# What does your name mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 29, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730 "2000-04-29T22:43:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SmoothOperator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SmoothOperator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmoothOperator)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/21 "2000-05-01T21:04:07Z")
Bast is the Egyptian Cat Goddess. I’ve always loved cats, I’m interested in archealogy, and if I were to be a goddess why not cats? However, elsewhere I’m know by other names. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/22 "2000-05-01T21:11:33Z")
Phouka is one of my favorite literary characters, from Emma Bull’s _War for the Oaks_. Also, phouka = archaic spelling of “puck” = Robin Goodfellow (Shakespeare’s _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ = Robin, the name I answer to. ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/23 "2000-05-01T22:20:10Z")
Hey **phouk** , I just read an English murder mystery where the protagonist was daunted by living in “Pooks Commons” and constantly imagining pookahs (her spelling) everywhere. In her mythology they were represented by various animals but mostly horses. Say hi to Mr. Doud for me, woodja? ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/24 "2000-05-01T23:54:41Z")
Obfusc = Obfucus = latin for “dark brown in the way” or confusion Iatr = greek for physician, healer Ist = one who Altogether now. One who heals confusion. Or more concisely, librarian. I’m non-practicing now, but I like the word and it is never taken when I show up somewhere new. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/25 "2000-05-02T03:19:43Z")
jenkinsfan – you probably already know the origin of this one, but… Apollyon is the greek form of Abbadon, the destroyer, angel of the abyss, and is interesting – at least to me – in that he’s one of the few biblically named angels (and I think the only named non-Archangel), is obviously “upright” in Revelations, but is generally considered “fallen” in later church writings. ---
**Author:** ![dragonlady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@dragonlady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dragonlady)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/26 "2000-05-02T03:25:23Z")
I’m pretty simple to figure out. I’m a lady who collects dragons. Although I do tend to have a pretty dragonlike ire, when irritated. (I’m a Leo, what can I say?) ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/27 "2000-05-02T03:38:07Z")
Osip. As in Osip Mandelstam. that should explain it all. Maybe not. Osip Madelstam was a great soviet poet. He was one of the many who died in Uncle Joes purges. ---
**Author:** ![CrueltyToFoliage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@CrueltyToFoliage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrueltyToFoliage)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/28 "2000-05-02T03:49:20Z")
There’s just not enough cruelty in the world. I thought about CrueltyToAnimals, but people talk about that all the time. Plus, there’s a character in _Good Omens_, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, by the name of Cruelty to Animals, and I didn’t want to mooch without giving credit. So instead of stealing, I derived. Kinda like Andrew Lloyd-Webber, whom someone mentioned on this thread. ---
**Author:** ![projecttwilight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/dbc845/32.png) [@projecttwilight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/projecttwilight)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/29 "2000-05-02T04:22:11Z")
“Project Twilight” is the name of a role-playing game I like wherein the RPGers play government agents fighting against the supernatural. Yeah, it IS kinda like “The X-Files”. ---
**Author:** ![Catrandom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@Catrandom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catrandom)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/30 "2000-05-02T04:22:14Z")
I’ve answered this about 27 times already on this board, so I won’t indulge myself again 🙂 but I was drawn in by CrueltyToFoliage’s name in the “last post” item. I love that username! It’s hard to nickname, though – “Hi, Cruel, how ya’ doin?” Hmmm. Catrandom ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/31 "2000-05-02T04:54:02Z")
Nobody would ever guess mine. No, they aren’t my RL initials. KJ is actually short for the name KinkaJoy, which is what I go by on the internet and on IRC. I shortened it to KJ, because I assumed a lot of people here (as a lot of people commonly do) would mistake it for Kinky Joy, Kinky Boy, Kinky Toy, etc. It’s actually nothing sexual in nature. It is derivative of the name of my favorite animal, a kinkajou (_potus flavus_). If I can get the code right, here are some images of kinkajous that I found on the internet: [kj3wk.jpg](http://users.intertex.net/rzu2u/jpg/kj3wk.jpg) [kj8wk.jpg](http://users.intertex.net/rzu2u/jpg/kj8wk.jpg) (Both images © [R-Zu-2-U](http://users.intertex.net/rzu2u/kinkajou.htm), though I have seen them in various places.) ---
**Author:** ![NickDanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c6cbf5/32.png) [@NickDanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NickDanger)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/32 "2000-05-02T05:18:23Z")
Mine means “a small cut or abrasion in peril” I stole it from somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![mega\_the\_roo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@mega\_the\_roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mega_the_roo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/33 "2000-05-02T05:38:42Z")
My name means: Hello. The people I work with think I came from space, I collect little orange plastic eggs and am in dire need of updating my homepage. Have a good day!! 🙂 …maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Lexicon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ac8455/32.png) [@Lexicon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lexicon)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/34 "2000-05-02T06:08:56Z")
I shall allow you all to guess. No fair cheatin’. Prize TBD. ---
**Author:** ![CrueltyToFoliage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@CrueltyToFoliage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrueltyToFoliage)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/35 "2000-05-02T06:33:59Z")
Thanks, Catrandom! I thought it was kinda nifty, myself. Kinda rolls off the tongue, y’know? Anyway, as for the abbreviation, most people just go for the entire “Cruelty.” Something in the genes, I suspect. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/36 "2000-05-02T11:15:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > Apollyon is the greek form of Abbadon, the destroyer, angel of the abyss, and is interesting – at least to me – in that he’s one of the few biblically named angels (and I think the only named non-Archangel), is obviously “upright” in Revelations, but is generally considered “fallen” in later church writings. > > \*\* I love the name Apollyon(I discovered it when I got a tattoo and the font turned out to be called Apollyon), I then did tons of research on “the destroyer”. My brother is the ArchAngel, and I am GaWd. Mine is no doubt my Leo Headiness and ego showing through. The spelling is the alternative to “G\_D”. ---
**Author:** ![Talkinsquirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f6c823/32.png) [@Talkinsquirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talkinsquirrel)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/37 "2000-05-02T12:40:27Z")
Once upon a time there was a squirrel. He was a happy little squirrel. Just frolicking in the forrest doing squirrely stuff. But this blissful existense was not meant to be. One day a truck carrying toxic waste crashed in the forrest. The curious little squirrel decided to investagate. If only he knew then what he knew now. First a burning sensation coursed through his little squirrel body. The pain was unbearable. Then he turned a pinkish color and started to grow. Then his tail began to grow thorns. He passed out from the pain. And when he awoke he realized that he could talk. “I’m a freak of nature. There is nothing left for me in the forrest… I shall go out into the city…and fight evil doers!!” After a week of fighting crime he realized that if he concentrated hard enough he could turn himself back to a regular fluffy squirrel if he ate some magic pellets (dont ask me where he found magic pellets at I’m making all this off the top of my head 🙂 ) Now he could have gone back to the forrest and return back to a normal squirrely life but he decided to stay in the city and fight crimes under the guise of a regular old city squirrel. So now he rents a tree house in Jacksonville and scavenges for scraps during the day and fights evil doers at night or on the weekends. And that is the orgin of the talkinsquirrel :). ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/38 "2000-05-02T13:35:11Z")
I chose this name partially because I am amused by the idea of being a bully. However, the main reason is due to a favorite racehorse who was positively brilliant. She won every race–setting a speed record every time–but her last, where she broke down. A complete story of her career, life, and death is here: [http://www.thoroughbredchampions.com/gallery/ruffian1.htm](http://www.thoroughbredchampions.com/gallery/ruffian1.htm) ---
**Author:** ![lachesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@lachesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lachesis)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/39 "2000-05-02T13:50:25Z")
“she who measures” or “disposer of lots” (depending on which translation you prefer), the middle member of the Moirae (sister to Clotho and Atropos). still too obscure? one of the three Fates, the ancient Greek goddesses who determined the course of a mortal’s life. not even Zeus or any of the other gods had a say in their determinations. are you still glad you asked? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Trout\_Mask\_Replica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a88e57/32.png) [@Trout\_Mask\_Replica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trout_Mask_Replica)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2000, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730/40 "2000-05-02T14:27:50Z")
I like Captain Beefheart. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-your-name-mean/16730.md?page=3)