Well, obviously, I have my nickname for you (which I will keep private for now). So that is a possibility if you wanted to use your already existing nickname. And that may also cause a productive confusion, since we call each other the same nickname and have the same first name. I like confusion! But at the same time…other names may be out there waiting to be uncovered. Is there an inner nickname calling to you in your dreams? Should we do a card reading around this question?

— fancy · 27 March 2011, 21:48

A card reading could be very fruitful. You probably want to avoid something endearing like “kitten”. Anagrams are fun. Hmm, there appear to be 630 anagrams for your name Oh, how about the game where you remove letters from your name and get something awesome, like Saam or Saamu smundy. Hmmm, or you could put an adjective in front of your name, like fancy (appears to be taken) or nerdy or something appropriately descriptive. I have the occasional impulse to call you Glasses. Hey you could have a party and not let anyone call you by your actual name. The entire party would become a nickname generating machine. Someone says you can’t pick your own nickname but that sounds like bs.

— Schroeder · 28 March 2011, 10:04

Hmm. I am excited that I have nicknames after all! I think I wasn’t counting them because everybody calls me different things. Now I can remember quite a few more niche nicknames, which upon reflection I wayyyy prefer to one monolithic name.

I might be indulging my urge to make everything a huge quest instead of a simple decision, but I bet if I had that party, the cards would be so full of ideas afterwards.

— sarah · 28 March 2011, 11:46

Many nicknames. Wayyyy prefer?

I feel confused about this. I think there may be virtues in having a single handle. A single being. A whole integrated self. Of course it’s privileged. And hard. And I wouldn’t want to impose this on anyone else. But then I think this is what makes it seem like a good thing to aspire to.

“He’s the same in the courtroom as he is on the public streets.” – Scout

No. Changed my mind. I think I just talked myself out of it. Sounds like more bs. I leave this remark here as an exercise in circularity. :)

— Schroeder · 29 March 2011, 10:55

Yup, wayyyy with four ys.

The part I prefer is having different kinds of relationships with different people, even using different names to express different ways of knowing and feeling known. It’s so important to me to have multiple social spaces right now!

I’ve been thinking of this ‘new username’ as like, my one true name to rule them all and integrate all the aspects, but it is much easier to think of it as just one more context for naming.

— sarah · 29 March 2011, 11:34

i’m the same when it comes to nicknames – i have a common name and always wished i had something a little more special that made me feel like an ‘insider’ to some group (you know, ponyboy style). my family either shortened my name (which i don’t mind) or used my terribly cutsey nickname: ‘pickle’ – how awful is that?! (although i’ve kind of grown to love-hate it)

usernames are a kind of self-chosen nickname. for me, it’s evolved over time and changed for different contexts. fluid identities – i like that too, and it’s just worked out that i’ve taken on different usernames over time as i flow in and out of different online contexts, in and out of different stages in my life. my first online identity came from a random word chosen out of a book i was reading when i started my first blog – i wore the name for three years before it started to feel like it didn’t fit any more….

that party idea sounds fantastic, btw. whether it’s that, or cards, or some other random thing, the name will definitely come.

— nicola · 30 March 2011, 19:17

I need a new username for this computer

— satheesan · 1 April 2011, 15:59