The story behind your user name and avatar?

[goldenecho]

I'd love to hear the story behind your usernames and/or avatars.

Here's mine.

Goldenecho is from the poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins "The  Leaden Echo and the Golden Echo."

https://hopkinspoetry.com/poem/the-leaden-echo-and-the-golden-echo/

My avatar's story is just that I like art nouveau and thought it was pretty. 

[Laura Corin]

Laura is my name. Corin is a surname in my family - from Cornwall - but has never been my surname. The picture is of my two kids wrestling on the grass.

[rebcoola]

My username is silly when I was a teen I friends that were sisters and they were always kind of bickering. So the older put out names in a video game as Ka-bitch-ie (for Katie) and my name as Reb-cool- a ( for Rebecca)  When I started using the internet variations of Rebecca are usually taken but not rebcoola.  My avatar is because I love the Seattle Sounders and have since I was a little kid thanks to my dad and big sister. I am i guess what normal people call a  super fan.

[Carrie12345]

I can’t remember what I used when I first started browsing here, but I was Carrie1234 for a while, then added the 5 in 2010 when #5 was born.

My photo is my gender reveal for #5, lol. 

[Indigo Blue]

My username is just something I made up. It’s inspired by a quaint shop called Indigo Pearl. My avatar was originally of a bird. 
 

One day, Spy Car made a new Avatar for another poster (and a few others), and I loved it. He was kind enough to create the one I have now, and I appreciate it very much and think it’s fantastic. We were just goofing around and having fun that day. 

[Ottakee]

Ottakee is a combination of Ottawa and Cherokee, the two Native American tribes represented in my family.

My picture is of me hiking in Georgia.

[purpleowl]

When my oldest was little, she assigned favorite colors and favorite animals to each member of our family. My assignments were purple and owl.

Avatar is a quilled piece I made a few years ago. At some point I should actually do a quilled purple owl and make that my avatar, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.

[teachermom2834]

Obviously my avatar is a reflection of my lack of effort and creativity.

My username has numbers from the birthdates of three of my kids. I didn’t update it when I had my fourth…who is now in high school. So basically it means I have been here a very long time. And it isn’t even the first username I’ve had here.

[ScoutTN]

My username is the name of the yellow lab in my avatar photo, combined with the state I now call home. Scout was the best dog ever. She lived 16 years and is buried in our backyard, under a bed of yellow flowers.

[historically accurate]

I used to go by a version of my name, but I changed it to this for privacy. I was a history major in college, but ended up an accountant, so I went with "Historically Accurate". No avatar because I am, well, lazy.

[mom31257]

My username is my kids' birthdates, so the days that made me a mom. 

My avatar is a picture my dh loves. He loves me in hats and says I look good in any type, even obscure ones. 

[Junie]

For my username, I didn't want to use my real name for privacy reasons, but I wanted a name that was easy to pronounce and use in conversation.  So I decided on Junie.

My avatar is my mii holding a bowling ball from the Nintendo bowling game.  So it's sort of a picture of me.

[Wheres Toto]

I've had different names over the years here but my current one is just what I was constantly asked growing up because my name is Dorothy.  The avatar is one I made myself (over the rainbow) in the same discussion where Spy Car and a few other people were making new avatars.   

[Slache]

Slache is my actual nickname and everyone in real life called me that until I got married because my husband hates it.

Purple butterflies are the symbol for lupus. It's not supposed to be a monarch, but I love monarchs.

[ktgrok]

a million years ago, when email became a thing, I was rereading Stranger in a Strange Land. So I used the word grok in my email, not realizing that I'd basically be stuck with that email handle the rest of my life. Now I sort of use it for most stuff, because it is never taken, lol. 

Also, only a handful of people in the last few decades have gotten the reference. Most assume Grok is my last name. Helps screen sales people when they leave messages for Mrs. Grok 🙂

Edited October 15, 2022 by ktgrok

[fraidycat]

My username is how I felt about homeschooling before I started and my avatar is our (now passed) cat with a reindeer hat on.

Edited October 15, 2022 by fraidycat

[Hilltopmom]

I’m not very original- we used to live and homeschool at the top of a hill 🙂 now I live on a lake but don’t feel the need to change it 😉
I’ve never had an avatar.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Hilltopmom

[Loowit]

Loowit is one of the Native American names for Mt St Helens, which is near where I live and a part of my growing up experience.  Many years ago when I was creating a character on an MMORPG I need to come up with a name, and that is what I decided on.  When I needed a user name here it was quick to think of.

My avatar is a picture of Loowit taken when hiking a few years ago with DH and my youngest.

[Jean in Newcastle]

As I have said every time this question gets asked on this forum, my name is rather self explanatory. 
 

The avatar photo is me when I was 3 years old in front of my neighbor’s door. It was a festival day- possibly New Years or it might have been Girls Day. 

[Terabith]

Back when I was making my first user name in the dark ages, to go on IRC, I was a teenager and rereading Bridge to Terabithia.  I just kept using it.  

My avatar is a picture of Obama peering down off our roof at us.  

[Corraleno]

When I joined WTM 13 years ago (!), I belonged to a vintage Airstream forum where most people had usernames that either related to the model of Airstream they owned or where they lived. Most of the usernames I tried were already taken, so I ended up with Corraleno, which vaguely relates to where I lived at the time. I'm terrible at remembering lots of different usernames and passwords, so I just used that name pretty much everywhere. My avatar is my 10 yr old puppy, who is supernaturally cute but has the IQ of a houseplant.

[Tap]

My name is a shortened version of a childhood nickname. 
 

My avatar used to be a beer tap handle that said Tap  ( I love beer), but when SWB asked that any copyrighted photos be taken down, I couldn’t find out if the photo was copyrighted or not, so I removed it. I just made my own to replace it. Nothing fancy, but makes my posts easier to find when im scrolling 😃so I never changed it. 

[Guest]

My username has been the same for all the time I have been here (though I can never quite remember when I joined; I made an account but didn’t post much or at all for the first few years.) 

Quill because I like to write and had a notion of publishing my writings. Spy Car made my awesome avatar from a painting I made and posted on here. I just last week decided to make that design into a stack of blank cards. I think it would make a good sympathy card at least. 

[Harriet Vane]

I adore the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and I feel like I can relate to Harriet Vane. England--especially London--in the first half of the 1900s is my happy place.

[Drama Llama]

I was CuriousMomof3,  because I was a mom of 3, and both curious about homeschooling and curious in the Alice in Wonderland sense of “weird”.

I left and came back when I was really trying to focus on my two so I named it after their favorite things.  Neither of those interests really survived the pandemic.  If I picked now I’d be SportsballandSpellbooks.

@Spy Car made me an avatar in the avatar in the avatar thread, it was perfect and I was so touched that he made it, but then I got some weird stalkerish PM’s and suddenly it felt really creepy to have strangers looking at things that represented my precious children.  No that makes no sense.  
 

Edited because previous for precious is a particularly bad autocorrect when talking about my kid.  Not quite as bad as my Godfather’s funeral program that talked about him living an immoral life with Jesus.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Baseballandhockey

[ikslo]

The last five letters of my maiden name, backwards. My very first email was my name backwards because everything else I tried was already taken. I still have the email. I think I originally signed up here with the whole thing before the @, but someone noticed and I realized it was not such a good idea for privacy reasons, so I shortened it.

The picture is not of me. It is the first self-portrait my son made as an art assignment while we were homeschooling.

[Scarlett]

4 hours ago, ktgrok said:

a million years ago, when email became a thing, I was rereading Stranger in a Strange Land. So I used the word grok in my email, not realizing that I'd basically be stuck with that email handle the rest of my life. Now I sort of use it for most stuff, because it is never taken, lol. 

Also, only a handful of people in the last few decades have gotten the reference. Most assume Grok is my last name. Helps screen sales people when they leave messages for Mrs. Grok 🙂

I got it.  🙂

[Lady Florida.]

I was floridamom for many years here. Some years back a member couldn't remember my user name when she mentioned me in a post and called me Lady Florida. I liked the regal sound of it so I changed it. 

Usually I periodically changed my avatar - my dog, my cat, a flower, and sometimes even me. A while back (earlier this year? Last year? I don't recall) @Spy Car made avatars for some of us who requested it. The one he made me shows my love for the natural beauty of my home state, which is so much more than theme parks and other touristy stuff. 

[KidsHappen]

Well, only two of my children were planned and the rest kinda just happened. My hubby and I have a blended family and between his, mine and ours we have eight. The picture is of a t-shirt with a baby that says kidshappen.

I have been using this as an email address since the late '90s and for a very long time was the only kidshappen on the internet. When I give someone my email I almost always write it out KidsHappen and that almost always gets a comment.

[Catwoman]

I'm Catwoman because of my uncanny resemblance to Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman on the Batman TV series back in the 60s. **

 

 

 

**Total lie.

 

Ok, the real reason for my username is because I had lots of cats at the time, and my avatar cat was one of them. But the Julie Newmar thing sounds way cooler, so let's just go with that one.

[Lady Florida.]

10 hours ago, Indigo Blue said:

 

One day, Spy Car made a new Avatar for another poster (and a few others), and I loved it. He was kind enough to create the one I have now, and I appreciate it very much and think it’s fantastic. We were just goofing around and having fun that day. 

That was such a fun thread!

 

4 hours ago, Corraleno said:

 My avatar is my 10 yr old puppy, who is supernaturally cute but has the IQ of a houseplant.

Aw, poor pup. He's definitely adorable. I imagine that cancels out any lack of smarts he has. Those eyes melt hearts.

 

 

[Spy Car]

19 minutes ago, Lady Florida. said:

That was such a fun thread!

 

That was fun. And I wasn't hurt that you didn't go with this version:

LOL

Bill

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by Spy Car

[Terabith]

2 hours ago, ikslo said:

The last five letters of my maiden name, backwards. My very first email was my name backwards because everything else I tried was already taken. I still have the email. I think I originally signed up here with the whole thing before the @, but someone noticed and I realized it was not such a good idea for privacy reasons, so I shortened it.

The picture is not of me. It is the first self-portrait my son made as an art assignment while we were homeschooling.

Back in college, my now husband and I went to visit his sister at her college.  One of her friends looked at the picture of us taken there after a concert we'd been to, where I was wearing a maxi skirt (with a print, not plain), and my husband with his thick beard that he grew because without it he looked 12 and with a hat that he wears to keep the sun off since his skin is so pale he's practically translucent, and said, "Who is the cute Amish couple?"  Honestly, we did not look remotely Amish; though I guess we could have passed for members of a moderately conservative Mennonite church.  But my husband thought that was hilarious, and began using Amish as his internet name on all groups and video games and such, until sometime in the early 2000's, that name started being taken.  So he reversed the letters, and now he's Hsima for everything.

[Ditto]

6 hours ago, Corraleno said:

When I joined WTM 13 years ago (!), I belonged to a vintage Airstream forum where most people had usernames that either related to the model of Airstream they owned or where they lived. Most of the usernames I tried were already taken, so I ended up with Corraleno, which vaguely relates to where I lived at the time. I'm terrible at remembering lots of different usernames and passwords, so I just used that name pretty much everywhere. My avatar is my 10 yr old puppy, who is supernaturally cute but has the IQ of a houseplant.

I REALLY want to hug and cuddle her!  She is an absolute doll with the sweetest eyes and most adorable smile.  

[Scarlett]

2 hours ago, Catwoman said:

I'm Catwoman because of my uncanny resemblance to Julie Newmar, who played Catwoman on the Batman TV series back in the 60s. **

 

 

 

**Total lie.

 

Ok, the real reason for my username is because I had lots of cats at the time, and my avatar cat was one of them. But the Julie Newmar thing sounds way cooler, so let's just go with that one.

I was just about to Google that person.  
 

I Actually DID resemble Vivien Leigh when I was young.  And  I resembled Scarlett O’Hara’s attitude when Iwas 15.  A coach in my 10th grade health class called me Scarlett all year.  

[Not_a_Number]

I used to have the same username on here as everywhere else, including AoPS, and this username was pretty mathematical and nerdy. Then I think a parent found me on here and complained to AoPS that I was gossiping inappropriately on here about AoPS students (which I wasn't!) AoPS reviewed it and decided I wasn't doing anything inappropriate, but this freaked me out, and I changed my name. 

Since my earlier username was mathematical, I change it to Not_a_Number in a fit of pique 😂. And I've been enjoying the sound of it, so I kept it. 

My avatar was made by @Spy Car(aha, I remember it now, looking at the thread.) You can see that it has the symbols for "Not a Number" on there. Thanks for doing that, @Spy Car!

Edited October 15, 2022 by Not_a_Number

[whitestavern]

Here’s mine:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_White_Tavern

[Heartstrings]

My wedding flowers were lilies  and my user name and picture is a kind of lily.  Not very creative but simple.

 I just realized my picture seems to have disappeared, I should fix that.  

Edited October 16, 2022 by Heartstrings

[Tiberia]

My picture is of our first wonderful dog. My name is from our second wonderful dog. Both dogs have been in doggie heaven for over a decade now. Thankfully we have another wonderful dog and two cats now. But I just can't part with the picture and the name, so here I am! I've been on WTM since 2008 but had to reboot in 2018 or so.

[EmilyGF]

Mine is boring: First name + Middle Initial + Last Initial. But, I sort of like that they are EGF in alphabetical order. 

I think some users thought GF was for gluten free, but I'm not gluten free and I love baking.

Emily

[Wheres Toto]

1 hour ago, EmilyGF said:

Mine is boring: First name + Middle Initial + Last Initial. But, I sort of like that they are EGF in alphabetical order. 

I think some users thought GF was for gluten free, but I'm not gluten free and I love baking.

Emily

I sat here for way longer than I want to admit going "E...G....F ----------E....F....G"

[Hannah]

On the old boards, at the start of the century somewhere, we used to sign with our name and location.  So I was Hannah from South Africa.  Still am.

[elegantlion]

Elegant Lion came about because of a literal dream I had where I owned a shop called The elegant lion. I am not elegant, but I do have a huge mane of curly hair. The avatar is a llama head I bought at Target who is wearing a hat and sunglasses, not bought at Target.