# Your user names! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 14, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829 "2009-10-14T20:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/121 "2009-10-16T00:54:15Z")
Shadowfax is Gandalf’s horse in Tolkien’s LOTR books. I then made an awesome, awesome pun and…voila. ---
**Author:** ![JFLuvly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac91a4/32.png) [@JFLuvly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JFLuvly)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/122 "2009-10-16T00:59:43Z")
After things go wrong or the shit hits the fan I can often be heard saying “Well isn’t that **Just Fucking Lovely** ” ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/123 "2009-10-16T01:04:33Z")
Mine is based on a funny phrase a friend created. He also came up with Buffalo Cybertron and Cargobay Hemisphere. Yeah, I don’t know either. I couldn’t decide between this and Fainting Goat, at the time. If I could now, I’d change it, I think. It doesn’t feel like me, and I don’t think it’s terribly clever. ---
**Author:** ![fervour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@fervour](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fervour)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/124 "2009-10-16T01:50:15Z")
My user name? I chose it because aspiring to meh seems meh. Well that and I start out passionate about a hobby, idea, etc. but quickly grow cold. So I thought maybe I could change my nature by adopting a passionate ID. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/125 "2009-10-16T02:46:50Z")
My user name is boring but at least I can remember it. Louis is my real middle name; B is the first letter of my last name, therefore: LouisB For a while, I was registered as Crystalguy because I worked in the frequency control industry, specializing in the design and manufacture of piezoelectric quartz crystal units. These components are more commonly called ‘crystals’ in the electronics industry and I was the ‘goto’ guy where I was employed. When I was downsized, I was angry and didn’t want anything more to do with the industry; I asked for and received permission to change my user name. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/126 "2009-10-16T03:11:40Z")
Easier spelling of McGuiver name given to me by coworkers for my ability to fix stuff. I once repaired a car with a hamburger wrapper and a copier with a paper clip. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/127 "2009-10-16T03:14:23Z")
I am “horsetech” because my most significant jobs to date (besides being a perpetual student) have been as a veterinary assistant working with equids. I am not a licensed veterinary technician (tech) but assistant doesn’t have a good abbreviation so my old boss called us techs. I also comment on some medblogs as “horsetech” because it provides a way of implying something about my background while still remaining somewhat anonymous. I did not want to use (mumblemumble), which is the basis of my email address and username on a less anonymous board. I guess that qualifies me as excessively paranoi . . . cautious. Maybe someday I’ll be able to post on here as “horsevet”, or maybe someday I’ll find an identity outside of science and veterinary medicine. Nah, I’m a geek. Maybe I should have just called myself horsegeek. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/128 "2009-10-16T03:15:32Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Easier spelling of McGuiver name given to me by coworkers for my ability to fix stuff. I once repaired a car with a hamburger wrapper and a copier with a paper clip. A hamburger wrapper, eh? Do tell. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/129 "2009-10-16T03:36:29Z")
> [@horsetech](#): > > A hamburger wrapper, eh? Do tell. It was snowing heavily when we got off work and the driver’s side windshield wiper of co-worker wouldn’t work. Upon inspection the cast splines were stripped on the wiper arm. I noticed a Wendy’s bag in the car and used the metalized hamburger wrapper to fill the gap between the mating surfaces. It lasted the 30 minute drive home. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/130 "2009-10-16T03:55:20Z")
I use this handle here because I consider 13 my lucky number, having been born on March 13. I found out during my first DopeFest that there is a Lucky 13 bar in San Francisco, which I had never heard of until that night. I have also seen a “Lucky 13” logo on T-shirts and stickers on cars; not sure whether or not it has anything to do with the aforementioned bar. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/131 "2009-10-16T05:53:05Z")
I started out as Steelerphan on the boards; the name proved to be too much of a target for people projecting their ideas of what a backwards yinzer I should be. So I changed it in honor of the soothsayer in “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”. It also means I don’t get out much, due to my location in the hills of PA. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/132 "2009-10-16T06:05:15Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > Is _colibri_ the common name used for hummingbird? It’s the only name I knew for them in Spanish until I started to write this post and decided I’d check the dictionary for synonims. A quick search in rae said they’re also known as “pájaro mosca” (fly bird, fly as in the insect) and that the word colibrí is " of Carib origin." There may be another word, but the name I know for hummingbirds in Catalan is also colibrí. I got it from my grandmother, so maybe the academics would be horrified, who knows. ---
**Author:** ![\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/eada6e/32.png) [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/133 "2009-10-16T07:36:52Z")
In Germany, the word is Kolibri as well. My username is from Going Postal by Terry Pratchett. There is a group of three hackers - Sane Alex, Mad Al and Adrian, who says he’s not mad but can’t prove it. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/134 "2009-10-16T08:09:52Z")
My reasoning: if I was going to choose a _Star Wars_ character for my username, it might as well be the guy whose name is short for “lobotomy”. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/135 "2009-10-16T12:16:11Z")
My father’s ancestors were all Walloons (French-speaking Belgians), and I look like him. ---
**Author:** ![Hakuna\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hakuna\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakuna_Matata)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/136 "2009-10-16T12:42:51Z")
Mine comes from the Lion King and my kid was watching it when I needed to come up with a name. Plus it parallels my approach to life–no worries. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/137 "2009-10-16T13:11:53Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > Josef Švejk is the main character in one of my favorite novels, _[The Good Soldier Švejk](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Soldier_%C5%A0vejk)_ NajaHusband is ethnically Czech, though his family has been in the US for quite a few generations, so none of them actually speak the language or anything. They have a copy of this book that they’ve passed around to every one of the approximately 800 million relatives on this particular branch of the family tree. Apparently it’s some kind of familial obligation to read it; they all consider it pure torture but… it _has to be done_. NajaHusband is the last familial descendant\* and a year or so back it arrived on our doorstep with a stern admonition that he do his family duty and read the book. He’s a voracious reader, though only of certain genres, and hasn’t quite worked up the nerve to tackle it yet. I’m surprised to see you describe it as hilarious, though not too surprised. This family has many tremendously fine qualities, but razor-keen wit isn’t exactly one of them. Maybe _I_ should take a stab at the thing. Per the OP: [This is me](http://i2.tinypic.com/7wrr6mb.jpg). I can never come up with anything particularly clever, so I always use the scientific name of an animal I admire. I needed a handle in a particular gaming community that would shorten/nickname easily and read as somewhat feminine. I pretty much always go with snakes, but there Viridis was already taken. I liked the sound of “Nivea” and might even even have used it as middle-tribute-name for a hypothetical child if that whole stupid “Naveah” thing has never happened (/shakes fist). I always think that people on this board must see “Nivea” and roll their eyes. I sometimes wish my user status could be something like “I am a moderately-sized but very aggressive cobra, goddamnit, and I was named first!” \*and thus all the hopes and dreams of his entire family tree come to rest on _my_ uterus for the next male heir, or the line dies out with us. Oh, joy. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/138 "2009-10-16T15:15:30Z")
> [@NajaNivea](#): > > … I sometimes wish my user status could be something like “I am a moderately-sized but very aggressive cobra, goddamnit, and I was named first!”… Actually, I have to admit, this is what I first thought of: [Nivea - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nivea) ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/139 "2009-10-16T15:39:46Z")
> [@Haunted\_Pasta](#): > > I like usernames where the changing of just a letter or two, or maybe a single phonetic sound, creates something amusing out of something majestic or pompous or scary or portentious. (The various incarnations of “Dorkness” are good examples.) At some point I noticed that “past” just needed one more letter to become “pasta”, so from there it was a quick step to my name. A haunted past is something dark and mysterious; haunted pasta is just a ridiculous concept, sort of like a stealth potato. > > Not long after signing on a few months ago, I followed a link in a thread to a website of spooky short stories called Creepy Pasta. Apparently someone else had the same idea. I want to go on record as saying that I thought of my name independently and did NOT take it from the people at [www.creepypasta.com](http://www.creepypasta.com). Those bastards. It must be something about psta. When I was a tween/teen at camp, there was an incedent which led to a song and dance about “ghostly noodles”. ---
**Author:** ![NajaNivea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/22d042/32.png) [@NajaNivea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NajaNivea)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829/140 "2009-10-16T15:43:54Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Actually, I have to admit, this is what I first thought of: [Nivea - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nivea) Yeah, that too :smack: (I became known in that community for forceful ejaculations of “_it’s ‘Niv-ay-uh’, goddamnit!!!_”) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-user-names/513829.md?page=8)