01-17T19:55:42Z")
> [@TJdude825](#): > > I’d call it a screen name. That term applies more to AIM that to a message board, but I think it’s still valid. What would be a French translation of “screen name”? _nom d’écran_. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/16 "2005-01-17T21:16:08Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Nom d’autonatuer? > > (Autonateur = poncy french attempt to come up with a non-english word for computer that you have to use in official correspondence with the cockpockets whenever you have the misfortune to deal with them or their government). That would be “ordinateur”. And I would add that, as weird as it may seems to you, we don’t call a vacuum cleaner “vacuum cleaner” but “aspirateur”’, a plane “plane” but “avion”, nor a satellite dish “satellite dish”, but “parabole”. I could cite hundreds of other examples. For some reason we feel the need to use non-english names for nearly everything. Including, big surprise, computers. How weird! As for the OP, I don’t know of any french word with the meaning he’s searching for. Anyway, most internet-related words are borrowed from english. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/17 "2005-01-17T21:19:19Z")
Ooops! I misunderstood the OP and believed he was actually refering to a name used specifically to harass people. A nickname is indeed, as mentionned by a previous poster, a “pseudo” in french. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/18 "2005-01-17T21:46:39Z")
_nom da bomb!_ ---
**Author:** ![Loopydude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e56c9b/32.png) [@Loopydude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopydude)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/19 "2005-01-17T22:40:22Z")
“Nom de morte”. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2005, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181/20 "2005-01-17T23:06:34Z")
**Surnom**. Don’t thank me, thank Goole. 😉 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-figure-the-french-probably-have-a-term-for-this/285181.md?page=2)