Ok as you can see I use my real name... well for all you know I use my real name(I do) but what I'm wondering is how many people here use their real names and how many have fabricated a username instead. Not that either one is bad.

When I first came to the site I went to sign up and I typed in my usual user name, then I erased it and put in my real name. Why? Well I realised I'm here to show my strip a strip which I created and am proud of. If you like my strip I want to make sure you know I did it.That's pretty much why I did it... I thought I had more to say on the subject but that's it. I am curious to know why you chose one way or the other or if you gave it any thought at all.

You might like dis'

http://www.projectfanboy.com/vb/showthread.php?t=1796

I think this is more general discussion...anyways, my username was the name of the comic I joined drunkduck to post. After that I just started using it for everything because it's easy for me to remember that way, and for people to recognize me on different sites and stuff.

"Persona!"
http://megamitensei.wikia.com/wiki/Chernobog

Couldn't resist, sorry.

When I first came into the internet as an 13-14 year old girl, I was pretty much an Sailor Moon fan... a huge one. so I went by Sailor Aurora for a large majority of my teenage years online.

but as I matured, I wanted something that was a little bit more mature but still something that people recognize me as. since how while I still liked Sailor Moon in that it was my very first anime and got me into many better anime series, the fandom was still starting to wear off.

so I went for Aurora Moon... because while it wasn't too Sailor Moonish, it was then something people who previously knew me as Sailor Aurora, could still recognize.

Also, I very rarely used my real name online... mainly because there is the danger of giving out too much personal information. nowadays anybody can find out where you actually live just with your real full name and your picture... as well as the state you live in. it's sorta scary what Google can come up with that sort of information then. you know, they now can list phone numbers of all the people in the said state with your full name.

in a way, you can still place claims on your own works even if you use an alias online.

I adopted the UserName "DAJB" just because it's shorter than my real name. "DAJB" just happens to be my initials and a nickname I've had since schooldays (the "B" is silent!)

I'm not trying to hide my real name, though. If anyone's interested in that sort of thing, then (even though I can't think of any reason why they should be!) each chapter of my comic starts with a Credits page listing all the contributors, so they can find it there. Like this one! ;D

This post is em-BEAR-assingly stupid.

I use my real name on this site.

Some people like to protect their identities even when they post their comics because they fear stuff could come back at them.

When I first posted my art online I went with my full name, and I also identify myself with my full name on my own website and on every page of my comic. Consequently a Google of my full name makes me the top result. But Ozoneocean is me too, I've used it for so long and I identify myself with it, So I use that for accounts connected to my work.

I used to, and still go by Tetsuo a lot of the time thanks to the movie Akira, and became the name for my fantasy alter ego back in my early teen years when I played D&D. Because of that, and my love for final fantasy games, I wanted to make a group of special agents for a story I had planned, and the game FF Tactics had a corps of knights called Hokuten. A few bastardizations later and I came up with Hakoshen.

Somewhere down the line it just became the primary name I use to identify myself online. Plus it's unique; google Hakoshen and pretty much everything on the first two pages is related to me somehow.

It doesn't mean anything. I change screennames every couple of years.

Like ozone, my username has become my online identity. If you were to google me, after sorting through all the stuff about the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations, and Assessment, you will start to find all the junk I posted through the years. Unfortunately, I see my fake name more than my real name, so I get confused as to what my name is.

Niccea was actually my stage name in the AV club in high school. Been using it since. Named a character from a book I'm writing Niccea. And Niccea, does not look like a girl with cat ears (that is a another character named Soul). But since Soul is associated with my user name here, she has been renamed Ni-chan, so she doesn't detract from the real Niccea.

I don't put anything online that I wouldn't be willing to associate my name with. Usually my real name is on it anyway. I used to guard my name etc but that was back in the days when I did (innocent, just lame) stuff I'd be embarrassed about now. I just use the name skoolmunkee (for everything) because I'd feel weird having a username account that's my real name. You need accounts for everything so you might as well pick something and stick with it.

However people don't seem to like calling me 'skoolmunkee' when they actually talk to/meet me, which I think is fair enough- not because its a username but because it's kind of awkward. If I had a more abstract or more nicknameable name I could probably have gotten away with that, like Ozoneocean can get away with being called Oz, but with me it would still be Skool, which is strange.

My last name is Midgley.
everyone calls me Midge.
the 28 is just that... 28.

I've had this name for almost 15 years now. It started as an internet alias when I was 13 or so, and as I kept using it, it developed into my artistic alterego, if ya wanna call it that. Now all of my work online- art, comics, writing, whatever- is under the name "Hyena Hell". I've actually thought about getting my name legally changed.

Most people that know me in "real life" (family, friends, colleagues, students, etc.) know me by HH as well as my real name, too- so there's not much "hiding". However, it is easy to fly under the radar when potential employers are screening you. That is an issue, sadly- I know a friend who got fired from a teaching job after his bosses saw his website. (His art isn't that offensive, but... it is kinda tasteless. In a good way.)

I've used "Boxtop" for a while now (at least six years, judging from my AOL screenname) and I only reveal my real name to people on the Internet whom I really trust...though that's a mistake in itself.

Well, I've had few online identities but I started using "gullas" when I joined some rpg forum.. then it just kind of stuck on me XD

I use the same name for a lot of stuff. I don't use my real name much but it can be found on my commission site. Back in the day I was known as "cosmic jester" but that was back in the metal days (please don't ask ).

Most people know me as Pascual (my real name is Sebastian), so it made sense to me sign as Pascual...

Besides, here in Latinamerica, most comic writers go by a nickname (Pepo, Quino)...

It's kinda cool to see all the little stories behind some of these names. A few of you have mentioned changing your names for things that were more mature. Which is exactly why I asked. I used to have a few pretty stupid names. That now seem ridiculous or offensive. Which is why I'm using my real name now. I might embarass myself by saying something stupid but now I atleast won't ever become embarased by my name... I hope.

Heh, Amanda is my real name ^.^ In other places, I'm ULoveToast. I identify equally strong with both names as I've had the ULoveToast handle for over a decade now. That being said - I'm member 38,308... can you believe that no one picked the username "amanda?" Seriously?

I went with the SN lba as an acronym. It was for the names of myself and two other co-creators on a comic I posted that is now defunct. Originally, I was thinking about just going with my first name since I wasn't worried about people seeing my real name ( I did and do get a lot of nasty emails from certain overzealous religious types. ) and I've never once had a nickname in my life. So like amanda I was just going to go with my first name, but the SN was already taken by someone who has long since stopped posting and just has an unused account here.

Google my real name and even my facebook page doesn't come up, instead the page of one of my many namesakes.

And no I am not a mathematics professor with my own scholarship.

When I needed a screen name I went a unit I had been in. Bravo company 1-102 Armor. I originally wanted armorrules, but that was always taken, then came armorrulesb1102 but that is just too long, though it survives as my ebay user name.

As for my personality? Who you are cannot be defined by brief statements on line. A person's description is only the beginning of who they are and to discover who they are you need a lot of writing; letters, journals not just brief blurbs. Might as well try to read someone's personality by their shoe size.

I've gone through few names over my time. My first user name was Víkingur, that's viking in Icelandic. Later on as I went through my counterstrike phase I took up the name Choken1 which I used for the longest time on almost any online site. When I came here I decided I wanted something new and Product Placement was born.

I wouldn't really care if you knew my name or not, it's just that it's unpronounceable to most of you. The closest thing an American can come to saying my first name is reading outloud: "A"-nar. My middle name and last name is a lost cause.

I'm an American and Americans can't even pronounce my name. I don't mind saying it cause it is a commonish name. Clara. Cla-air-a. I am always called Claire, Cara, Carla, and, even once, Ciera. My last name is even harder with it's four intimidating letters.

People have an easier time pronouncing my entirely made up user name than my real name.

Sorry for the baby rant. I have a teacher that has me written as Cara this whole semester no matter how many times I corrected her. If this affects my grades, I'll be pissed.

me and this other dude starting referring to each other by our real names on a forum and it confused the shit out of people.

and then it was like 'virtual high-five'

I saw this story on the internet:

"So I was with my friend motorboating down in Florida. From the side of the boat, my friend sees a manatee floating in the river. 'Dude!' he said. 'I'm gonna ride that manatee!' I knew this was a stupid idea, but there was no stopping him. With reckless abandon he discarded his shirt and lept from the boat and right through the dead manatee's corpse. Apparently it had been rotting for some time."

Wow. That was so bloody disgusting and totally irrelevant to the topic. I have to share on of my own and unlike some internet rumor, I can guaranty that this one is true.

I used to work in one of those stores equivalent to a 7-11. One of my co-workers decided to take aside a whole watermelon that had passed its due date and keep it unrefrigerated for several weeks. Then when he was working alone with this guy he hated he went to get the melon. It shuttered dangerously in his hand signaling that its contents had lost all structural integrity. As his target was mending the fruits and vegetable isle he approached him, shouted "think fast" and threw the fruit grenade at him. The watermelon disintegrated in the poor sods hands as he caught it, creating a mess that took hours to clean up.

Of course he got into a lot of trouble for it but it was such a fabulous story to tell to new rookies that I trained.

You miss my point. That story was the reason why I chose the name Sea_Cow.

And missed it I did.

But I thank you anyways. Remembering that tale was most pleasing to me.