# Where'd you get your Bord Name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 3, 2001, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161 "2001-01-03T00:38:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Upham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Upham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upham)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/1 "2001-01-03T00:38:31Z")
I’m just looking at some of the names on here… a few i can make out but most… well… most dont make any sence at all. Take mine for example: My name on here is Upham. Why? because my name is Upham, it was my nickname all through high school andnow i seldom answer to anything but. My friends parents call me Upham, even some of my Upham relitives call me Upham. So i call my self Upham. Now how the rest of you are going to explane your selves i have no idea Upham ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/2 "2001-01-03T00:50:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Upham \* > \*\*I’m just looking at some of the names on here… a few i can make out but most… well… most dont make any sence at all. > > Take mine for example: My name on here is Upham. Why? because my name is Upham, it was my nickname all through high school andnow i seldom answer to anything but. My friends parents call me Upham, even some of my Upham relitives call me Upham. > > So i call my self Upham. Now how the rest of you are going to explane your selves i have no idea > Upham \*\* Well, **Upham** , if you do a search, you will find many threads on this very subject. But in any event, my board name comes from my real name, which is Zev Steinhardt (gee, how imaginative is that?). Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![blur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/dbc845/32.png) [@blur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blur)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/3 "2001-01-03T01:12:48Z")
My name comes from the CD that wouldn’t leave my CD player for the week preceeding my registrations, Blur’s Parklife CD. ---
**Author:** ![Totoro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Totoro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Totoro)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/4 "2001-01-03T01:18:07Z")
My name comes from an Anime I really like. Go rent it, it’s really cute. ---
**Author:** ![Arden\_Ranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b487fb/32.png) [@Arden\_Ranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arden_Ranger)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/5 "2001-01-03T01:19:13Z")
If you’re familiar with Roger Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles, you know where mine came from. **Arden:** The huge forest that makes up Amber’s landborders. **Ranger:** The soldiers that patrol Forest Arden. Julian, the character who has dominion over Arden is one of my favorite characters. Hence, the name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/6 "2001-01-03T01:23:40Z")
My handle Jomo Mojo is composed of the first syllable from each of my first & last names (even neater 'cause my mom’s maiden name starts with the same syllable as my dad’s last name!). Reduplicated in reverse. I have been using it since my college days. It honors my interest in things African: Jomo Kenyatta the hero of independence, and Mojo the magical-mystical life-force. I first came up with it when one night in 1980 I toked up and wrote a short story of speculative fiction, a little Weird Tale, and then for the byline it just appeared to me on a flaming pie, Your Name Is Jomo Mojo. Eureka! I submitted it to the _Forest Park Food Co-op Newsletter_, and they published it! My old moniker, switched at the turn of the millennium, was ishmintingas – that’s Lithuanian for ‘wise guy’. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/7 "2001-01-03T01:25:35Z")
I love clever handles, despite not coming up with one myself. I feel smart when I can pull out an obscure reference, and lord knows I have few enough opportunities to feel smart. Here’s some explanations to get you started: **Bumbazine** was a boy in early comic books written by Walt Kelly. He was dropped as a character when Kelly started his Pogo comic strip, because according to Kelly “as a human he was somehow less believable.” Pogo went on to become arguably the greatest comic strip of all time. **Yojimbo** was an Akira Kurasawa film, which was later remade into **Fistful of Dollars** with Clint Eastwood, and even later into **Last Man Standing** with Bruce Willis. **Scylla** was a female sea monster that figured prominently in Greek mythology. She is often paired with the Charybdis, a nearby whirlpool. Together they made the Strait of Messina pretty rough going. Being caught between Scylla and the Charybdis has roughly the same meaning as being caught between a rock and a hard place. Despite your explanation, I still don’t really understand your handle. Is Upham your name or your nickname? If it’s your nickname, how did you come by it? ---
**Author:** ![orion007](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e480ec/32.png) [@orion007](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orion007)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/8 "2001-01-03T01:27:39Z")
Mine comes from a Metallica song and the constellation Orion cause I like Metallica and astronomy. The numbers, of course, represent James Bond, cause he’s the man 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ladybug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/9 "2001-01-03T01:48:12Z")
Mine’s an indirect reference to _Transformers: Beast Machines_. It’s the nickname that Nightscream had for Blackarachnia. I thought it was cute. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/10 "2001-01-03T01:48:46Z")
Mine simply means “holly” (in Cymraeg/Welsh, tho’ I’m not Welsh.) There is no real story, and, having cut my right index finger (all for the sake of the damn cat!) I wouldn’t be able to type it if there were. (I can, however, share with you my great scientific discovery, namely that Rizla papers are useful substitutes for sticking plaster. So if I turn into something like Rizlaplast, you will all know why.) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/11 "2001-01-03T01:50:50Z")
No backstory here–it just sounded cool and funny. ---
**Author:** ![Rally\_Vincent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c37758/32.png) [@Rally\_Vincent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rally_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/12 "2001-01-03T01:51:11Z")
Hey, I thought Totoro seemed familiar. I haven’t seen “My Neighbor Totoro” yet. Mine also comes from an anime character, from the anime/manga Gunsmith Cats. ---
**Author:** ![Upham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Upham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Upham)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/13 "2001-01-03T01:56:45Z")
Just to clear things up. Upham is my last name. Back in highschool many of us went by our last names and though many would flip flop back and forth between their first and last name, i’m pretty well universally known as Upham (it just suits me really well, it’s a weird name, i’m a weird guy) ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/14 "2001-01-03T01:57:24Z")
I’ve used Trouble (my cat’s name) on other boards, so when I joined this one, I thought to myself “I guess I’ll be Trouble…again…” ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/15 "2001-01-03T01:58:32Z")
When I was young I had a Paddington Bear. I called him punha because I couldn’t pronounce Paddington. To make a long story short, I’ve been using punha and iampunha for about two years now for my SN. It just makes things easier to remember. ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/16 "2001-01-03T02:06:18Z")
There’s two elements to my name: **SN:** For the past year and a half, and some other non-consecutive semesters before that, I’ve worked at The **S** tate **N** ews, the student newspaper at Michigan State University. **enc:** I was Editor in Chief for the past year, which is said as Editor 'n Chief, abbreviated as enc. My term is up though, but the handle isn’t changing until I’m either away for a long time or established enough to where I can get away with such a thing. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/17 "2001-01-03T02:28:17Z")
What is your BORD name? We are the Bord. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile. I know it’s true – I can’t help myself. ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/18 "2001-01-03T02:36:51Z")
I was watching a show on the Discovery Channel about missle silos left over from the Cold War. And the rest is history! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/19 "2001-01-03T02:41:31Z")
**punha** – all this time I thought it was a word in Portuguese! You had me searching online Portuguese dictionaries. It means ‘placed, put’. The past tense of _por_ ‘to place, to put’. It also means something in Marathi. ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161/20 "2001-01-03T02:53:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jomo Mojo \* > \*\ ***punha** – all this time I thought it was a word in Portuguese! You had me searching online Portuguese dictionaries. It means ‘placed, put’. The past tense of _por_ ‘to place, to put’. It also means something in Marathi. \*\* Heh, when I first saw the name: iampunha, I thought it was a Hawaiian name. Dunno why, it just struck me that way. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whered-you-get-your-bord-name/48161.md?page=2)