this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2025
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This has probably been asked before but I wanted to add another layer/an alternative.

So, I ask, where did your username/pseudonym/nickname originate from? What's the meaning behind it?

Or alternatively, which is the most creative/interesting nickname origin you have come across?

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[–] squirrel@discuss.tchncs.de 44 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] tuna@discuss.tchncs.de 28 points 1 week ago (3 children)
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[–] gigachad@sh.itjust.works 42 points 1 week ago
[–] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 39 points 1 week ago (4 children)

My username is literal. I'm literally a wood scientist. Or more specifically, I'm a current PhD student in civil engineering and wood science. Identifying Wood by Hoadley was actually a textbook in one of the courses I took.

[–] pip@slrpnk.net 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That's awesome, keep up the wood work ;)

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[–] Im_old@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Ironic name like calling a large person Tiny.

Clearly you are a young whippersnapper!

[–] ericdavidmorris@sh.itjust.works 30 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I got onto Reddit back in the day for the electronic music production subreddits. There was an old Daft Punk interview during the big Ultra Music festival days where they made a joke that all EDM music was made by just one guy, Eric David Morris.

[–] YtA4QCam2A9j7EfTgHrH@infosec.pub 30 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Mine is my password I use for all my accounts. It is very convenient for the frequent times I forget it. I can just come here and there it is.

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

How many login attempts did you just receive?

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[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Observing the internet from my toilet.

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 week ago

Aren't we all? 🤔

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[–] Redacted@lemmy.world 23 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] pip@slrpnk.net 9 points 1 week ago
[–] 7EP6vuI@feddit.org 22 points 1 week ago

/dev/urandom

[–] Corno@lemm.ee 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

"Corno" is just a username I made up in my head since I like how it sounds and I was weirdly craving some cornflakes while signing up. As for my display name, that's...well, my name! 😃

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[–] Sickduck@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)
[–] madjo@feddit.nl 7 points 1 week ago

Sick Fuck! :)

[–] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago
[–] dotslashme@infosec.pub 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I am the shell script version of myself

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[–] ValiantDust@feddit.org 12 points 1 week ago

It's from my favourite Shakespeare play, Much Ado About Nothing.

Beatrice (on the subject of getting married):

Would it not grieve a woman to be overmaster’d with a piece of valiant dust? To make an account of her life to a clod of wayward marl?

It doesn't make that much sense as a username for me, because the piece of valiant dust would be the husband and I'm a woman. But I thought it sounded nice.

[–] urata@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago

Mine is a cheat code for Castlevania III on NES. Which is, I believe, the name of one of the developers of the game.

I like nicknames that are short and have no real meaning that just kind of sound like they could be a name.

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

When Counterstrike first came out a quarter century ago one friend had a PC and we would take turns playing it and wanted to compare stats on some 3rd party stat tracking site so we could talk shit on each other. Finding a unique name was a pain, but I got lucky with this one, which is probably based on something Jay from Clerks said.

I've been lucky that it isn't taken when signing up for stuff so I keep using it. A happy little accident.

[–] cyborganism@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 week ago

I used to be just "Cyborg" in IRC, forums and online games back in the late 90's because I found them cool. That was always my online nickname.

But it was already taken on Reddit when I joined so so many years ago. Cyborg is short for Cybernetic Organism. So I just used organism in the name instead. It was unique enough that no one else used it.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 9 points 1 week ago

I made an off hand joke about farts having accents once. It got some laughs and then I thought, "That would make a good username."

... aaand here we are today: You're welcome everybody!

[–] Gaspar@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The Old Man waiting for you at the end of time in Chrono Trigger is Gaspar, the Guru of Time. (At least in the US - in Japan he was called Hash)

I thought it was fitting since I ever so briefly ran my own instance (endofti.me) when I first jumped ship from Reddit.

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[–] jeena@piefed.jeena.net 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is a question I was asked all my life, so already in 2004 I wrote a blog post about it: https://paradies.jeena.net/weblog/2004/oct/jeena-paradies but it's in German so I'm posting the translation here:

It was sometime in the year 2000 when I had already been DJing at small parties for a while, playing house, drum’n’bass, big beats, and electro. When people asked who the DJ was, everyone just said, "That’s Richard." Naturally, that didn’t sound very cool for an alternative DJ. Then my cousin, who was also a DJ but played the more mainstream style of techno, chose the name DJ Alec-tron, which put some pressure on me. Since we often DJed together, and I didn’t want to go down in history as "DJ Richard," I needed a proper DJ name.

So I started looking for a suitable artist name for myself as a disc jockey. One day, we took the train to the Love Parade in Berlin. We stocked up on canned beer the day before and opened the first can as early as 3:00 AM (in the middle of the night). The fun and drinking continued merrily. I occasionally glanced out the window, hoping to find inspiration from some distant land (aka eastern Germany).

And then it appeared—like the Holy Grail once revealed itself to King Arthur and his knights—from out of nowhere: the station sign "Jena Paradies." I instantly knew that this would be my new artist name. It was as if the hand of God had guided me along the tracks to Jena Paradies station and bestowed this name upon me.

Jena Paradies train station

A month after the Love Parade, I had my first gig as DJ Jena Paradies. There’s even photographic evidence from that time:

People at a party, a DJ spinning vinyl records

But over time, I didn’t want to be named after a station in eastern Germany anymore, so I started thinking of a new, better version of the name. I realized that if I added an "e," the name would be pronounced like Gina Wild’s first name. That sounded much cooler to me, so it became my stage name to this day.

Pronunciation: First name pronounced like Gina Wild’s first name roughly "Djeena" and last name pronounced like the German word "Paradies" paradise

I now use it almost everywhere related to me as an "artist"—very often online, with my band, and for photography, which I want to do more of in the future.

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[–] andrewta@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Andrew t a

Andrew (teachers assistant)

Or depending on my mood

Andrew (total asshole)

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[–] can@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago

I wanted a short username since I'm not usually able to get one and the idea of it being something common and impossible to search was fun.

[–] Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (2 children)

At first I lurked on my boyfriend's account. We had both left Reddit during the API debacle, but I wasn't ready to rejoin social media yet, so he hopped on Lemmy first.

But as he shared links and news and memes with me, and I scrolled the comments, I started wanting to participate. The first few times I felt drawn to comment (but didn't yet), I wanted to ask people what the reasoning was behind their thoughts. That stuff is interesting to me.

So when I finally sat down and made an account for myself, it was the first thought in my head. I haven't found myself asking anybody about their reasoning since then, but I still like the name.

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[–] RandomStickman@fedia.io 8 points 1 week ago

I first used this name during the "lulz xD so rAnDum" era, and I like to draw. So, RandomStickman

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I literally have a slur for a diagnosis.

[–] VirtigoMommy@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

I get dizzy during sex

[–] DepressedMan@reddthat.com 7 points 1 week ago

Ehhh it is what it is.

[–] missingno@fedia.io 7 points 1 week ago

Glitch from the original Pokemon Red/Blue.

[–] plactagonic@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 week ago

It came from long list of mispronounced words from a Ukrainian girl that came to our country when the war started.

The list is gold mine for usernames, I have to contact my friend who dates her to get it.

[–] Zeppo@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

It’s a reference to a more obscure Marx Brother, as in the 30s-40s comedy group. Does not have any special significance to me personally.

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[–] JustEnoughDucks@feddit.nl 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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Someone submitted a web form with this name.

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I read a fantastic book where there was the count Valmond or something.

Best name ever, never taken on forums and such, always free!

Til I learned it was de Valmont, not Valmond 🙃 but here I am!

Funnily it's usually pre-used om platforms nowadays.

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[–] Sasha@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 week ago
[–] helpImTrappedOnline@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago (2 children)
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I am kind of introverted, am I actually introvert or socially awkward or whatever doesn't matter, but for the simplicity I'm introvert and I like cats.

[–] fiendishplan@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

A fiend told me I'd make a good scooby-doo villain and it wasn't taken by anyone else.

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