(no subject)
Jul. 5th, 2003 06:34 pmI'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.*
(no subject)
Date: 2003-07-06 06:54 am (UTC)2) My real first name is one of my father's less brilliant ideas. It's an old family name, unusual (to say the least) and apparently unpronounceable for most people, and with a logical nickname that's not much of an improvement. My mother insisted on giving me the middle name "Emily" so that I'd have an alternative when I came to an age of discernment, but by then I'd gotten used to the nickname (although I don't especially identify with it) and didn't want to bother making the switch. My mother also likes to tease me that if they'd been going with old family names from her side of the family, I might have been Katerina Ulrika.
3) Melymbrosia. Which, conveniently, has the advantage of being attached to a very cool person.