To those who have a peculiar/funny/cryptic nickname: what does it mean?

Off-topic
1

Some of us use in this forum a nickname that coincides just with the real name and/or surname, but others have nicknames strange or cryptic or references to games or other things.

So, I was curious: where does your nickname come from? Does it have a story?

For example:

  • Is it a reference to a character/movie/song/ other stuff that you love?
  • Is it a long-time nickname or something that you made up just for this forum?
  • Does it have a curious story?
  • If it seems cryptic to others, can you share its meaning?

About mine: I have chosen my nickname since the Amiga days, when I was a Motorola 68000 assembly developer. It’s a reference to Low Level programming and I’m using it since then. In the years “low level” has become a bit of a philosophy for me: I like to study and evaluate things deeply and so, while I like abstraction too, I also love to analyze things at a “lower level”.

What about your nickname? :slight_smile:

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Good morning! (You wake up early today! )

My nickname references to two of the most important videogames of my life.
“Important” because they were not only amusant, but they helped me in changing something important in my life.

The two games are:

  • Zak McKracken (spelled correctly) And The Alien Mindbenders
  • Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney

The first one, it’s a well-known adventure game published by Lucasfilm, made by David Fox. It was the first adventure game that I finished by myself, without any help nor hints/walkthrough. It took me three months to complete, it taught me many English words and that was useful later, during high school period. I loved it because it was smart, ironic, and with real mysterious places, fascinating. Since then, I started to call myself “Zak McKracken”, and nowadays every person, even in the real life, knows me as Zak. Maybe only my parents still call me with the name they decided for me. :relieved:

The second one is a more recent game. It’s a game published by Capcom, made by Shu Takumi. It’s a visual novel game. Phoenix Wright is an attorney who must defend someone wrongfully accused of murder. Even if everything seems to be against the defendant, Phoenix will be able to reveal the truth, by using logic, evidence, reasoning, psychology. I loved it because the cases are well made, the characters are hilarious, and it taught me not to surrender, even if it seems impossible, even if the “strong powers” are involved.

So, since 2015, when the Thimbleweed Park Developers Blog started, I changed my name to Zak Phoenix McKracken, to keep both games together, both important to my life.

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You’d probably register as an INTP on MBTI typology questionnaires.

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I love the backstory to my nickname :stuck_out_tongue:

It was around 20 years ago, I was playing Tetris on a schoolmate’s GameBoy while returning from a school trip. I got the high score, and I had to write down my name, however the owner of the GameBoy said “it’s my GameBoy, I get to write your name”. So he proceeded with writing my surname (it was middle school, we all called ourselves by our surnames): he pressed down until he got to G, went to U, back to G. He then had to write another G, so he pressed the button once more because he thought the cursor would have stayed on the previous letter, but in Tetris it came back to A, and he wrote GUGA.
“What the hell are you writing”, I said, and he answered “wait, I’m gonna delete it”. But he didn’t know how, so he began searching through all characters until he got a hyphen and thought it was the cancel button, but instead we got GUGA-.
“Oh no! There must be a way of deleting” he said, and kept on searching. Found a cross - × - and thought again it was the backspace character. It was not.
“You know what?” I said “Forget it, just leave it as it is now”
“Guga-x… you know, it’s kinda cool”, he said. From that moment on, I was Guga for everyone, even some of my relatives. There were people who knew me in real life and had no idea what my real name was.

If “Guga” is already taken (which is often the case, it being a quite common nickname in Brazil), I then add 2112, which is my favorite Rush album.

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My nickname has an interesting backstory, at least interesting to me. I have carried it for over 20 years, and even my wife met me and knew me as DZ-Jay.

Back in ancient times, when dinosaurs roamed the network, in the long forgotten days of the year 1992, I had a girlfriend who’s brother ran a local BBS/ISP. It had been approximately 5 years since I left behind my Commodore 64 and computing in general for a life of clubbing, music, and partying, when I bacame a DJ in the mid-to-late 1980s. I had missed the rise of MSDOS PCs and most of modern post-microcomputing – and was about to miss the advent of the Internet and the World Wide Web.

Anyways, spending the night at my girlfriend’s house I got to play “sysop” from her brother’s console; kick people out, evesdrop on their goingson, force them into chat, that sort of thing. Her brother and I hit it off and became sort of friends, and we started hanging out – mostly at his computer, playing games and using the BBS sysop console (I spent a lot of nights at my girlfriend’s house).

Being an adrenaline junky (I used to surf at night, rappel down high bridges with my friends, bungee jump, and do all sorts of crazy things in my youth), I learned of a local Skydiving club, apparently the only one in Puerto Rico and was immediately interested. I convinced my girlfriend’s brother to join the club with me (I couldn’t convince my girlfriend at all).

So we joined and I was hooked! I jumped as much as my money would allow (perhaps twice a week) and consequently was always penniless. I was addicted.

Then, one fateful day, I was playing “sysop” on the BBS and started chatting with someone. I told them I wasn’t the real sysop, but just a friend, so they asked me for my handle. I really didn’t have one (having left behind my silly little “hacker” names from my earlier forays into microcomputer BBS’s 10 years before because… well, because they were silly).

So I decided to open a real account in the BBS. I struggled for a few minutes on what nick to choose, since I’ve never had an alias before; and eventually came up with DropZone James (DropZone being the skydiving term for the landing area to which you aim when you jump, and James being the anglicized version of my Spanish name, Jaime). The name was too long for the registration field, so I shortened it to “DZ-Jay.”

Everyone knew me as “DZ” (pronounced in Spanish as Deh Theta), and I even tried to get my old friends to call me that, with various degrees of success.

Eventually, my buddy stopped jumping and later on his sister and I broke up. I continued to skydive for several years more, but eventually got into other interests. However, the name outlasted all that and more.

I continued using the BBS as a regular user (no longer with fringe privileges), and with time it became a real business and even gained access to the Internet; and as I struggled to configure my new PC for dial-up, I met this very nice and charming girl who worked as a support technician in the BBS/ISP. Of course, she met “DZ-Jay,” not James nor Jaime, and being an English-speaking American, she pronounced it as you would expect, Dee Zee.

We started going out and eventually married, and I forever remained “DZ-Jay” to her and to everyone who met me after that, at college, work, and in real life. :slight_smile:

I can honestly say that I met my wife “on the Internet,” yet it has a completely different meaning from how that is used today – but that’s a story for another day.

So that’s the story of my name. Unexpectedly, it lasted longer than it was useful or meaningful; but I will be ever grateful I gave it some thought. I am glad I did not get stuck with a silly “hacker” handle like “Mr. Nibbles” or “Omega-Dude.” LOL! :joy:

dZ.

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I’m in a hard rock / heavy metal band Nihil Quest. I often use this handle as it’s always available. I named the band this way because I loved the idea of a connection to retro / adventure gaming. I’m much more LA fan, but I liked Sierra games too, so it seemed proper. Also it was a reference to Led Zeppelin at the same time (originally Lead Zeppelin, a very heavy airship that will not go anywhere).

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It’s always very fulfilling to be called with the name that we have chosen for ourselves, because it says something about us that no other name could say, to the point that it stops being simply a name and becomes a definition of who we are or who we have become. :slight_smile:

In the past several persons called me with my nickname (or, to be precise, with its shorter version “Low”) but nowadays my real name has taken precedence over the nickname, for more than one reason.

I’m between INTP and INTJ but (at least from a social point of view) I consider MBTI just a modern version of astrological signs and astrology. :smiley:

That’s a nice story. :slight_smile: The only doubt that I have now is: “What was the way to delete the last inserted character in Tetris?”. :stuck_out_tongue:

It’s beautiful, your name and the events of your life were so strictly intertwined that your name says a lot about you. :slight_smile:

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I think it’s often misused but if there was no basis in it I wouldn’t be able to so accurately type so many people.

PS, don’t you mean asstrology? Or maybe asstrollogy.

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9

Checking your Bandcamp songs right now. :slight_smile:

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10

When I see you post I always think of Gustavo Kuerten.

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11

That is my thought too, every time. Guga Kuerten has been my favorite tennis player of all times.

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One of the pioneers of the new Luxilon poly strings. He was a great champion and it was a shame that his later career fizzled out due to his hip issues. Even in 2004 he schooled Roger Federer at RG, when Roger was already #1 in the world.

But he’s your favourite ever, so I guess you already know!

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Thanks! But, like you, my real name has taken over my life in the past few years. Especially, as I grow older, I have a deeper appreciation for it. I think by now, only my wife and some friends call me “DZ” – and I’m perfect,y fine with that. :slight_smile:

dZ.

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I won’t tell!

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15

Eh… your nickname has always been quite enigmatic to me, since I read it in the comments of the TWP developer blog. Back in the first post-Kickstarter days I even attempted to find its linguistic roots; I have clearly perceived the nordic influences but I have never been able to reach a sound conclusion. I’m sure it has a meaning, maybe private, and I understand your decision of not sharing it.

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16

More like pirate, but shhh, it’s a seckrit.

17

I figured it out. :slight_smile:

18

Hint for those who need it:

Alucard.

Too vague?

He rampages through Dracula’s castle.

Norb’_Semaj

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Eheheh… it’s an enigma.
Think, LowLevel, think…
Try to see things from another point of view…
Look at “Nor Treblig” from another point of view…

…and when you’ll discover it, you will laugh out loud! :smiley::smiley::smiley:

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Ohhh I’ve just got it too :grin:

Mine’s pretty obvious really - I think I chose it during some pirate themed week in a rock music forum I belonged to at uni (I used to DJ). As in, pieces of eight.

I kept using it since it works on another level as little ‘pieces’ of me being flung out into the internet through Twitter or whatever, and now this forum.

1 Like