So what made you choose you screen name?

It's my given name. But I love yours, ici (may I call you that for short?).

Well previously I was just plain 'Lucy' & used the address Lucy@xxxx.com.au to indicate I'm an Aussie. However with registration meaning no more email adresses being shown I changed my name to Lucy_in_Oz...only to realise several hours later when my confirmation email still hadn't arrived that I made a typo on entering which email address to send it to (doh!) so then I re-registered & shall forever now be known as Lucy_of_Oz. Cheers all...

Well, it's just that I'm a huge lover of the Beats (Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs) that I've called myself Beatchick since I've 1st started on the internet (although there are many, many others with similar names - Beatchic, Beatchik, Beatchick1, etc.). But I'm also just plain ol' MaryC!

A good story? Does me meeting Ginsberg at the poetry reading at U of L in 1992 8 days before I had my daughter count? I was hugely pregnant and was obviously with my then-husband. Of course, Allen felt the need to flirt with my husband (HELLO - DUDE! - he could give 2 f***s about your writing, Allen, he's only here because of ME!). My ex is more into Fantasy & Sci Fi and has only read some of the Beats' works to please me (a common interest is the writer Harlan Ellison as he's both a SciFi author and a literary author). TMI?? But you asked!! ; )

I used to be just Melissa with Melissa@xx.com but when I signed up, my name was taken. siiigh. For lack of enthusiasm to be creative, I just added HI to the end since I am from Hawaii.

I left my heart in the 'Pool.....

Reside in "The Last Frontier" state.

Was backpacking in Nepal.
Was stopped by a border guard who, upon reviewing my passport and seeing my name was Elizabeth, asked me quite seriously:

"Are you a Queen?"

Without thinking I said:
"Why yes, thank you for noticing"

The name stuck.

BTW, this guard had on bright pink nail polish. Makes me wonder if we both shared the name.

My name.

I've always wanted to be mistaken for that famous, prolific poet.

I have high hopes of living in Ireland some day. Nothing to do with our basketball team

No good story. I just like the Marx brothers.

It's where I live.

I'm nutty about traveling Europe... after eight trips, I'm still a 'newbie' ! My husband calls it my 'obsession', but he has yet to stay behind on departure day...

It is my childhood nickname. My younger brother had trouble with Stephanie, but he could do Nutney. The name just stuck and my parents still call me that from time to time. I am sure that I hated it at first, but now it is part of who I am and reminds me of the special friendship I have with my brother, who also called trucks "shroodins", because that was the sound they made. What a cute kid...

I use this as my user name on a lot of sites. It's my first initial (for Karen), and my middle name Audrey. Not very good story perhaps, but people can identify me.

I'm a nephrologist

This is what my dad called me. He always loved to travel but never managed to make it to Europe before he died. I guess I think of him a lot when I'm in Europe and imagine he can still see things through my eyes and enjoy my trips with me.

I didn't like the idea of registering so I picked this one. Fans of a certain tv show might remember it.

It's my first name and initial of my last name, some of my friends call me that . . . I briefly thought about registering the name my two best friends call me but just couldn't bring myself to do it . . . Little_Missy (isn't that awful).

Plus, I always posted under Sandy and figured I'd stick with it so people would know I hadn't left or died. (If anyone cared.)

Fun thread!
Sandy

I was Sue before, but there were so many of us. I chose Grandmere b/c I have just recently become one, and I love to travel to France. However, I am rethinking it b/c that identity on here might evoke an image that I dodder about with orthopedic oxfords and blue hair and don't have valid comments to make about travel. (Wow, talk about stereotypes,huh?) That is not my perception of myself!

It's been my nickname for a long time. My given name begins with the letter "L" and for some reason my friends shortened it to just that one letter. I chose to use the homonym "elle" rather than "L" because a) I'm part French and b) I'm all female.

Well,I was Lori before so I am staying Lori. I posted a lot on the old forum (pre-registration) so I figured I'd keep my name on this format too, it makes life simpler...I have lots of accounts and various passwords for different things, I can't even remember all of them without a cheatsheet so I didn't want this anymore complicated then it need be!

Mine's just my name. No need to make it any more anonymous than it already is. There's only about a billion "Jennies" in the world (Way to be original Mom & Dad! Ha-Ha!) Also, that's what I posted under before registration.

Jennie

This is my real name- but I used to sign in with my email addy also: imeldatoo-- but since that is no longer allowed, I kept my real name-

However, before, the imeldatoo came from you know who--as I am very much into SHOES!!

Just so anyone who wants to contact me, knows this is the same person--LOL

Fun thread! I just kept my pre-registration name. With the new format we lost the ability to know the country the post is coming from unless the person posting mentions it. I thought it was interesting to read posts from all over the world, but now it's not possible to know the country where the poster lives.

Because my wife thought "Auld Reekie" was too descriptive.

Well, I think my name says it all.

I used to post with David and my indytravel@att.net auxiliary e-mail address. David was taken so I went with indytravel, ‘cause I live near Indianapolis, Indiana and I love to travel.

It's my name in Italian. Italy is my favorite country. Used my name and e-mail address until the invasion of the slammers/flamers. Switched to Giovanna then and stuck with it.

Really intellectually stimulating huh?

uh, because its my name...cool name huh?

STRAGIC=CIGARS backward with a T in it to confuse my parents if they ever read the notes to my high school best friend because we wanted to hang out and smoke cigars. We never smoked cigarettes though-we thought we were being sophisticated drinking coffee, smoking cigars and philosophizing in 11th grade! Great memories and I've used it as a screen name (no one has it!) since.

It's what my father always called me, after I fell in love with The Nutcracker at age four, plus my given name was already taken.

It's my husband's pet name for me.

It's my first initial, my last initial, my wife's first initial, and her last initial. We've used it for years on other sites as well as email.

I have had the travel bug for as long as I can remember and even when I went off to college, I wanted to go far as my parents would allow. My mom thought it appropriate to give me a plant called a Wandering Jew to brighten that first dorm room which was an exciting (don't roll your eyes) 1000 miles from home...


So now, at least on Fodors, I'm OneWanderingJew, a more memorable nick than my real name, Debbie....and yes, I'm Jewish and I kind of like the double meaning

Uh, “Gardyloo” isn’t that what citizens of Edinburgh, Scotland a 100 years ago would yell out their window before they tossed the contents of their chamber pots into the street? And your wife thought “Auld Reekie” was too descriptive?

Janeygirl, I’m sorry to hear that your Dad never made it to Europe. My Mom didn’t either. I’m trying to make sure that I get there as much as I can with my Dad. (Two weeks in France the beginning of May. I can’t wait!) You don’t want to end up in bankruptcy, but folks, do what you can, with the people you can, while they are still here. There are no guarantees.

I'm a "hardy" traveller.

Elizabeth was taken so I stuck the "s" on from my last name. Like other long time posters I tried to keep it close to the name I've used in the past.

I have been an avid reader my entire life. I am also a professional book buyer, a writer and editor. It seemed like the correct moniker, after I overheard a reference to myself at a party as "the book chick".

BC

It is my name and the one I have always posted with.

My name is Elizabeth but it was taken and "registration" refused to accept anything I added on to Elizabeth. So being of Welsh heritage, I took my father`s first name Goldwynn.

Need I say more.

Simply because I am under 5 feet tall and one of my friends fathers used to call me that, also Shrimp and even now in my 70's, get a warm fuzzy about that person when I am rarely referred to in that way. Have a nice day.
halfpint.

Nomen est omen.

Too many people on this board that have my name, hence a contraction of my name.

My name is Susan, which is shared by many, many women of my generation (40's), so I wanted something different. Anything with traveling in it sounded cliche, so I stuck with the city I live in Bellaire, Texas, but it needed something with it. Although I'm no longer a young thing, for some reason "bellairegirl" just had a ring to it.

Carta Pisana: the oldest extant maritime chart, dated 1275.

I love maps, atlas books, etc - the information one can derive from them - their graphic beauty - the ability to determine one's place from the stars and the sun. (And truth be told - I've always wanted an Italian moniker)

and if you're wondering - no, I am not 728 years old.....

Roma is my beloved city.. I married an american and now I live in the USA,, it is only natural that my screen name is Roma.. I feel much closer to my Eternal City just by using it...Ciao

I used to spend summers at Laguna Beach California and sea urchins were always clinging to the rocks on the shoreline, a metaphor for my life.

And my real name was already taken.

No good story - painting is what keeps me sane and palette is my logo.

Someone already took my real name, Paige. Pooker! I had recently read some very interesting stuff about marshmallow Peeps, so, there you are! ar ar ar

I had planned a couple of trips on the site (and always used my real name). My boss asked where my good ideas came from, and I decided I really didn't need for him to note the times and dates of my posts (not that I spend ALL my work time online). So I began using uhoh and busted@work.net as my nom de web. I also liked that once in a while I could get a bit, um, fresher in responses, behind a thin veil of semi-anonymity.

As someone who grew up with 6 Wendy's I'm always happy when I get to use my real name.

The "Mr." thing is a sort of calling card I use on other boards (Mr. MidFi at AudioReview.com, Mr. Sensible at Fark). Nothing says travel like "go!"

About five years ago, when I first began posting on a local (Seattle) internet board, I noticed that almost everyone on it had adopted a nickname of some sort so I decided to do the same and settled on Capo because this particular board was focused primarily on music (which I love) and I play guitar. For those who don't play guitar, a capo (pronounced, in English -- American English at least -- with a long a, as "kay-po") is that little movable bar one places on the fretboard of a guitar to uniformly raise the pitch of all the strings.

At that time, I didn't know that capo is pronounced with a short a in Italian and that it has multiple meanings in Italian. Capo in Italian means "head" (a cape, or capo, being the tip or "head" of a piece of land), English has many related words such as cap, capital, capitol, captain, etc., and the way capo for a guitar is related is that it's actually short for "capotasto" which means, literally, the head of the fingerboard.

One of my favorite stories regarding capo and its Latin equivalent, caput, is regarding the source of the Mississippi River, Late Itasca in northern Minnesota. Many explorers had searched for it and the man who finally found it, Henry Schoolcraft, took the Latin words for "true head", "veritas caput" and then took the last two syllables of veritas and the first of caput to form the beautiful-sounding Itasca.

And while I'm at it, the same concept of combining parts of two words was used by the inventor of velcro, Georges de Mestral. Velcro uses hoops and hooks, and de Mestral took the French words "velour" and "crochet", combing the first syllables of both words to form -- voila! -- velcro.

Is it time for a vote yet? I'd vote for cleverest name to the "hardy" travler Tess_Durberville.

Rush is one of my favorite rock groups. Syrinx is related to one of their songs. Besides, the name Wendy is way too common. (See earlier posts above.)

I took my name from a word in one of my favorite lines in one of my favorite Italian films, anyone know which?

Hint: Fellini

"Cassandra" was one of those unfortunate 2nd-level mythological women whom Zeus fell in love with -- so he gave her the gift of prophecy/foresight -- and Hera was jealous of -- so she added a curse on Cassandra's foresight, such that no one would ever believe her.

The frequency with which I'm in the position of seeing trouble coming (esp. with travel) and not being believed makes "Cassandra" my alter ego (or altar ego, if you happen still to worship Zeus et al).

It's a lot classier and more romantically wistfull than "I told you so."

It's my first two initials plus the first six letters of my last name. The first e-mail address I ever had was jahoulih@uiuc.edu, and I've stuck with the first part out of inertia.

xxx was already taken ; )

A cigale is a cicada. They live in the pine and olive trees in Provence and sing all day(sounding somewhat like our crickets) Mistral wrote in Provençal cigale chanta. I love Provence, collect
cigales and sound like a cicada when I sing.

Patrick, I'm with you on "Tess".

And, Paige, you'll be happy to know that there are now heart-shaped "Peeps" for Valentine's Day. Want me to ship some to Germany?

Oh, to answer the question, someone took Heather, I live in downtown Chicago and love it, and my email address is chicago_heather@hotmail.com.

I was clueless about a nice sounding English nick name. (
So I decided to just stick to my real name.

My initials and easy to type.

I've been the ncgrrl here for almost 3 years. I have one of those common names (well, I was named for a family member) and probably that name was one of the first real names taken.

Way back about 3 years ago it was the waning of the 'grrl' boom. Young tech-savvy, take-no-mess type of women. I don't think I make in the 'young' category, but I've been a computer geek since my youth and I would like to think of myself as a take-no-mess type of person. Also, I'm a North Carolina native.

The best thing so far about registration is the lack of grammar police. I realize my grammar/spelling isn't the best, but I'm not turning these posts into a teacher for grading.

My Grasshopper came from Aesop's fable.

We have a small herd of Brahman cattle and one year we had a lot of trouble with the baby calves and I was "mothering" them a lot, so I just put it together and there sure aren't any others like this one! Sometimes people think we are Brahmin though and when i used to post my email, I got some strange email. Real name is just plain Carol and there are already bunches of those.

I didn't want to use my real first name Susan as there are so many others, so I tried my never used middle name, but it wouldn't allow Edna. I tried again with the B, the first letter of my last name and it worked. Meanwhile I haven't seen any posts by the other Edna. And now I'm getting comments on the US board about being a little old lady. I'm 34. I never liked the name Edna and now I see why. I think everyone thinks it is a little old lady's name. I may change soon.

Incidentally, someone mentioned that xxx was already taken, but I've only seen the name xxx11 used. Are there 10 other xxx's? I haven't seen any xxx posts here yet.
And now I will admit it, I am one of the many former xxx's. Sometimes I also used "another xxx". But my xxx posts were never the mean ones. I used it when I felt my opinion might be attacked.

We are Marcus and Jane. In the past we used M&J but the system wouldn't take the "&".

Well I've always been s.fowler -- but it wouldn't let me have the . so sfowler I am.

It's left over from when I wanted to appear gender-neutral on the web.

But it's still weird to see people posting as Sally or SallyB, which was my maiden name initial.

So sfowler I remain

It's simple...I like simple

Simple. During an "ice breaker" game at a bridal shower(not mine), we had to describe the person to our left with one word and then others had to guess if was true or false. Like "she is an anthropologist" or "she travels". The person on my right (who had never met me) said "she travels" and I just loved how that summed it up. Stupid game, but I got a good screen name out of it.

self explanatory

I did not register right away so the name I had been using, Mari, was taken. I tried to register with my real name but it was also taken. I then combined Mari with part of my real name and came up with Marianna. By the way, I am not the tour guide from Rome.

Initals of our boat, Charla Dawne, which is the name of our daughter.

Guess why "soccr"? The "e" got megged.

Additional question: any married couples among posters here?

It's short for Danielle...When growing up I hated to be called Danie, it sounded to masculine. So the familty stopped. Later when I met my husband he started to call me Danie, it sounded nice coming from him, so here I am in my late forties answering to Danie from friends and family

Who is xxx? Please tell us. You have the name that many of us have used at least once.

daph is the named of our beloved siamese cat who adopted us almost 14 years ago. She is the 6th siamese that we've had [maybe I should really be on a siamese cat forum]. My real name is an old fashioned one often used as Aunt ---- by English comedians or in the comics and I detest it!

Tho I'm old enough to be a grandmother... alas.. I am not. I just picked the moniker one nite when every poster seemed to be 20! But... like Grandmere (see above)I'm beginning to wonder if I'm creating the wrong impression! No blue hair here. My bill at Elizabeth Arden is testimony to that!

Well, mine is kind of obvious. It is what I have always used on Fodors, so I wanted people to know who was responding. Now my password is more interesting, but of course you will just have to guess about that one.

I did not anticipate that this thread was going to become a roll call, but I don't want to suggest that I think it needs to be "boycotted" or anything. I was always Rex, and I was under the impression initially that the registered names would not allow uppercase, nor be case-sensitive.

Best wishes,

Rex
rbmd@usa.net

I don't know who registered xxx, but I at least got x_x_x. *S*
Before registration I sometimes posted as "xxx" and other times as " allx"..and none of my posts were mean ones.
I have also registered here with my hotmail username .

Wow, this is such fun to read! I have wondered about some names, some of your stories are so touching. Thank you ici~

Scarlett because I grew up in the South and I usually prefer to think about it tomorrow

Well, I love Italy and I love nocino. I tried it for the first time in Sorrento this last year, and I brought two bottles home. Delicious cold, in hot drinks and over ice cream, so I took the name. And I am a little nutty, lol.

after an old west point academy yearbook that I keep my pressed flowers in. Im a complicated guy.

Mine & my husband's first initials and our last name miranda. Everyone calls me miranda and asks me if I've been read my rights, or do I know who Carmen is = )

Paris journeys.....plus they are my initials! PJ

Just a test. Merci.

My real name is Teresa, also known as Terry but since both were taken I changed a couple of letters. Besides I love trees. I don't go for made up names. I am what I am, what I am...

I saw XXX over on the US board earlier today. It is alive and well......

Can you believe I got to use my real name? And it's so unusual!!

AND there's one in every house

I am a native of the Golden state &bthis is our flower...

I post on another board that has international members..and I am always the first one up in the USA.

One day one of the European members said I was up before the sun , so I must be a Moonbeam! So I am Moonbeam!

Thank you all for sharing. I cannot believe the level of response to a misspelled post.

I will share now.

Three years ago I logged on and I was posting under rand@victoria.bc.ca.

As you can tell, I am a cat person, so when the flame wars became too intense I adopted this persona for stealth.

PS. John re your last line be glad that you were not born a girl.

Real name!!

my love of cycling and european travel...plus it has a lot more panache than "tour" or vuelta"

In Paris, "our" hotel is right across the street from the Montparnasse cemetery. Sartre is buried there. His novel was translated from "Huis Clos" to "No Exit", which is how I wish sometimes my vacations would be (no way to escape!), and sometimes how I feel on this Board!

All told, the real translation is "in camera" or "behind closed doors" in a courtroom setting, which defines my real-life profession.

It's been my e-mail address for years. Since my name is Sue and I prefer to be "not home" and traveling, I thought it was fitting.

Its how I pay for my travel!!

I'm the proud owner of two English Springer Spaniels and usually don't leave home without a paw (or mouth) print or two on my clothing, so this has become my usual screen name. My real name was also already taken.

Melissa

I thought this was suppose to be "TRAVEL TALK"?

Name of the little hamlet in France where I hang out when I'm not in the USA.

A bit of my name and a bit of a reference to another well known traveller marco polo. PS I am an Aussie.

Bird is from the German word Vogel - my last name.

I admire everything about France and because we had to register this year ('03).

My real name is just easier to remember...

My real name is Kavita, but I've long been known as Kavey to my friends and have used Kavey to post here since early 1999. Thought it best to stick with it.

My real name was used by several people when I first joined the site. Like Bellairegirl Susan was the most common name when I grew up (5in one class!)so I use the Irish Equivalent. Someone else took Siobhan so now I am now SiobhanP

Sardog10 stands for Search and Rescue Dog Team 10 and was my radio callsign before we moved over here to Germany. We'll be going back to that when we return home.

I started out posting here under my real name before registration (obviously not feeling very imaginative that day) so just thought I should continue.

A sweet tooth, and a "little" family pride.

Fairfax is my middle name. What is currently Fairfax County in Virginia was my family's land grant in the US from the King of England around the 1600's.

I've used my first name and first initial of my last name for awhile now so I decided to stick with it. I couldn't believe it was still available when I registered. Besides, I get the "My Sharona" comment when people figure it out (from the old Knack one hit wonder).

flaneuse: "a stroller who aimlessly loses herself in a crowd, going wherever curiosity leads her and collecting impressions along the way"

Not sure that's the literal translation, but I read it somewhere, and it fits.

Dawn Powell is my favorite American author and ranks right up there with Evelyn Waugh as a satirist of the first stripe.

Dear escholtzia,

I sadly must inform you that you have spelled your own name incorrectly: it is Eschscholtzia.

My name (and was my mother's maiden name).

I use the name Cindysphinx on another board, so I just shortened it.

I used to be "Cindy@aol.xxx," but the trolls ran me off. So hello again! It's good to be back!

Cindy

I used to use tcc-whitehouse until the registration. Now I use Mme_LeBlanc because my husband's last name is White (I continue to use my maiden name which is why I said it's my husband's name) and I love France, so I'm Mrs. LeBlanc.

This is my first name. I just registered - can you believe it wasn't taken yet? I grew up when everyone else was named Susan, Linda, Brenda, Donna, Karen (at least the girls!). I've noticed a change the last few years - people don't say "What?" any more when I tell them my name. It isn't quite so unheard of.

Oh, and Nutney, my favorite cousin has a baby named Nutney. Well, her real name is Dejanee (pronounced Day-ja-nay, sort of like Desiree) but the family calls her Nutney. Don't know why, except her mom says she looks like a Nutney (?) but it stuck. Never knew there was another one out there.

In tribute to the pioneering spirit of Louisa May Alcott, who wrote some pretty good accounts of travel....

Okay, also because it's my name. (Although these days I tend to forget it and think my first name is Miss)

Steve above beat me to my name so I added an initial.

Indytravel, I always thought your name reflected that you preferred independent travel. Now I realize your practically a neighbor (I live in a north suburb of Indy and work in Indy). I also see that you will be in Paris about the same time as my wife and I. We’ll be there from May 10 – 15.

Mme LeBlanc, does your sister realize that while her baby is small she is "petite day-je-nay" in French? I.e., breakfast!

I have really enjoyed reading about the origin/meaning of some of the names I've been seeing here for the past year. But I think I should re-register with something more clever. I feel quite the dud just using my real name.

Here's an explanation of the strangely spelled eschscholtzia:

http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/poppy/faq.html

Or rather, "Eschscholzia"--it appears TTT also spelled it wrong.

I posted as Mel before registration, but it was taken this time, so I added my last initial, which was also port of my e-mail address.

Hey Marilyn. I also thought Dejanee was funny since petit dejeuner means breakfast in French, but I don't think she saw the humor in it as much as I did Oh well.

I'm just so excited to see there's another Nutney that I have to tell her this today. The world is just so much smaller than we think it is.

NO. my name did not originally have anything to do with sex... my real name is jorge (spanish = Colombian) and in english it's pronounced George (actually I have no clue how to spell George) anyways as most Georges we are called Georgy, and Georgy porgy,. well in collage there was a party in my appartment and some guy who was drunk just started calling me georgy "ORGY" for no reason and it stuck..
the 7 reprsents my lucky number...

Eventually as I got older my name has taken on a more literal meaning, But my handle comes from good wholesome American roots. and is ment as such.. .

Dang, there's some good stuff here.
I wish I had a story. I don't. Does this mean Fodors will ask for their gift back (which I still haven't received) for early registration?

…Because it has been a nom deplume of mine for several literary pieces (D. J. DiAblo) and diablo is Spanish for “devil”. I enjoy lively conversations about art, culture, and politics and enjoy playing devil’s advocate to get a rise (or a good discussion) from my compatriots. I have been known to “devil” those who wade into discourses without firm convictions and the logic and reason to back them up. If you can’t stand the heat…

Think Lord of the Rings...and the elves.

Mme LeBlanc,

Please give your Nutney a kiss from me! I had never heard of anyone else being called Nutney before. My brother will get a real kick out of that.

Cheers to Nutneys all over the world!

It is my middle name and not to be confused with ALICE....

my mother didn't think Shannon Elise flowed so she changed the spelling to Shannon Alise.

And I have never been fond of my first name because in 6th grade there were 2 boy Shannon's in class and only myself.
SO it felt like a BOY'S name....

I usually have to put 007 on the end because alise has been taken on several email sites but I guess I got lucky here. I had a thing for James Bond movies growing up!

Being a botanist, I would agree that you will see both Eschscholtzia and Eschscholzia--both are acceptable. However, escholtzia is a misspelling.

Hi

my story, good bad or indifferent..

Try as I might, I just cannot get jaded about flying. not just as a means to travel, to get there... but the flying itself. I love airports - the hustle bustle, the romance of "where is everyone going, where are they from...".. I even enjoy reading the adverts when I am in a foreign airport. My favorite park in the metro DC area is right at the tip of the National airport runway - I could watch the planes land until the cows come home. It just fascinates me.

a second aspect for my handle is that I am working towards a private pilot's license. what the hell, it's in my blood after all - my Dad was a private pilot until he got grounded for medical reasons. My cousin works for the airlines and is also a private pilot - he has a Cessna 152. My uncle also is a private pilot, he owns a Piper Cherokee and is a part owner of a Cessna Skyhawk.

I've flown with him a few times and in the Skyhawk was lucky enough to fly left seat - mainly symbolic at this point but still a very heady experience. (this is a plane I aspire to, and hence my email - skyhawk_aopa@yahoo.com).

life is too short not to experience all that you can.

I do not drive an SUV!! The name comes from a group that travels and follows the University of Arkansas sports teams. Razorbacks= Hogs

Bob

Because I'm a native California girl, and my name is Susan. In college I had a friend who used to always say, "Susan you're such a Calgirl". I always thought she said "cowgirl" until one day I questioned her why she thought I was a cowgirl, and she couldn't stop laughing.

icithecat!


Thanks for a fun thread ...and all the wonderful stories !!

My name.

I've been posting here for a couple of years with just my name and my e-mail address, which indicates I live in Shanghai.

I originally just registered my name, but then realized that since my e-mail address wouldn't show, it wasn't distinct enough. So I had to wait 3 days for the first one to expire, which means I didn't get a gift!

Now I'll NEVER know how to pack!

About half of my travel is devoted to the pursuit of trout and salmon with the long rod, and my real name that I used to post under (Dick) was already taken.

My first name and I live in Manhattan!

Because it was around the 4th of July and Uncle Sam seemed appropriate.

Besides, I'm a right wing conservative and I'm here to fight for truth, justice and the American way!

US

And to Uncle_Sam,
"Bravo" again.

b/c I wanted people to be jealous

Cause my friends would protest that I was the coolest high maintenance chic they knew and nicknamed me the "diva." I'm not sure it was always meant as a compliment. In any case though, it's grown on me.

Nice, but ENOUGH!

Ron was already taken. My wife bought two dolls from Scotland and they have little tags that have names on them. This is supposed to be the Gaelic equivalent of my name.
Ron.Dace@attbi.com

My real name is Daisie - hence the email daisieduke79. Also, daisy in Spanish is margarita, I like margaritas, I like Jimmy Buffet, 'margaritaville' is too long, so I went with 'margieville.'

Mine is my nickname from my husband...
Mr. Bone Doggy....

I'm not the deviant entertainer recently exposed on TV, but I sure like to make fun of him.

When my daughter asked me what my name was, I said Jersey because we live in New Jersey. She looked at me and said, Booo, you're boring.

Even so, I live in New Jersey.

My online pals call me chiquita cuz I live in a banana republic - miami!

Strive (in addition to being positive) is actually my last name with two of the letters transposed. In reality it is part of my e-mail address and I've used it here ever since my previous internet provider (qwest.net)went the way of the Dodo.

I also chose it because I thought it would make it easier to conduct searches. Of course, that was before they implemented the new search feature.

Strive

When I first stated chatting on the internet I was using Chatman. But alot of others starting using the name. So I went to Chatmandu after the city Katmandu.

My name refers to Queen Elizabeth I before she was Queen. I'm an Anglophile so I chose a name that represented that. Also, I've always wished that I were THAT Tudor Princess.

I'm new at this. My name is Carol, but Granny is what my three dear grandbabies call me and I love it!

Think California. Think female. Think internet. Bamm, that's IT!

Well, this is interesting! Arrietty comes from Mary Norton's "The Borrowers," my favorite book when I was growing up.

(P.S. I used to be "Morning Giggle." I figured Arrietty sounded more dignified.)

Mine's boring and obvious. But this is really interesting because I had so many misconceptions.

I love Gardyloo- as I mentiooned elsewhere; and I thought cd was someone else, and I thought Brahman was.....and it's nice to see so many old pals still here after registration. But we need to pick up the pace. I reckon the traffic must be down by half.

Can anyone tell me if more than one person can have the same screen name. Thanks.

No, not since registration began. But your screen name could have been used by many people before registration began last month.

Hello..Laoghaire is Irish for my maiden name, Leary...Helen

republican national committee

Like Dan, I have always used my name when posting.

Dan, I hope you have been doing well. Did I tell you I did buy a new Nikon N80? Love it!!!

Hi flygirl!

My name is Bob and it was taken.

Thanks for the explanation flygirl. I always wondered. I think there's also a flyboy here - wonder what his story is. Good luck with your license.

I chose April because I couldn't think of anything more interesting. It seems to pop up a fair bit in my life, from the goat I had as a kid who had April in her name to my favourite Lilliput house April Cottage and favourite movie Enchanted April. My first internet hookup was in April, and I'm an Aries. Funny thing is I don't really care for names that begin with vowels.

Used this off and on til I learned of another poster (different board) w/same
name. This comes from children who could not pronounce my name. Wasn't taken when I registered, so I'm using it again. Never posted with my given name.

It's my name and the one I've always posted under here at Fodor's. So, yeah, I'm that Caitlin, even though I haven't been around much in a while.

To FlyGirl: I envy you. I used to fly C172s but it became too expensive and I had to give up. But, I throughly enjoy flying on big jets and go to faraway places. Mine came from boxes around me.

Pepperidge Farm and Hershey's are more accurate. But if I chose one of them, I would never log-in because of misspelling.

After flying 29 years as a "domestic" flight attendant-my base was closed(due to economics with the company) so now I am commuting to another base and flying international!
Keep me in your prayers-definitely not a great time to be flying across the "pond" once a week?

Saralee and April, feel free to email me! Hi Monica, back atcha!

Marilyn, me too! Lack of imagination, but I do always know who I am.

Batuffolina is the name of my canary! hehehe

I am the grandmother of triplets named George, Adam, and Emma.

Just where I'm going, on a sojourn.

Caused I liked it.

Well, Booji is the name of my 3 year old Chow/Border Collie Mix dog (at least that's our best guess at her breeding). My husband's best friend found her after she had been dumped at a campsite in the woods at about 3 months of age and named her Booji after a member of the 80's new wave group Devo.

Oh, and BTW, it's pronounced "BOO-GEE".

My cat is Inspector Clouseau. Aka Clousie or Clue. Hence my name of choice.

No secret to mine, it speaks for itself.

Frankly, I was surprised no-one else got in before me!!

My dog's name is Lucky and the 03 I got from the NY times when I registered with them.

Has everyone signed in here? This is so interesting, I hated to see it get lost

I sing in an Opera company at times.
And love Opera and Operetta.
A truly liberal anti-war traveler.
Who loves, life and all of its adventures.

Great questions...I am the "mother" to four parrots.. A mouthy 10 year old female African Grey, a10 year old male Senegal, a 9 year old female Blue Fronted amazon and a psycho male 11 year old cockatiel.

Operaman:

I listen to Opera
But love symphony and ballet more.
A truly conservative pro-American, anti-war traveler who loves life and all it's adventures.

Mine is my initials plus the name of one of my favorite places to visit!

lynlor;
At least we agree on music, life and adventure. Our politics are what they are and each side probably keeps our country in balance. Travel is something all at this site truly love. I would say you would definitely have no disagreement with that.
Any good dining to recommend in Salzburg?

Well, several years ago I was in London with my mother and my sister. After a very enjoyable evening watching a play, we were waiting on a street corner for a taxi. From the opposite corner,a local londoner began yelling something in our direction. As he came merrily across the street, obviously having trouble seeing (and walking) straight, he began yelling "Lotty, Lotty, oh Lotty!" He came up to me and put his arms around me and kept saying "Oh Lotty, Lotty, I found you! I found you!" Well, my name isn't Lotty, but I so enjoyed the escapade that I have used 'Lotty' as my screen name ever since.

I'm really late on this one, but I'll add...

CrazyMina because many of my friends always told me I was crazy to travel alone. Funny, I am on the road now, and have met more solo female travelers than not. Very uplifting.

And my travels seem to get crazier all the time. Cheers to you all...

Operaman:
The Goldener Hirsch at Getreidegasse 37, is the best in IMO. It was our only splurge, as it expensive. Reservations are required and it is sometimes heavily booked.

Although in the UK it is not considered particularly politically correct, I am PROUD to be English, and wanted to show that's where I'm from!

Interesting thread. This is my real name and the name I have always used to post along with e-mail craig@nospam.com.

I'm a cat person and my best friend's pet name for me is Kitty. When I first registered on the internet, Kitty was taken, so I used Pakitty since I'm from Pennsylvania. But since then I've wondered if the Pa part connotes "Dad" to others, which I'm definitely not. My real name is taken by someone with similar travel interests, and when people respond to her by name, it takes me a second or two to realize that's not me.

I love Tess_Durberville ' s name-wish I'd thought of it because I too am a Hardy traveler (several pilgrimages under my belt to Dorset as a start),
But I always use 'emjoy' because it's a combination of my first name 'Emily', and my middle name 'Joy' and it of course looks like 'enjoy' with a twist.

Already posted message to Johnmango's 'Palazzo' thread, however will repeat here. Emjoy, I had no idea there were 'hardy travellers' as in fans of the author. I was just being punny ~ a "hardy" or "hearty" traveller.

Off topic: Tess_Durberville:
Thanks for the reply. There really are Hardy travelers. I was in a bookstore in Bath and happened to be looking at a Jude the Obscure first edition. I told the clerk I was on a Hardy pilgrimage and he snickered and said 'well I'll tell you what I tell everyone else on pilgrimage, I think when you get to Dorset, you'll find he's quite dead.'

I wannago everywhere!

LOLA-Because my real name was taken! and
Whatever LOLA wants, LOLA gets

lynlor;
Thanks for the tip. I will definitely check it out.
Want to compare notes on dining in Vienna?

My age in Italian. My heritage on my mom's side is all Italian. And went to Italy in 2001 and loved everything about it.

My story seems boring compared to some of these. I picked my name because I absolutely love Gone With The Wind--both the book and the movie. Thought about Dorothy since I also love Wizard of Oz and I'm from Kansas, but decided I had enough of being called that back in college.

Operaman:

If you even find this reply to your post.....others here think they are reading about screen names... and now what is this about restaurants?

So, maybe we should take this chatter about restaurants elsewhere. You can e-mail me at: lynlor@att.net and then you can tell me why you are a liberal and I will tell you why I am a Conservative. Also, would like to hear about your singing.

Because I'm scary!

Cos it's my name! I know, boooooring.......

But at least I'll never forget it!

I've been posting on Fodor's for 4 years now, under sandi@x.x.com (which is equally as clever as the one I've chosen above). At least it's a bit more descriptive.

My name is Mel - I'm an American expat living in Kuwait (until being evacuated recently for obvious reasons). So, Melnq8.

Beacause I am KatWoman!

I see some new names on the board. Are there any new takers?

I used to be either Miche67 or Miche1967 here, becasue my name is Michelle and I was born in 1967(I used to always forget other screen names, so I made up one that I can easily remember. For some reason my password stopped working and when they gave me a new one that didn't work either. So about a month ago or so I started using SloPugs because I live in San Luis Obispo County, CA, and I show and breed Pug dogs. Currently I have five of them.

Because I was born in The Great Smokies, I now have a cabin there and really am just an 'ole country boy at heart livin in a big city. Man one a these days I got to get to Europe, but I am scared to fly that far!

SloPugs
someone once said that Pugs proved that God had a sense of humor

Someone also said: "Pugs are like potato chips......you can't just have one!"

Pugs are my favorite dogs!

Slopugs.
I love all beings that snuffle when petted........., but I do not understand a dog with a bad attitude that is smaller than a a housecat.

I guess you have got to understand one to love one.

My reason is boring too...Daisy is my favorite flower. I got the 2222 because fodors wouldn't let me have just 22, which is my fav number. Daisy2222 is also the begining of my e-mail addy...daisy2222@hotmail.com. I thought my real name (Danyell) was too boring to use.

Island in the Adriatic where my father was born. Translates as Long Island

icithecat: Hhhmmm....None of my Pugs have "Bad attitudes"; all of mine are very friendly, playful, and snuggly. They have been bred as companion/lap dogs for 3000+ years for that very purpose! Too bad you have only met "Troubled" ones Maybe they were poorly bred and not "Right in the head" ......?

I chose mine, because that's exactly what I am when I go anywhere, plain and simple - just a humble vistor.

Slopugs I've owned and been aquainted with alot of dogs in my life but Keemie, my best friends pug brings the fondest memories. Seems he had a breathing problem and the sound he made was so lovable. I can hear him comin'! Man, I miss that dog!

Slopugs, I love your name! And I was born in '67, too!! :0)

Only true Monty Python fanatics such as myself will recognize my screen name.

"It's pronounced 'throat wobbler mangrove'!"

Thanks for the kind comments my Pug friends! Owning a Pug IS a little different than owning other dogs. Unfortunately, as with all purebreeds there are inherant problems. With short nose breeds the respiratory problems can be an issue, thus all the snorting and snoring. It would happen to you too if your nose was totally squished into your face! For people who love Pugs, their little sounds (or big sounds) make them even more endearing....my girlfriend calls them the Puggletts! The good breeders, however, DO try to breed the ones that do not have respiratory problems.

I have a black pug named Albert. I researched different breeds to find one that would fit my lifestyle. When I read that a pug's favorite activities were food and lying in a heap, I knew this was the breed for me.

He is, indeed, a snuggly puggly.

Just plain Chrissy was taken and 4 is my lucky number. Where the heck is the regular Chrissy anyway??

Sorry, bor-ing.

As a pre-registration xxx, I had a hard time deciding on a screen name. I choose mine after the Margret and H. A. Rey series, which was one of my sons favorite bedtime stories some years ago. We read all them.

Funny, I have been reading your name, slopugs, as sloplugs and thought you owned a car repair or the like.

I chose my name because I want to spirit around like a firefly.

Raymond LY (it's not yach-at, either, is it?)--
any problems with getting your prosthetic proboscis through customs when you travel?

I had resisted posting to this thread, but I have enjoyed reading the stories of others, so here goes....

In aboriginal culture "walkabout" is the habit of temporarily migrating from home for an unplanned period of time, and often without a specific goal in mind. I'm American, but I like the sentiment the word expresses.

ladyfirefly" Ha! That's funny; I WISH I knew how to fix my car! Nice screen name you have. I have always been fascinated by fireflys since a camping trip in Texas when I was a small child.

Slopugs.

If you check back.

Sorry you missed the humour of icithecat finding no value in a Pugs existance.

Pax man.

RaymondLuxuryYacht,

I am ROTFLMAO on that one!!!!!! Thanks for the laugh! : D

Ici, I think we all know you were just teasing! ; ) How ya been?

1

I read the forum everyday but don't have much to contribute--yet. I love all the good information given here and I hope to travel more in the coming years. But for now, I just hang around, quiet as a little mouse!

I've been a nut for France my whole life--went to school there for a bit, lived there a bit, taught French and adore French music, French food and la joie de vivre. So I added France to my name--and have actually thought of making it official--started using it on the Italian boards and just carried it over here. I love this board and am delighted by something new here each day.

Take care,
Robyn France

Let me think. Oh yeah, I like mai tais.

The first time we were stationed in the UK I fell in love with the Yorkshire area. One of my favorite places is a spot that has huge natural rock formations, called Brimham Rocks. It's a popular attraction for rock climbers, hikers, and families wanting a nice day out, usually with a picnic.

When we rotated back to the UK this time, we were fortunate in finding a nice house in a neat little village, only a few miles away from Brimham Rocks. We take our little boy out there as often as we can, and he scampers around on the smallest rocks.

Yorkshire is so beautiful. I'll really miss this place when we leave next year.

It's a reference to my heritage from my Pennsylvania Dutch mother, and it's the nickname my husband with a very Irish name occasionally calls me.

There's a great old song by the Allman Brothers called "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed."

Neither name is anywhere close to my own, but I wanted my screen name to have a connection with classic rock.

My screen name is nothing but my initials. Boring, boring, boring. I thought I'd have to type in my whole name everytime I said anything (and you know I always need to get my two cents in) and my whole name is a mouthful. My e-mail address is my cat's name since she was sitting right next to me when I chose it, but I thought that would have been way too goofy for a screen name. Oh well, should have gone with my first thought--my cat's a cutie.

Like others here, my screen name was the name my father gave me when I was little. If he was in a particularly affectionate mood, he'd call me Shanna and tousle my hair. Since he's died my family has taken to calling me Shanna. I'm glad of it - makes a connection. I've always called my sister "Toot" - Dad's name for her - regardless of her age. She's just now getting comfortable with it. This is an interesting thread. Aren't we humans a funny bunch?

This is going to be a long-winded explanation ...

There's a line from a scene in the movie St. Elmo's Fire where Andrew McCarthey and Emilio Esteves are doing their laundry in a self-serve laundromat that is connected to a full-service laundry, and as they are packing up their laundry to leave, they look longingly over to the other side of the establishment and say, "Someday, baby, Fluff and Fold" meaning that someday, when they are rich, they can pay somebody to launder their clothes.

My husband and I always say this quote when we see something outrageously expensive or are pining away for something really cushy, often related to travel.

I hope I get there someday!

I post as luna_azul on another BB, so i shortened it to luna for Fodor's registration. I used to post as ja here.

I grew up in Macau, East Asia (I am American!) and I happen to be female - one not offended by the term "chick"!! I also love Macau.........

All of those lovely little bubbles made me do it!

I just love squid prepared in every way...and I am a chef.

Even after 250+ postings, I couldn't resist responding to this one.

Anyone remember the movie "Young Frankenstein"?

When I was 18, my 16 yr old brother misquoted the movie ("Abbynormal" in the movie) and gave me the nick. It has stuck and now my husband and sons use it when I'm in my "Abby" moods! I love my nickname, but my brother sure didn't expect that. For a 40 yr old who hates to act her age, it's appropriate.

"Jason" from "Jason and the Golden Fleece" which happened to be what my son was reading.

but Jason was taken, so I tried to add an "8". My finger got stuck and three "8"s came out instead of one.

Now, if only I can remember from which myth I took my password...

Kismet=Destiny.. I strongly believe that if something is going to happens it will happens not matter where you are.

Chimera= my mom used to sing this old song quite often...
Life is a Chimera, a dream and nothing more....

Chimera is a figment of our imagination, something that cant exists but in our dream...
I just put the 2 names together.. and here I am : Kismetchimera...

Kismet
How does the song go?

Calamari,
unfortunately I dont remenber the words..I will ask my sister if she remenber the song the next time that I talk with her, she lives in France. Anyway is an old Italian song..( La vita e una Chimera, un sogno e nulla piu)...
maybe somebody remenber it...

Life is a Chimera. A dream and nothing more....I will ask my husband or MIL if they know it. Sounds beautiful. Thanks again.

topping because I love this post.

In the novel "In Praise of Folly" by Erasmus she was one of the handmaidens of Folly somehow I felt I could identify with her.

My boring initials! I am American of Irish/Scottish descent, but it's uncanny that both my first and middle names are Italian, I think. I am in the process of checking to be sure.

My first name is so unusual that I'm sure you have never heard of it and like others is often mispronounced and misspelled. I hated it when I was a kid because I could never find a bicycle tag with my name on it, but it's o.k. with me now. My mother knew of a girl in college with this name and liked it so that's how I got it. I've only met a few other's who have even heard of it and never met anyone that owns it too. In my late 30's, I did meet a lady who actually knows the original girl whom my mother got the name from some 500 miles away. Small world, but not small enough for my name to proliferate. To offset my childhood experience about the bike tags, my teens brought me a present the other day. It was a CD of a band with the same name as me! Imagine my surprise!

oh Lordy, you have to tell us!!

Renate? what?

RLA - Thanks for sharing that with us???

It's Revis - pronounced with a short e sound. Per an article I read, it is supposed to be a household name in about six months. An up and coming band had to come up with a new name and chose the name Revis. It was the last name of their friend and guitar tech. As for becoming a "household name", I'll believe it when I see it, but more power to them! Listen for me! (ha)

Oh, and the middle name is Leone. I know it is the Italian for of Leon.

Time for more stories!!

ok, I'll bite. There are a little list of first names I like including this one. So the dreams are the wistful thoughts I would have being that person. Luckily traveling lets me broaden my horizons and reinvent myself for a stretch of time.

My first trip to Europe was in 1959. My parents sent me to a sanatorium in Bad Harzburg in the Harz in Germany, believing that I could be cured of a chronic lung complaint there.

And it worked! So I commemorated their success by becoming a Wahl-Harzer, a Harz native by choice.

Well, it's my name. And for some reason, after I tried to register "Cliff", I never got a confirmation email back, but wouldn't let me try again. So, my given name it was...

It's what I do. I'm an interior designer.
Cassandra, I'm off to Europe in Sept. Do you see any trouble for me?

A former boyfriend of mine was British and he used to call me "possum", taken after Dame Edna's greeting the her audiences at the beginning of her show. I've used my own name with the year I graduated high school for other website registrations and I just wanted something more "fun" for this one.

J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Fellowship of the Rings," one of my very favorite books.

......my half Burmese half Siamese
cat looks like a cross between a
lamb and a llama and there are lamas
in Burma so he is Llama. And I'm a
lady, dammit!

Good morning, Ms. Scarlett! Thanks for bringing back this very interesting post, which I missed the first time around.

After several years of reading everyone's posts, it's great to learn a little bit about the people who gather here. I've often wondered about so many of the screen names...

Mine is just something I love to eat, a quick dinner after a long day at the office, listening to the daily litany of lament. (I'm a social worker.)

Also, I always wanted to be addressed as "Madame" somebody or other. My clients often jump up and hug me, sometimes quite disconcertingly, but none of them has ever called me "Madame".

Good morning Madame!! hug hug

Scarlett~

That felt good! Thanks, Scarlett.

It's just a little joke a friend made after I'd hit a milestone birthday. I thought it was funny and my friend sometimes looks on this board.

Additional question: any married couples among posters here?

Someone posted this query a long while ago. I don't know of any others, but Ms_go and I have been happily married for about 16 years now. And our daughter, Allie, has expressed a desire to register and post here as well.

da da da dum......snap snap
da da da dum......snap snap

Isn't it obvious my dears?

My husband registered "artstuff" with Fodors because that is our e-mail address and the name of my little craft business (I make costume-jewelry pins with authentic mint-condition postage stamps, dating from 1934 through the present).

My husband, B.J., and I both like to visit Fodors, individually and together. We're always reading to each other postings that we discover of interest. I usually do all the posting (B.J. hates to type) so that is why I always sign my given name. Peace.

Robyn

lobo mau means big bad wolf in Portuguese.
I choose it because I feel a lot of affinity with the character.

Lobo, i bet you sing this song quite often
: Who is afraid of the Big baaaad Wolfffff.....

all the time

Oh, I knew Underhill, MISTER Underhill! My ex is a HUGE Tolkien fan. Wouldn't it be funny if you were he? But he usually just goes by Frodo.

Croque_Madame, I've told you this before but I love your name!

I think there are so many great names. But of course I can't think of any right now, but I know them when I see them!!

Now, SCARLETT! Is that because red is your favorite color? Duhhh.

Well my real name is Margaret and depending which language yuo use as a source, it means either Daisy or Pearl. I happen to like Daisy better but since it alone was already taken I added the year of my birth - eeek! now you all know how old I am!

Aja = the best Steely Dan album (IMO) I use it for all my screen names (audio, automobile, travel and other messageboards), 1 because the first time I registered it someone already had it.

It's pretty self explanatory really. Opal was my greyhound who went to the big racetrack in the sky.

I am a free spirit, easy going kind of person and my husband is very conserative and a die-hard Republican. He likes to call me a hippie-communist because of my liberal views. So to combine us, I use Hippirep on almost all of the message board I post on.

Well, my initials are JJ & I'm a huge fan (to a frankly worrying extent at my age)of Scottish football team Celtic, whose nickname is The Bhoys.

Come on the Hoops! (sorry.......)

Jim

When at university in the '80s I was the singer in a pretty duff (but good fun) 60's Punk/Psych band.

We used to do covers of songs by The Seeds, Standells, Electric Prunes etc.

Our opening song was always "Dr Do-Good (is here)" by the aforementioned Electric Prunes and it used to go down pretty well.

After a while we changed our name from The Start (pretty naff, huh?) to Dr Do-Good & The Bleedin' Heart Liberals.

So it was I became (Jekyll & Hyde fashion) Dr Do-Good.

We gigged for the best part of three years in St Andrews, Edinburgh, Stirling, Perth and Dundee at university balls, Student Union dances and such like and actually supported a couple of visting (proper) bands. But, when all was said and done we were pretty cr@p! I have it on the good authority of all the erstwhile Bleedin' Heart Liberals that all recordings of the band have now been destroyed. Thank God for that - wouldn't want President Bush accusing people of possesing WMDs!

Dr D.

My name- is from a famous swedish singer, who is actually Eagle Eye-Cherry and Neneh Cherry's brother... thanks to my swedish mother! Half swedish that is!
Thanks for a fun thread!

I am sorry, i did not mean to write 'brother' i meant to say Titiyo is the sister to the other two famous singers..... ok sorry, i had to get that straight!!!

Dr. Do Good---You are Pushin' Too Hard b/c You Love That Dirty Water and You Had Too Much To Dream Last Night. Am I right?

I am so happy that you enjoyed this post. New members are always welcome.

Well...I have a westie and he pretty much rules the roost (but is so cute we don't care)

My only contribution here is to make it #300

Its what my brothers call me. I think its based on one of my uncle's brogue. Its pronounced ben NEE.

pica is latin for Magpie - my nickname/corruption of Maggie, of which there are an increasing number. I also like shinythings.

I'd love to drive a Hummer. However, with the price tag, and now the gas price going up, AND my travel bugs - that's never gonna happen!

Mine is so boring -- the first three letters of my first and last name. Since the loves of my life (in no particular order) are travel, dogs and children, maybe I'll start an alias -- travlin' dog child!

Mine is also very boring -- my initials before I was married combined with my initials after I was married. I try to use the same name on several sites so I won't forget it.

Sherry

When I was a child, my aunt in France would take me shopping to a market chain named Coccinelle. She said it meant ladybug, so loving those little red spotted bugs gave me the idea for this name.

Well my name was taken, see above, so I thought since I am a Kiwi (New Zealander) and being an accountant which helps pay for the travel I would be Kiwi_acct. Pretty simple really

Steve

Because I've grown MUCH TOO DEPENDANT upon SPELLCHECK, but you get the intent.
In Oct of '98, my wife gave me an ultimatum/ deadline -- we had to go to Ireland before her next birthday (OCT).
Both of her father's parents had been born and raised in Ireland, yet no one in her family (including her father)had ever been.
So, in April of 99, my wife, her brother, her sister (and her partner)and my father-in-law (aged 80) and I took off for an 8 day trip. All the planning, all the driving, route planning and accommodation selection was done by me. I had been so anal about the research that I printed out maps of, to/from the airports, lists and locations of attractions, historical data, etc. etc. My 'guidebook' ran about 100 pages and whenever one of the group would ask about ANYTHING, I would tell them "It's in the book", and then quote the pertinent information. They started kidding me about being the 'Irish Tour Guide' and I would say, "No, I'm the Itallian (which I am) Chauffeur!" The name didn't really stick until our last day in Ireland. We were checking into a B&B in Bunnratty and the owner asked me which room would be for which person (Like most men, I'm not allowed to make that call, it's ALWAYS up to my wife). Feeling a little silly, I replied, "You'll have to ask them, I'M JUST THE CAUFFEUR". Nonplussed, the owner nodded and replied, "So you will be back in the morning to pick them up?"
"No," was my reply. Then I pointed to my wife (then of 28 years) and said, "I'm sleeping with her."

Ever since, I've been the Itallian Chauffeur.

Mine's pretty boring. It's the first syllable of my husband's surname melded to the first syllable of my surname.

Cigalechanta, I've been wondering what your name meant!

Edna (if you're still around), if it's any consolation, my middle name is Gladys (I'm in my mid-40s, so my peers have lovely middle names like Anne and Lynn). The clerk at the hospital told my parents not to saddle me with that and they did it anyway.

Fun thread! Glad to know the origins of some very clever monkiers too!

Mine is not too creative. First initial, last name. Keeps things simple in a complicated internet world!

My DH is a tpatricco too though, so we were debating the other day over who's who between "T", "TP", & tpatricco. Fortunately, he doesn't post here.

Thanks to all for sharing! Trish

Wanderlust - That's what gets me back on the road again, and again, and again....!

This has been really interesting, some of you are very imaginative. If I had it to do over again, I would have put a lot more thought into choosing my screen name. Unfortunately I did not, I simply chose my initials as my screen name. I do not want to change it now because my favorite posters will no longer recognize me, so in the Fodor world, I will forever be P_M.

Wanted to use something other than my real name (Sheila Anne -- for reasons I don't know), so I chose a variation (see below).

SÍLE (pr. Sheila): This is a name of Roman origin. It is also derived from the name 'Celia'. This name with this spelling is fairly well and evenly distributed around Ireland.

Just my first name backwards.
I loved your little story "Itallian Chauffer"! I too have an Italian in my life - my beautiful handsome son. A gift beyond all measure some 25 years ago from a young lady to whom I am eternally grateful.

It's a translation of my name, Arabic to English. It's funny cuz I get a lot of feedback assuming I'm arrogant or something.

Well, the phrase "I have a cunning plan" should say enough...
My first name is not rick, allthough I am quite bald by now...
At work, I have a "firstname.surname"-address and I didn't see my postings with my real name on the forum.
I have never seen someone on the forum with my real, rather common, given name, which is Paul... Maybe I'll change someday, who knows!

Mine's probably fairly easy to figure out. I'm a 49-year-old twin who happened to be born first (Baby A). When we were little, I would always tell my twin that she had to respect her elders (I'm 3 minutes older). Now that we are nearing 50, she likes to tease me about being the "old" twin!

Jan (twina49)

well...it does!

my daughter, #1, took me to the local library, to teach me how to use the internet. when we returned home, daughter #2, said--how's mom doing? Daughter #1 replied---she's surfing now!!
Daughter #2, replied, that's her name---surfingmomma!!
and, that, my friends, "is the rest of the story". I love the name!
surfingmomma

Oh, you have ruined my image of you surfin' the waves.

SeaUrchin, me too! I picture this suntanned surfer mama

I think there needs to be a sub-thread here about those who post under a dozen or so screen names What each one means and why you chose it and for which occasion LOL

I am a hopeless romantic so after I read the book "The Bridges of Madison County" and saw the movie I booked a flight to Winterset, Iowa and visited all of the covered bridges. The most famous one in the movie was the Roseman Bridge where Clint Eastwood picks flowers for Meryl Streep. While I was there I saw a little black and white creature in the cornfields in the middle of nowhere.

To make a long story short it was the cutest, barely 2 month old kitten in the middle of nowhere. I brought him home on the plane with me. He was near death but with a lot of love, care and money he is now a very healthy cat. Of course I named him Madison.

Let's say I am a distant ancestor of Baldrick
My first name is Martine and Wezel was the nickname I got when I was a member of the scouts.

It is rather silly. I have an extremely affectionate cat named Sam that my husband jokingly refers to as my son. When I was looking for a screen name, said husband (an avid reader and lover of esoteric information) suggested Omsam since Om is the Egyptian prefix for Mother.

It's my grandmother's name. Her grandfather was Irish, she said, and came to America because he "wanted to dance." That's all she knew about him, but she could play Irish music on any instrument, by ear. She didn't realize it was Irish music, though. To her it was just music. When I started planning my first trip to Ireland this year, I used Granny's name for posting on Fodor's, because she will go with me in my heart.

Interesting post..
I wanted something different , but at the same time I wanted to express how I feel about life in general.

Kismet, means fate, destiny.

Chimaera, is a figment of the imagination, something that can't exists but in our dreams.

But is also the name of a song that my now deceased Mom used to sing all the time..
La Vita e una Chimera, un sogno e nulla piu...
Life is a Chimera, a dream and nothing more...
I just put the two together and became Kismetchimera..

Every ten to 15 years my life has had a volcanic scale eruption/sea change. Either it was war, death, sickness, etc.- you get the idea. So in this last 10 year span I find myself re-invented as JJ (nickname I had in my first Pharmacy job- and it is too long a story to tell here- & not my name either- but reflecting to a younger and easier era)- but now with the 5 lovely and intelligent human beings added, who happen to be my grandchildren as well.

The littler girl's name in the Sound of Music! One of my favorite movies and I love the name.

I can't believe I read this whole thread when I should be taking a shower to get myself to choral practice. I couldn't help it! It was fun to read the stories behind all of these screen names I have been seeing for the last month.

Mine is boring, my initials and my favorte number. I am regretting that I wasn't more creative!

Mine is pathetic...I misspelled a nickname and ended up stuck with the typo. Can you tell I didn't proofread? lol!

Roots and wings for a travel message board. The Bronx is where I was born and bred - hence, the roots. Travelling is what gives me wings.

Well, mine is obvious.

I couldn't think of anything clever. I am terrible chosing names. It is a wonder my daughter has a name, LOL.

Couldn't think of a name for our boat. A friend did.

Couldn't think of a name for our dog.
Another friend did.

Soooo, just took this name as it says how I feel.

initials. I use them as my perennial log-in name as I can't remember anything else.

Given name is too unusual and I prefer a little anonymity in the wide web world - (how many of you have ever Googled yourself? Or perhaps I should rephrase that...)

Anyway, I unimaginatively took a leaf from a friend and use the dog's moniker; the last two letters...well, they're not too tough a riddle to figure.

Love some of the stories here - esp the Italian chauffeur.

China Cat Sunflower -- by Robert Hunter&Jerry Garcia

Look for a while at the China Cat sunflower,
Proud walking jingle in the midnight sun.
Copperdome bodhi drip a silver kimono,
Like a crazy quilt stargown through a dream night wind.

Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandanna,
Like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eye jack.
A leaf of all colors plays a golden-string fiddle,
To a double-E waterfall over my back.

Comic book colors on a violin river Cryin' Leonardo,
Words from out a silk trombone.
I rang a silent bell, beneath a shower of pearls,
In the eagle-winged palace of the Queen Chinee.

I guess mine is obvious, this being a travel forum.

I spent 40 years in the nuclear safety game, hence "nukesafe".

I'm on this forum to talk about travel, but, being a honest to gosh nuclear safety expert, if anyone on the thread is building a nuclear reactor in your basement, or assembling an atomic weapon in your basement, I'd be happy to check out the safety of your project.

Of course, times being as they are, you may expect I may bring a few stout friends along to assist in the inspection.

It started out in 2000 when I said to Mr. 12 that if I was only gonna have a week vacation then I will plan 7 perfect days. Each year I have managed to wring another day and another and so on. As I tend to be a bit obsessive in my planning they really have turned out to be perfect for us and each year better than the last.
Mr 12 said I should have been:
Poquito Mas (a little more)
My mom said "obsessive"
sis-law said "enough already"
best friend said "TYGod4FodorsForum"

I have no clue what they mean by this!

My favorite pasttime is birding (birdwatching). I live for that call from a friend "Hey, lets go birding!" so I shortened it. My real name is Brenda

Letsgobird- I have a wrens nest by my front door in a planter full of tiny tiny babies

A friend calls himself "likealeopard" for no known reason. So i started calling myself "likeadog" shortened to LAD. And I tell those who want to know - it is because I work like a dog but actually its because I play like a dog. I also run like a dog (as in marathon running). So I want to change my name to "runningdog".

My given name Emily was taken. Tesoro literally means 'treasure'. My hubby calls me so because I'm his precious : )

I grew up on a farm near the little village of Ardfert in the south west of Ireland.Eight hundred years ago a small cathedral and a monastery were built there and the ruins are still magnificant,at least in my eyes.It made me interested in ancient buildings and I love to see them,mostly in Europe.Fortune took me to America and several other countries but Ardfert is where I feel most at home.

as nedsireland noticed on another thread, this name means "pilgrim." Also, it's the name of a kind of hawk, a beautiful wise old bird, such as I aspire to become one day.

Scarlett-great news about the wrens nest, I have several birds preparing their nestboxes also. I'm taking my binoculars to Italy -who knows how many new species I'll pick up on my life list.

My screen name here is boring, because the name I use EVERYWHERE else, Squidgie, was taken, and I was too bummed to make something else up.

There's a great story behind Squidgie, though. Eleven years ago I was pregnant with our first child. I had a word-of-the-day calendar on my desk at work, and one day I decided to look up the word of the day for my due date.

The word was "squidge", which is a verb meaning "to pass slowly through a small opening." My husband and I thought that was hilarious, and called the baby Squidgie until he was born. It's been my screen name ever since.

A sundowner is the cocktail you drink while you stop and watch the sun set in Africa. I can't think of any place I'd rather be!

Just getting back from a trip to Florida, Gulf-side, where the red tide was unfortunately in bloom. FlyFish, I was interested in your entry (among the many)as I too, love to fly fish. I brought my rod down to Florida but the red tide had taken its toll on the fish, alas. I did catch a bunch of unwelcome catfish on the intercoastal waterway, but I will say that they are great fighters!Flyfish, have you done much fishing in France? I understand that the Pyrenees offer excellent trout fishing.

As for the name: Among my other pursuits are long distance running, swimming and biking. The Tour de France melds my love of France, the countryside and biking-- a hat trick of passions. Hence, the name.

Because I like to sit in the middle.

Kismet, do you know the rest of the lyrics or which song it comes from?
I know another song that starts "you say it's all about intention, a chimera in disguise, its about your life..."

My name is Kris, but I was christened "krix" by a friend in Venice. He calls me "kricka" also, but I think of crickets at the thought of using it for a screen name.

I always loved Winnie the Pooh, and a former boyfriend nicknamed me Pooh Girl. As mentioned before, there are a lot of Susans out there. I didn't want to be any more specific than my first name.
BTW, I like Cassandra's story. Very witty!

Mine is my mother's first name, it means "given as a gift in Spanish." She was born on Mother's day and my grandma tought it was appropriate to mark her as a gift for life. My Mom hates the name and never discloses it, so I decided to adopt it as screen name in a few places. As a plus, it's never taken .

Muskoka is the name of a beautiful region in Ontario (province in Canada) where I used to own a cottage on the lake, but the entire area has become overdeveloped with multi-million $ cottages (hockey players, dot.coms, Goldie Hawn, etc. I sold mine and have bought a piece of former Crown land and built a cottage on it. It's remote - solar power only, no large motor boats, few neighbours, and I can sail with my husband without being run over by "sea-fleas." My heart must still be in Muskoka.

Hi Everybody!
I am a new poster on Fodors but have been enjoying all your posts for years. I am finally jumping into the fray. You are a great bunch.

A few years back I got on a poetry writing jag and could not stop. I was writing in my sleep, that was, if I could sleep. It was pretty wild. One morning my husband told me he hadn't slept very well because he was making up poems in his head and after agreeing that what I had was contagious, I was feverishly writing a poem about that and I was hot, hot, hot! I have used that screen name ever since.

I have red hair and all my life people have commented on it. I must stand out in a crowd. I also am quite outgoing and like listening to jazz, hence jazzy.

ttt

This is fun--I knew there were some interesting stories out there.

I'm a bit of a techie and when I first started emailing friends and family, I always signed cyber sis, cyber mom, cyber daughter... you get the picture! Cybertraveler seemed the logical extension

Love Tahiti, Got married in Tahiti and thought it would make a good name..
I have always wondered about Cigalechanta,kismet whatcha you call it and St. Cirq.. also, I would love to know who M Kingdom is and the lovely Ben Haines, Elaine, Scarlett and NYC Food Snob just to match a face with the name..Also Rex comes to mind..
Everyone has a distinct personality and you know by the moniker what kind of response you will usually get from them...I forgot about Ira, I want to party with that guy!

My name (Mat) and when I graduated from college, plus an extra 0 (003). I'm so exciting.

Holy C**p. A posting resurfacing over two years later.

I love Tiffany lamps. In every room of my house I have three, perfect, Tiffany lamps - exactly three in each room.

I also love the little blue boxes from Tiffany's. I have saved each and every one and have them neatly stacked next to each of the lamps.

LOL, gotcha! The REAL choice was made in honor of my wonderful husband and his long time friends. He has been playing softball with the same great bunch of guys for over 20 years. All these professionals with their serious jobs still out there playing ball every spring and half of the summer once a week. Every year they say, "Ok, This is the last year." And every year, they go one more round. They are lovely guys, and there is something so true and genuine about their friendship. While they have been playing ball together for over 20 years, most have known each other for a great many more, some since elementary school.

The business that has sponsored them for most of these years is, drum roll please: Tiff's.

I just discovered this thread that appears to have been around for quite a while but I am fairly new( about a month or so) and I have been getting a big kick out of all of the advice, jokes, comments, comments on comments, and truely heartfelt wishes. This is the only name I have used here but have been listed on VT as treebeard50. If you would see me you would recognize the family trait passed on from my mother's side of the family but appearing "just like dad" that is the origin and cause of the first half of the name. The second half is the second half of my name, nothing fancy or too creative but I don't have to tell people twice after they hear it. Thanks to all for the entertainment and honesty. Traveling is a passion especially to Europe, and this site is great. I hope the names keep coming now that this has been sent ttt.

John

Although it is years later in the life of the thread, I too like the name choice of the "hardy" traveller, Tess.

Portafoy is, I am hoping, another way of saying "have faith", but it also has a bit of retro-cachet for "Night Gallery" watchers. Being an evil tempered crone, however, I would not have been amenable to being ordered around by Roddy McDowell for as long as TV-Portafoy was.

WONDERFUL!! it was a pleasure scrolling through all the names and how they were created.

When I retired I returned to my first lover--acting--and i made a bunch of commercials, worked on SNL,Conan, did a bit on Third Watch, etc.

One of my nephews introduced me as his 'famous uncle art.'

volia! it stuck and I love it.

It's my initials and I'm boring.

One day I'm going to re-register with something more groovy.

I am a gemology professor at a local university. Just picked the name of a gem and when it didn't work, added the two and voila..Rubytwo worked!

When you're born on the night of the full moon of the heavens...you become Kamahinaohoku...the moon and the stars.

My softball team went to this Irish Pub after a game. There was a band (well, solo artist) playing that night. We were pretty wasted and I made my way up to the stage and played the bongos while he played guitar and sang. My teammate said "Way to go Bongobabe" and the name stuck.

The two great loves in my life - scuba diving and my 2 adorable Jack Russell Terriers...who would don a mask and full gear if they could!

What great stories! Mine is just that I'm rather opinionated and feel the need to put in "my 2 cents" worth on a regular basis...

I am actually an Iberian Bull. I go by "Toro" because "Bos Taurus Africanus" is too much to type when you have hooves.

I am a Brazilian, and "still crazy after all these years..."

Bump

I guess mine's obvious, this being a travel forum.

I always want to go to Italy NOW, IMMEDIATELY and everything else "subito"
means!

How fun - glad this thread got resurrected! Can't believe I read them all....

I'll add mine, but Texans probably have already guessed.

An "Aggie" is a person who attends the school in College Station, Texas called Texas A&M. It comes from the original name of the school: Texas "AG"ricultural and Mechanical University. Our oldest daughter is now a Junior there and we are very proud parents.

Was given the name by an old girl friend. She was from New Zealand with brown eyes and sallow skin, I'm from Ireland and a peculiar shade of pinky/white turning to blue in the winter!!! So she christened me pastyp. The P is the first inital of my real name Paul

Steve is my first name and Frat is the first four letters of my last name: Frat******. I've had it butchered every which way, but my personal favorite is: Stevie Fart******. The kids at school just loved that one.

My first name is Tracy, hence the "t" and my maiden name was Creath.

Even though I am now married (and have been for over 5 years!) I've always use "tcreath" as my username and continue to do so now because its easy to remember and most of my usernames match.

Tracy

My first name is Becky and I was into playing trivia on line. I came up with this as a screen name and have stuck with it ever since.

I came up with my screen name based on where I live because when I tried to use my given name it had already been used. So, since I live on the South Carolina coast (the Low Country as we call it around here) and on an island, LowCountryIslander just kind of made sense!

My initials + my year of birth. Mostly to make it easier for me to remember. Not very creative, but it gets the job done.

I'm a chick and I'm a lawyer.

My e-mail address is irishlawchick - as i'm irish too.

I work. I wander. Can't do the second without the first. Sigh...

my name is terry, but someone nicknamed me teaberry, and it stuck (like the gum!)

I live in Texas, I'm a West Virginia Mountaineer fan...ergo TXEER.

And besides when I was Uncle Sam I got into too much trouble!

lol

I'm a big Denver Broncos fan, and I made mine up when "Jules" was taken everywhere I went on the internet back when Al Gore invented the Internet and John Elway was playing for the Broncos.

Jules4je7= "Jules for John Elway #7"

Easy for me to remember, and not obvious to the casual observer.



Jules

I was traveling in Vietnam in 1998 and decided to open a yahoo account. I tried to get something traditional, but michael was taken, and I didn't want to use my last name, so I looked at a window and picked a Vietnamese dish (thit cho = dog meat). I didn't think anyone would have that, and I've used it ever since.

When I was a wee baby, my Dad's very first nickname for me was Bird or Birdie, which he combined with my first name, Cheryl, to create CheBird (the Che is pronounced Shay). I've been CheBird ever since to my parents. Still. Even 30+ years later.

Aggiemom, I bet that you are teased quite often about all the funny jokes about Aggies.
As for example; how many Aggies it take to change a light Bulb? Could not resist..
I am a Road Runner..UTSA

Well, I wanted something kind of quirky, and at the time I had just watched an interesting movie called Deja Vu. It also makes me think of those rare and weird times while traveling when you go somewhere and you feel like you've been there before...even if you haven't...

I spent a while living in Japan. I was shopping in Asakusa at the shrine and in among all the lucky cat souveniers that had one or the other paw in the air, I found one with both paws in the air and a look of complete bliss on its face. It was the only one like it so I bought it.

My real name starts with Kat and so I've been luckykat online even since.

My first trip to Paris--Liked it.
Second trip to Paris -- Indifferenct.
Third trip to Paris-- Hated it.
Fourth trip to Paris-- Was ok.
Fifth trip to Paris-- Indifferent.

When my travel companion would call and say Paris? My response was sure why not.

Somewhere, somehow, and I can't recall when...he (Paris)with that subtle quiet French romantic charm stole my heart without warning.

Now when my travel companion calls and I hear the word Paris. I respond NOW!

When discussing the thought of backpacking through europe byself, being a female 39 my friends said did i lose my mind? I said why of course i did!

My boyfriend brought me some mimosa, a flower that I never smelled before. Someone here had the name but later dropped it so now it's mine.

Actually, I didn't. My sister, the computer guru Maryfran, chose it for me when she was setting up an account for me on Yahoo. My ISP is a local, cheap and kind of cheesy service that I don't always seem able to access in Europe. Now I use it for some of my accounts, including this one.

The girl who is often tormented by Calvin*--and who gives as good as she gets!
(*Calvin and Hobbes)

My first post was to ask about how to get a discount/refund from a totally disgusting hotel! Can you guess the appearance of the bathroom?

I have a thing for Russia. I hope to some day visit.

Fabriano is where my dad's family lives.

traveled all over Europe in the last 10 years on business and pleasure but never completely explored Italy! My next trip is in March 2006 in ITALY!

Wow, this thread is almost 3 years old and I can't believe I missed it. I come from a southern town where no one went by their real names, just their nicknames. This is one of mine and surprisingly enough, it's not short for Louise.

So, Weezie, are you going to tell us the story? Inquiring minds want to know!

at work I am Ann. My DH, my close friends and my travel buddy all call me Annie. It is my name when I am having fun!! I am a Mom, but being an Aunt is a FUN role...spoiling w/o discipline. And the English nerd in me likes alliteration.

While growing up in the American south I was the "wee one" in a family of four girls. For many years I was called "Wee one" or plain "Wee," and eventually, thankfully, it got expanded to Weezie. When I went away to college in the north I went by my real name. Then, for a while, I was called two different names north and south of the Mason Dixon. Juliet asked, "What's in a name...?" My answer: lots.

When we lived in Rome we used to spend every September fishing the Gacka River in Croatia. The peasants would often come up to us and after asking how many children we had they'd say,"ima riba" and point up stream or down and spread their hands far apart. This indicates the size of the fish that they said was there. SO when we returned to the states and began life as a consultant I created the Name imariba for my business. Since I worked in Fisheries all my life until I became a photographer, I figured that imariba was appropriate. At least its better than nemariba, which means there are no fish.

it's the name of my sweet baby yorkie
(daisy) and the year of my birth

PFTHHHT

When I moved to Spain, people pronounced my name "Cly-EE-ray" because that is how it is spelled. It is common to put an article before a name, so everyone called me "la claire." I liked that, so it was my e-mail address in college and when I came here, it was what I came up with. I do have another one that I would like to use, though. . .

What an amazing thread!

My favorite: nukesafe

I wanted LucyVanPelt, but taken (my husband thinks I'm a bit 'Lucy-ish'.

I like to surf (internet) and I'm mom... not terribly exciting.

I am an English teacher (get it?)

Oh Weezie, you do bring back memories!
I remember all of my friends and my parents calling a young man in the neighborhood Pappy. I was a young adult before I ever knew his real name was David lol..
Wee , cute

I've always had an obsession with Venice. Long story short, I'm finally getting to Venice (and Paris and Rome!) next Feb/March, which is my 30th birthday. A present to myself and a way to make a splash and not get depressed (everyone keeps warning me that it will happen!)

I found this fab site just as I made the decision to go. 'Venice' was taken, so I tried 'Venetian'. The 30 is self evident. LOL - I never expected to be advertising my age so much though!

I'm a girl and I'm from Jamaica...so...JAGIRL!

Wren was what my mom called me from time to time growing up! I added my first initial.
K-wren = Karen


Hi Parrotmom if you are still with us - We have a male eclectus parrot - bright green with red underwings and teal blue trim.

Hi pakitty - I live near Harrisburg - where are you in PA?

My childhood nickname. Being Leslie and a girl in the 60's wasn't bad enough, my dear old dad called me "Hester"! Some of my friends from childhood still call me that. My dad gave everyone a nickname. I was pretty lucky some of them were worse. I wish he was still here with me, what I wouldn't give to hear him say HESSS--TER in his special way! By the way his nickname was BIG JOJO, a name we all use today when we talk about him.

my name and nicknname were taken, so I use my daughter's nickname given to her by her friends. If I'd have given it more thought, I would've chosen something snappier!

Thanks for topping Jagirl.

As I scrolled up reading all the posts I came across mine, dated 6/5/2005. I smiled warmly, as last year was the softball team's last year (you'll get it if you read it). Each year, they always said, "This is our last year" but last year really was the last season.

Here's to you, guys!
I hope I honor your name!

i never thought i would end up posting here for years, i pretty much registered to make a single comment on something. needless to say, i gave little thought to my screen name. just a love of walking around cities, mountains, beaches, etc.

for me, there is no better day than to wake up put on a pair of shoes and just walk wherever you want to go.

i have another chosen in case i ever need it...

Wish I had a cooler story but I just have flat feet

I am a Swiss alpine wildflower. . .

(it should really be blue)

hey walkinaround ~ in case you check back, what is your favorite city to walk around in?

My husband's nickname for me --- means wife in Chinese

tiff...it's hong kong....great walking city.

Outstanding, thank you.

Native of southeastern Louisiana with a Cajun heritage.

My first French class was in 7th grade. Monsieur Kier told us we each had to choose a French name for ourselves. Colette was what I chose...and I continued to be Colette in grades 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and also throughout my freshman, sophomore and junior years of French in college. NINE years of French and I STILL can't speak the language!!!

In Gilbert and Sullivan's "Ruddigore," my favorite G&S, Mad Margaret comes up with the city name "Basingstoke...a word that teems with hidden meaning" to calm her down and center from her wild thoughts.
Desmond: "If you don't Basingstoke at once, I shall be seriously angry."
Mad M: " Basingstoke it is!

I have always loved that scene.

During the plannng of my first trip to Europe with my daughter, I had to setup a email account. All names I chose were taken -- even my real name, so being as we were two gals going to Europe I chose Eurogals and now all my friends know me by that name and even though I have moved and have a new account I still keep Eurogals as my name.

Travelbug is obviously b/c I like to travel, but the 13 is a lucky number in my family. My grandmother has 13 grandchildren, she was married on the 13th, her house number was 13, and it just stuck with my whole family. Many good things have happened with the number 13 for me.

This is a fabulous thread!

My screen name is less than creative: first three letters of my last name and the city where I currently live; however, perhaps when we are no longer expats, this name will fondly bring to mind the first place we ever lived abroad.

I logged on as GeorgeW in respect for America's Founding Father, George Washington. I gather many on this site believe my screen name is in honor of the current resident of George Washington's office. However, I did not vote for Dubya or, to be honest, his opponents either.

Rosie is the name of our Boston Terror, I mean Terrier, mix. Also known as Rosepie, Sweet thing, Sweetpea.

TX - I live between the towns of Sachse and Wylie Texas!
TravelPro - I am a travel professional. Used to be a travel agent and now I work in hotel automation. Odds are if you have ever booked a hotel, it has touched our system.
I teach hotels how to better market their properties using the existing technology.
It is a GREAT, FUN job!!!

Gypsy is my dog. Gypsygirl is what I call her when we run together. Using her name will always remind me to make sure that the places I travel to are dog-friendly. Or at least remind me not to be gone too long.

Great thread that I had never seen before.

Mine is pronounced "dee-jay", my husband's and my initials from our first names. I have had this screen name for years since it's usually never taken by anyone else due to the unusal spelling.

I am obsessed with curious george and all things curious. Curious George accompanies me on my travels (keep an onging photo journal of places George has been). (unfortunately, in my haste when I signed up here I misspelled curious - just another oddity, I guess!

A silly old episode of a classic 1970's family sitcom the "Brady Bunch". Marcia Is not my name

Padhraicin is the Irish (Gaelic) version of my first name "Patricia".

You might assume I chose mine because of the famous painting in Paris, but it was actually the name of a beloved pet cat of mine. I was learning Spanish at the time and found out Mona means "cute". So that's what I named her. I later learned the real meaning is "monkey" and I was crushed. We had many good years together and now I use the name Monalisa for everything.

My screen name is the Welsh word for "traveller". There's another variation of it, but I liked this one. And no, I'm not Welsh...but I've heard it spoken and it sounds cool.

Baldrick, you've inspired me to change my name to Queenie. I would need to come up with a whole new persona to match.

I'll always love the Fab Four!!

My grandfather had a store when I was a kid and I would always wander around saying I want this, I want that, I want..... so he called me iw. Funny thing, many years later I met my now husband in college and he started calling me iw since, I guess, I was always saying I want this..I want that. Somehow, I don't think iw is a real compliment, but it has been with me for so long, I use it in my email.

My childrens names combined --- Yasmin and Yaron = Yasron

ttt

I must have tried at least ten different names but they were all taken--so I settled on outwest as I've relatively recently moved back to the west coast from Toronto.

Travel is my passion - Ginny is my name = travginny

When I'm hungry, I become irascible. Beinging a runner, I am hungry alot. Rather than tell me how nasty I had become, my DH would joke that "my honey, the badger was coming out". Then National Geo did a segment on "Honey Badgers: Meanest Animal in the World". Apparently, they are irascible all the time. Since I have blond hair, the double meaning was too perfect and the name has stuck...it's even my license plate.

I have 21 cats, so I say "scatcat" a lot.

A name that my Italian mother calls me.

Mine is short for SavvyTraveler - which is my "handle" for Geocaching - a highly addictive sport for you adventurous travelers out there.

www.geocaching.com

Persimmon-college nickname (we all had "hippie names" and had a rule that they had to start with "p"-we also had prajapani, patchouli, and paprika) + real name (Deb)
You can call me Persi, though.

I chose this as my screen name because I am totally without creativity.

Plus I thought "girl_who_loves_amaretto_cookies_
and_wishes_she_was_back_in_rome_
right_now" might be kind of hard to type out.

Boring, boring, boring: my initials and my house number. I was in a hurry when registering and didn't realize how much I would wish I'd picked something different. But I don't want to change at this point...

My online name for many years was taken, so I added the numeral and voila

Yasron, that's beautiful!

shelly_m, that's hilarious!

As approximately 100 other posters have noted, Susan is a ridiculously common name,so I can't use that. And I also have a ridiculously common last name. My parents might as well have named me Jane Doe.

I'm afraid I'm not very creative in figuring out screen names. I had thought about naming my daughter Shanti & I like the meaning of the word.

It does turn out to be useful when I use the search function on Fodor's.

We are two West Highland White terriers who, regrettably, do not travel well, but our parents do.

My wife gave me a stuffed bear, which has become my emblem. Being an LA Lakers fan, I nameed him Shaquille O'Bear in honor of . . . O'Neal. When the Big Aristotle was traded, mon ours was renamed appropriately as Declawed Bear. The rest speaks for itself.

>We are two West Highland White terriers who, regrettably, do not travel well, but our parents do.<

Funny!

Nothing profound here---just always have Merrytimes when we are travelling

lucci,
my beautiful orenage and white kitten is called Lucci also..

love anything tropical-palm trees, beaches, shells- and love Kerry Blue
Terriers.

I am American Italian, speak it and love any name Italian, although my first name is not! So it means, hello Deb, and that's me, Debbie!

After a long period of doing all the right and proper things
I decided to take more risks,
hence no longer an angel but rather angel not

Because I am the lead singer in a Christian rock band.

In 1995 when preparing for our first trip to europe, my daughter and I needed to setup an email account for the lst time.

We tried our names, pet names, mother's name, family name, fun names, dog's name and they were all taken soooooooo . . . . we decided we were two gals going to europe, therefore we were going to be eurogals and it was available.

That's my story and I'm sticking with it.

OOPS - I guess I posted a response to this question two years ago.

Same reason.

Just think Tolkien.

I think our screen name (mine/hubby's) says it all. WE actually LOVE to bike, but that was taken!

We are putting our spinning skills to good use, and departing Oct 15th (next month)for Florence Italy, then picking up a bike tour, cycling thru Tuscany (for 6 days) will arrive in Rome, and stay there for 3 days before we return to NC! Can't wait!!

Stumbled apon this thread from the past.

Mine is for my classic car from my youth.

Car: BMW
Model: 2002
Year: 1973

I owned them before the yuppies found em!

and...I Have just sold it!! (sniff! Sniff!)

(anyone know of one for sale!!!)

I tried many screen names and everyone I chose had been taken. I was getting frustrated and thought fate had decided that I chose nametaken--no problem.

I'm a hiking guide in the Alps (alpenwild.com) and I'm always on the lookout for chamois in the mountains. They can climb 1000m in just 15 minutes. Amazing.

Just because I am a gypsy. Don't need much, just a place to lay down, shower, and rest. And a maiden, and a fair one at that!!

I am a huge fan of Clint Eastwood and if you have seen the Sergio Leone films "A Fist Full of Dollars" & "For A Few Dollars More" the above is his characters name.
In Eastwood's next film, "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" his character is Blondie but unfortunately for me, time has seen me look more like Silver or Whitie.
My mobile phone ringtone is the theme tune from "The Good, The Bad ........." by Hugo Montenegro and it is also the theme tune to a favourite Aussie radio program of mine called "The Coodabeens" - long story poorly told, sorry!!

I'm a dog person..... so the combo of my two dogs' names... Abby and Beau

I love traipsing about in my boots.

I'm from Canada and I've been told that I pronounce the word 'about' funny, so perhaps I should've made my screen name 'traipsingaboot'?

My name is the area of the region I live in, north county.

My favorite artist is Marcel Duchamp but Duchamp was taken on AOL. While toying with variations I hit the send button too quickly.

It's my name.

I was lucky to have known to register as soon as Fodor's changed the system so I was able to get to use my real name.

Connie is my name also!! But I didnt move fast enough

Just made it up because Germany is my favorite country to visit.

steve (my real name) was taken.
ssteve (with 2 s's) was taken.
sssteve wasn't taken.

I've been using "sssteve" since the earliest days of the internet. Does anybody remember chatting on "BROADCAST" ?????

My screen name came from a boat a once owned and named. The boat was a Wayfarer and when I was looking for a name for it, a thesaurus suggested Stumblebum as meaning wayfarer, wanderer etc.

It has stuck ever since. It suited theboat and suited our travels, which have stopped now for far too long owing to expense of another larger boat...

I decided on my name after my favorite pastry "Ispahan" by Pierre Herme. It is a full size rose macaron filled with raspberries (framboise) with a cream flavored with rose syrup and chopped lychees.

The problem is what to do when PH stops making this confection but will face that one when the time comes!

Topping to comlement the pix posting thread ...

On a certain trip to PV with two girlfriends I went horsebackriding (thus "Dale" as in Rogers) and that night I met my second bed companion who made me scream. My mates were in the other room. THus the fusion HoDale.

My 'camp' name is "Maven". After an interview about my travels in Mexico, I was nicknamed "Travel Maven" and it's stuck.

I'm originally from Chicago and now live in Dallas.

My name begins with J and Im a jetsetter (I wish)

It a blend of the name of a beloved and departed pet and my name!