What’s The Story Behind Your Avatar Name?

[Darklion Baddingham]

The story behind my name Darklion is I created it as a name for my fursona which is Darklion The Thundercat since I am a furry in the furry fandom also a big Thundercats cartoon fan. I am also a gay male whitelion.  When I joined Second Life back in January 28th of 2010 I found the last name of Baddingham interesting so I used it.  =^.^= 

[luckyorb]

It was the name of a song I really loved dancing to in the game Beat Saber. Not my video but I you get the idea of it. It was a super energetic fun song. 

 

Edited March 21, 2020 by luckyorb

[Paprika Peppermint]

I was kind of obsessed with Alaska Thunder***** for a while.. 🤷‍♀️ I don't follow her as much as I used to, but I still love using the name.

Edited March 21, 2020 by Glamtr0n

[fernclariel]

It's a combination of two names I like: Fern, and the fantasy name Clariel. In-world I go by Clari, however. 

[kali Wylder]

My first avatar was a mouthful of syllables, Kattatonia Wickentower.  Kattatonia was a play on both the words catatonia and Kathleen(my real name) and was to denote that I am clinically depressed.  I invented it in another venue, the old usenet newsgroup ASD (alt support depression).  I chose Wickentower for two reasons one was because it suggested pagan beliefs (wiccan) and two because it was the only fiery choice and I joined SL because I heard they had a virtual burning man festival and I wanted to see that. Well, everyone I met shortened my name to Katt which was fine with me. But I learned my lesson and for my first alt (the me I am now) I chose a shorter name.  Kali for the Hindu Goddess of change, destruction and death.  Wylder because I intended my new avatar to be bolder, braver and stronger than my first.

[SavvyHarper]

Savvy is my nickname in RL and Harper is a last name I loved using for my barbies growing up! 😅

[YokaiClock]

I was originally just going to use the same rather unique handle I use across various platforms and social media--and then while creating my account, I realized using a name that people could very easily track down my regular social media with was probably not the greatest idea.

So, quickly brainstorming a new name, I was thinking of something involving yōkai, oni, or something Japanese folklore related. That led to me thinking of Yōkai Watch (a video game sort of similar to Pokemon) and the first derivative from that to pop up in my mind was Yōkai Clock. Antique clocks can be kind of creepy in the right setting, and since old objects in Japanese folklore can possess a spirit and become a tsukumogami, which is essentially a yōkai, I thought it was fitting. So, that's what I stuck with.

So, no deep meaning with a rich history behind my name--just the result of an on the spot, stream-of-consciousness.

 

[ErzaScarlet83]

My favorite anime character mixed with one of my favorite Colors

[Charlotte Whimsy]

I hopped on the last name bandwagon last week. Whimsy is the only last name that I felt fit me. And Charlotte is a callback to an old account I had back in 2013 that I miss and can't get back into because I don't know the email or password, and all my email addresses from that time of my life are deleted. lol I have made some poor choices in my life. Anyway, the name of that account was Scarlot Charlotte. Scarlot Charlotte was the name given to a pirate ship my college light RP group made up.

My old name was Lethe Soldumaagh. Lethe is the name of a river in the Underworld that when you drink from it, it helps you forget. I forget everything constantly. Obviously, that's a different, more shallow story, but I just like how it sounds, and I love Greek mythology. Soldumaagh is of my own making. I'm not a linguist, but it's supposed to be Proto-Indo-European (or was it Old English... 🤔) for Salt Maiden. I did a research paper on salt once in the 8th grade because I was lazy and that was the last listed topic I could do one on. I now have tons of useless information about the history of salt swimming about in my head, ready to burst forth and and drown any innocent bystanders in  K N O W L E D G E TM.

I feel like this is way more information than what was asked for. I grant you all permission to chase me with pitchforks and torches.

 

[Fritigern Gothly]

7 minutes ago, Charlotte Whimsy said:

Soldumaagh is of my own making. I'm not a linguist, but it's supposed to be Proto-Indo-European (or was it Old English... 🤔) for Salt Maiden

As someone with a passing interest in etymology, I can see how this makes sense.

Modern German : Salzmagd
Modern Dutch : Zoutmaagd 

I'm sure there are more than these two languages in which there is a close similarity to Soldumaagh 🙂

 

[Charlotte Whimsy]

4 minutes ago, Fritigern Gothly said:

As someone with a passing interest in etymology, I can see how this makes sense.

Modern German : Salzmagd
Modern Dutch : Zoutmaagd 

I'm sure there are more than these two languages in which there is a close similarity to Soldumaagh 🙂

 

YES! A fellow word-lover! There are literally dozens of us! DOZENS!!!!

 

[rushingaround]

I used a random name generator online with an option for cyberpunk and picked a first name and last.. Cammy Ducante.    The sl username rushingaround was random

[Nalates Urriah]

On 4/24/2020 at 2:07 PM, rushingaround said:

I used a random name generator online with an option for cyberpunk and picked a first name and last.. Cammy Ducante.    The sl username rushingaround was random

...or... was it prophetic? 

I adopted mine from my favorite uncle... it was a gaming name he made for me in another VW. I brought it with me.

[Extrude Ragu]

I was a kid and learning AutoCAD at school

I looked at the software menus and thought that 'extrude' sounded like a cool name.

These were pre-mesh days in SecondLife. Oh if I knew I would be pressing the extrude key in Blender every single day in 6 years time....

[Stephanie Calavera]

There's nothing amazing about it. I liked the sound of the surname Szaberwick when I first signed up in 2008, and I'm a fan of the Metal Gear Solid game series/franchise. In the first game for the original Playstation, one of the characters who you could keep in contact with for all matters weapons related, is/was Nastasha Romanenko; a Ukrainian-Russian weapons analyst.

I didn't foresee, however, how many people would call me Natasha instead--well, bollocks. 

[Allegra2]

Well... this is kind of a silly thing and super shallow  I like the name Allegra Cole from the movie 'Hitch' where Kevin James asked for Will Smith's help to make his boss fall inlove with him. At the same time Will meets Eva Mendes and falls inlove with her...

And so I chose Allegra. But inworld I like to be called Aℓℓιε. So yes.. this is the wiki of the movie in case no one remembers it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitch_(film) 

[Tex Monday]

This is a fairly convoluted story so bear with me...

Back in 2008, I had an alt who was a slave to a Mistress. One night, she had me kneeling in front of her, just doing nothing, while she played with another slave she had. No hello..no conversation...just kneeling there. Upset me so much being completely ignored like that that I left her and decided that I would find the manliest name that I could and create a new character. My choices were Tex or Clint. Wound up checking through the list of last names (it was 2009 after all) and found Monday. I thought that Tex Monday was a pretty manly name so I took it. 

[Marigold Devin]

On 4/21/2020 at 11:31 PM, Charlotte Whimsy said:

I hopped on the last name bandwagon last week. Whimsy is the only last name that I felt fit me. And Charlotte is a callback to an old account I had back in 2013 that I miss and can't get back into because I don't know the email or password, and all my email addresses from that time of my life are deleted. lol I have made some poor choices in my life. Anyway, the name of that account was Scarlot Charlotte. Scarlot Charlotte was the name given to a pirate ship my college light RP group made up.

My old name was Lethe Soldumaagh. Lethe is the name of a river in the Underworld that when you drink from it, it helps you forget. I forget everything constantly. Obviously, that's a different, more shallow story, but I just like how it sounds, and I love Greek mythology. Soldumaagh is of my own making. I'm not a linguist, but it's supposed to be Proto-Indo-European (or was it Old English... 🤔) for Salt Maiden. I did a research paper on salt once in the 8th grade because I was lazy and that was the last listed topic I could do one on. I now have tons of useless information about the history of salt swimming about in my head, ready to burst forth and and drown any innocent bystanders in  K N O W L E D G E TM.

I feel like this is way more information than what was asked for. I grant you all permission to chase me with pitchforks and torches.

 

I found your post exceptionally interesting. I am sorry you are unable to get back into your old account, what a fab name Scarlot Charlotte is, and the reason behind it too.

My name was created simply because one person in my real life in the 1980s always called me Marigold Duckboat for some unknown reason, and Devin was about the nearest last name I could find at the time. 

[Waiomao]

On 12/1/2019 at 6:52 AM, Saravendi said:

I’ve often wondered what the story or inspiration was behind your Avatar names... ??? 
So... ???

Aloha Sara. Thanks for this thread! I love this kind of thing. I named my avatar after a place I love, Waiomao Stream. Wai is the Olelo Hawaii word for water, so is in a lot of words (Waikiki, etc)! Omao is the word for green, a lush green. Put these two together and Waiomao refers to a stream that feeds life around it.

BTW, mao is pronounced like Chairman Mao, not like mayo. But I guess it's normal for folks to mispronounce Hawaiian words :-) Why-Oh-Mao.

[Ditto Darkfold]

I named my Avatar *Ditto* because she is me in a digital form.....We are both the same, hence the name Ditto.😀

[bobbiestarrz]

My rl name is Roberta so Bobbie was a natural choice and I always thought I was well a Star too!

[kiramanell]

On 12/1/2019 at 9:14 PM, Elora Lunasea said:

. I did not, even notice it was also a misspelling of "lunacy" which was much later pointed out to me by more than several people 😋

 

No, dear, that was not misspelled, that was you being intentionally clever and subtle, for ppl to pick up along the way, remember?! At least that's how I choose to recall it. 😛

[BeautifulXu]

On 3/21/2020 at 3:22 PM, Glamtr0n said:

I was kind of obsessed with Alaska Thunder***** for a while.. 🤷‍♀️ I don't follow her as much as I used to, but I still love using the name.

thunder what?

[BeautifulXu]

On 5/10/2020 at 8:23 PM, Waiomao said:

Aloha Sara. Thanks for this thread! I love this kind of thing. I named my avatar after a place I love, Waiomao Stream. Wai is the Olelo Hawaii word for water, so is in a lot of words (Waikiki, etc)! Omao is the word for green, a lush green. Put these two together and Waiomao refers to a stream that feeds life around it.

BTW, mao is pronounced like Chairman Mao, not like mayo. But I guess it's normal for folks to mispronounce Hawaiian words 🙂 Why-Oh-Mao.

It's the first time i've seen Grandpa Mao's name in a long time!

[Mohan Arashi]

Mohan was my first avi. I knew nothing of SL when I created my account. But I have always placed great importance on names as they can set unintended bias or expectation. For example, someone tells you their name is Ralph, depending on what generation you're in you may start off with the expectation this is a blue collar person of moderate intelligence at best. If he says his name is Thomas you may have a sense he is of a higher standard. So a name can say a lot about a person especially when it's one we give ourselves. I labored over this name for four days because I had to first think about who am I? What sense of me do I want to project?

After deciding I wanted to show that I am both charming and alluring I set out on the quest to find the name that matched. I searched through hundreds of names in dozens of languages checking their origins and meanings. Finally I landed on the ancient language of Sanskrit and found Mohan. Once I looked up the meaning I knew immediately that was the name I was looking for. The name means Enchanting. A single word that so eloquently defined the character I wanted to present. It's a name that has given to Indian nobility and there are contemporary people of note who have this name so it's still in use.

At the time I created Mohan we all had last names we picked from a list. Most just didn't fit very well with Mohan. However Arashi did even though it's of Japanese origin. I value and admire Japanese culture and have family living in Japan so this felt like a good choice.

Mohan lived up to his name as I never had any difficulty attracting people to me, especially the ladies. However Mohan had but a shot time as an active avi as a result of an unfortunate case of Stuck Presence on December 29, 2007. It was the start of the New Years holiday weekend and Linden Tech Support was not responsive. After 3 days of SL withdrawal I could take no more and created a second avi, Ryuu whose name took all of 4 hours to determin. One hour later Mohan was freed. However I had already started making Ryuu even better than Mohan and decided to stay with him for a time. Here it is 12+ years later and Mo is still playing second fiddle to Ry. But I"m thinking it's time to bring him back. Mesh has lead to recreating my avis. And with both I can create a deeper backstory for these distant cousins.

[In case you were wondering. Ryu is Japanese for Dragon. I have an affinity with dragons. The second u came as a result of undetected key bounce when typing his name. I was unable to go back and correct it. However I've since learned having 2 u's is also acceptable use in the name so...]