When I signed up here, I was a student at a women’s college majoring in geology. The Geo majors there called each other “Geobabes,” which I thought was a cute nickname and so started using it as my screen name.
I use it most places, though I have a few other handles here and there. None of them are interesting.
I can’t recall that anyone’s thought I was male; “babe” seems to be seen as female by most people.
There’s an interesting story behind my user name. I used to use my real name and then I decided to use a fake name. And I had been reading some Little Nemo in Slumberland comic strips that day.
Okay, maybe interesting wasn’t quite the word I was looking for.
Anyhow, I picked this user name pretty much at random with no forethought. I’ve never used it anywhere else, except for the DVD Aficionado website which I registered at directly from this board.
I’ve thought about changing it, but I don’t feel like going through the bother and I can’t really think of anything better anyway.
At least the fish jokes were a passing thing.
I was listening to Merle Haggard when I signed up. I thought it would be interesting to see what people thought it means, that is, people that don’t drink. 
Nope. I tend to use different names on different systems, it keeps the stalkers guessing.
Ah ha!!! 
There are some great names here of course, we have all praised them through the years.
4a) Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
It probably can be. If you don’t know what a ccwaterback is, it might make you wonder.
4b) Has this ever caused you problems and/or entertainment?
Not really. There was a couple small discussions on what it meant, then that died off.
Roland Orzabal is the lead singer and songwriter of Tears For Fears. Tears For Fears is the best band ever. There are those that will dispute that, but they’re wrong. (Yes, that means you. You’re wrong. It’s okay, I forgive you.)
No, I don’t use it everywhere, though I do use it fairly often. The advantage to it is that those who don’t know what it means don’t look at it twice, and those who do recognize it are likely to be kindred musical spirits. Or at least, that’s the theory. More often than not, I just get myself mocked. But hey, the dream lives on…or something like that.
Recently, I’ve been making more frequent use of my sometime-real-life-nickname “Tetsuo Ianman”. See, my name is Ian, and my friends and I watched “Tetsuo: The Iron Man”, and I had been trying to adopt “The Ianman” (pronounced with a long ‘I’) as a nickname anyhow, so my best friend saw fit to slap me with the aforementioned modified moniker. Of course, nobody actually calls me that except in jest, but it’s more of a nickname than I had before.
4a) Roland’s a guy’s name. I’m a guy. Easy enough.
4b) Well, I have been asked, many more times than you’d think, if I’m the real Roland Orzabal. (I’m not.)
**1) What’s the story behind the name you chose for yourself here? **
I have a HUGE interest in military aviation and the F-117A ‘Nighthawk’ stealth fighter is my favorite plane. Since ‘Nighthawk’ was already taken, I had to become a little creative. Another nickname for the 117 is ‘Shaba’, which is loosly translated into ‘Ghost of the Night’, which is what I chose.
**2) Do you use it everywhere?/ 3) If not, what other interesting aliases do you use online?
**
No, I either use ‘Nighthawk’ or ‘Shaba’ on other boards/forums
4a) Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
Yes, can’t tell which gender I am, huh?..oh well. I’m not looking for a mate, anyway…I’m already taken.
4b) Has this ever caused you problems and/or entertainment?
Not that I’m aware of
What’s the story behind the name you chose for yourself here?
My username comes from a short story by J.D. Salinger entitled A Perfect Day for Bananafish.
Do you use it everywhere?
Nope. Sometimes I use Mala or my first name.
Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
I think so, but I hardly care. I’m a female, in case anyone cares to know.
Has this ever caused you problems and/or entertainment?
No.
I adopted it more thoroughly the more i discovered about passion and was again likened to the great fire bird as i have a great passion for anything i do.
The final for of it Here as PhoenixFire was actually as a symbol of hope for me, because i had lost my passion and was burnt out when i made it, hoping to get it back
4a) Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
i think it’s gender neutral however people soon deduce that i’m male
Nope no problems
Then I guess I’ll just say Hello
So if your friends were mine, my name would be Chemo.
or Stalwart.
My Doper name is simply a word spelled backwards. And, duh, no, I won’t tell you what that word is.
Deadly boring: it’s just the Irish form of my “real” first name - Joseph
No
I am also JFK2 - my initials are JFK. Unintentionally and absolutely nowt to do with any dead presidents, even though a live (soon-to-be) one was in the news when I was born in late 1959. My mother wanted to call me the F (Francis) but my dad would not countenance any child of his having such an exotic name(!) and demanded that I be christened Joseph, his own middle name.
You don’t mean me! I love Tears for Fears.
Because of memory problems that I’ve had for a long time, I honestly don’t remember why I chose Zoe. No idea at all. I actually chose an entire name: Zoe Chloe Phithian-Thayer. I liked the hyphenated last name because both names sound like a lisp.
I have never intended to use the name elsewhere, but I do use it in email to other Dopers.
The strange thing is that I’ve begun to identify with Zoe more than my given name. Recently I was filling out a score sheet with some friends and there was a place for my name. I accidentally left it behind and I heard someone ask, “Who’s Zoe???” It was unintentional and I felt really awkward that I had forgotten my real name after sixty years.
But Zoe feels much more accurate.
**1) What’s the story behind the name you chose for yourself here? **
Wayyy back in high school, my friend wrote a story (we had an English class where we were required to take vocabulary tests in which we had to write brief stories that used the vocab. words properly in context) about a medieval village filled with very stupid people. The village was called Toadspittle Hill. I then did my AP art thesis project on it, expanding the story and creating an illustrated storybook. After college, Toadspittle Hill became the name of our publishing company. It’s still the official name for our current graphic design and marketing company, which goes by a more businesslike dba. It’s a real hoot when companies send us W-9 forms and we have to write our EIN and “TOADSPITTLE HILL PRODUCTIONS, LLC”.
So I was using the name for registering lots of business-related web stuff, and eventually branched off into personal stuff, too.
Plus, I have never, ever, ever run into a situation where someone else was using that handle. Ever.
**2) Do you use it everywhere? **
A bit.
3) If not, what other interesting aliases do you use online?
Nothing as interesting as that.
4a) Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
Confusing? Yes. Confusing because of its gender orientation? I don’t think so. I seriously doubt any woman would want that handle. Or any men, for that matter.
4b) Has this ever caused you problems and/or entertainment?
No.
**1) What’s the story behind the name you chose for yourself here? **
It’s a call sign / username I’ve been using since I was 16, plus some numbers attached.
2) Do you use it everywhere?
No
3) If not, what other interesting aliases do you use online?
I’m not sure if it’s “interesting,” but I use “Laetitia” on one message board. Otherwise, everything is Avarie537.
4a) Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
Not really. Everyone thinks that Avarie (pronounced like “Avery”) is my name, and that’s used for boys and girls.
4b) Has this ever caused you problems and/or entertainment?
No.
**1) What’s the story behind the name you chose for yourself here? **
“Anaamika” means “anonymous” in Hindi. Well, I thought it was witty.
**2) Do you use it everywhere? **
Nope.
3) If not, what other interesting aliases do you use online?
I’m **Elenia ** in various variants everywhere but here. I just wanted to try something different.
4a) Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
It’s gender-neutral for non-Hindi speakers, I suppose. But in Hindi, it’s feminine.
4b) Has this ever caused you problems and/or entertainment?
Not really either, people have called me “he” but it was neither a problem nor particularly entertaining.
Clothahump is the name of the Elderly Turtle Wizard in the Spellsinger novel series by Alan Dean Foster. I use it pretty much everywhere and have used it long enough that when I now go back and re-read the novels, I stumble over it.
There are a couple of groups where I am known as the Balrog of the Boards. It’s a long story…
Clothahump sounds masculine, I guess. I don’t remember anyone ever thinking straight off the bat that I was female.
Well, I’m entertained every time I see your name. Does that count? 
1) What’s the story behind the name you chose for yourself here?
In a long ago and dark day, my brother and his friend were trying to pick a name for something, a D&D game or the like. One agrued hard for Genghis Khan, to other for Pink Floyd. From there Genghis Floyd was born (I think we can all agree that 11 year old boys were not likely to choose Pink Khan, but that’s neither here nor there). From there, it was somehow adopted as our family email address when we got online in the early 1990s. We shortened it to gfloyd and my father still uses that handle. When I got my own email address some time later, nothing else came to mind except gfloyd, but alas, time had passed and individuality came from numbers, not creativity, so it was gfloyd16.
2) Do you use it everywhere?
No, as I mentioned, gfloyd 16 was my first email address, now used for business not personal transaction. Genghisfloyd is my aim handle.
3) If not, what other interesting aliases do you use online?
I use priestessoforgo for everything else. Organic chemistry is a meat grinder, particularly the lab for majors where I went to college. My prof jokingly mentioned Orgo, the great and powerful ruler of Organic chemistry one day. All those long hours (and ether fumes) in the lab led us to create false gods, mainly Orgo. Jokingly, broken glassware and lost products became sacrifices to him and time spent study achem (which we all hated) was pence for our sins. When I got an lj, priestessoforgo just seemed apropo. Although there are days where I think I just have picked dedicantoforgo or acolyteoforgo, but they don’t have the same ring.
4a) Is your username gender neutral/confusing?
More than once on these boards and elsewhere, I’ve been called he. It don’t bother me, I know gfloyd is gender neutral
4b) Has this ever caused you problems and/or entertainment?
Nope, like I said, it doesn’t bother me.
I sometimes think about changing my name here to priestessoforgo, but I just can’t make up my mind.