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Jul. 5th, 2003 06:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katallisonI've been really enjoying the comments on my earlier post about names, and find myself moved to follow up by tossing out a few questions for anyone who feels like responding:
1) Your LJ user name--how did you come up with it, where did it come from? And do you have a different pseud for writing/lists/whatever? How do you decide when to use which?
2) Any stories about how your family chose your RL first/middle names? Is there something you were *almost* named until saner heads prevailed?
3) What's the coolest name you've encountered (either real or pseud), one you really wish you had?
Answering for myself: (a) Kat Allison is simply a slight revision of parts of my RL name; it's the only name I've ever used in fandom. (b) My mother once told me that, if my father had had his way, I would have been named "Ariel," which ... well, let's just say I'm very glad he lost that one; it would have been wildly incongruent with both my RL last name and my basic temperament (I'm not remotely ethereal and poetic enough to be an Ariel). And (c) there are two public figures whose names I've always envied: Tai Babilonia (figure skater) and Moon Landrieu (former mayor of New Orleans). Those are just ... *cool.*
1) Your LJ user name--how did you come up with it, where did it come from? And do you have a different pseud for writing/lists/whatever? How do you decide when to use which?
2) Any stories about how your family chose your RL first/middle names? Is there something you were *almost* named until saner heads prevailed?
3) What's the coolest name you've encountered (either real or pseud), one you really wish you had?
Answering for myself: (a) Kat Allison is simply a slight revision of parts of my RL name; it's the only name I've ever used in fandom. (b) My mother once told me that, if my father had had his way, I would have been named "Ariel," which ... well, let's just say I'm very glad he lost that one; it would have been wildly incongruent with both my RL last name and my basic temperament (I'm not remotely ethereal and poetic enough to be an Ariel). And (c) there are two public figures whose names I've always envied: Tai Babilonia (figure skater) and Moon Landrieu (former mayor of New Orleans). Those are just ... *cool.*
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Date: 2003-07-05 08:45 pm (UTC)When I'm writing a new story, I always label it "by Niña Black". That's a very private joke-- "Gina Black" was a poetry-writing alter ego for a while, and Niña came naturally after her to write prose-- and the idea, however silly, is that if I'm not *really* the one writing it, then all of my internal editor's screaming won't start up.
My real-life name is Lauren Rile Smith. Lauren Smith! I was named in 1986, and my mother swears there were no Laurens around at the time. It was a lovely and unusual name. Plus, it was my parents' "Laurance" and "Karen" added together (a sort of gesture I've secretly always found to be kind of self-obsessed-- what about the woman Jeanette who named her daughter Ettenaej?). I've never identified with it, though, at all. In my head, I don't really have a name-- I guess I feel most comfortable with Rebecca, or Liz, as some people call me (the thing I hadn't anticipated about "Rebecca Lizard" is the wealth of diminutives it invites), and my girlfriend, since we met online, thinks of me as Rebecca, she says. I've seriously considered unofficially switching names once I get off to college where nobody knows me.
... When I was little, I wanted to name the dog Glorious Diamond Rose, because it was the most beautiful thing I could think of. My mother's friend stopped by and was very impressed with me-- she thought I'd said I wanted to use "Gloria Steinem"....
...
Date: 2003-07-05 08:47 pm (UTC)"Caterina Fake". I always thought that that was lovely.