Explain the etymological origin of your user name!

[The Mule]

Mine's a nickname which is loosely based on the spelling of my last name. I'm half-Sicilian and oddly enough I recently learned that the old-country spelling of my family name really IS "Mule" with and accent over the "e." Evidently, a grade-school teacher took pity on my grandfather when he was a kid because his classmates were teasing him about his name being "Mule" and she encouraged him to Americanize the spelling.

So, basically, people have been calling me "The Mule" all these years and I really am The Mule...

(That and I'm incredibly stubborn...)

[Jazz]

Lets I l l u m i n a t e !

I was bestowed with my nickname "Jazz" at a time when I would've rather stuck needles in my eyes then listen to that squawky cheesy style of old music called jazz that used the worst instrument in the world - saxaphone! I was a rocker through and through and no sissy jazz could amount to the pure musical genius of groups like Guns n Roses or Metallica. "Jazz" was a cooler than cool nickname to be blessed with and everybody loved calling me by my glorious new designation.

Now, 6 years later, jazz is the most beautiful, expressive subtle style of music there is, and I hardly listen to anything else. Not only that but my dream is to be a jazz giant. I go to sleep at night dreaming of the day when I will play music that rivals (in terms of quality) even the likes of Coltrane, Monk, and Davis, and I will strive to that end confident that with enough passion, devotion, hard work, and luck, that my goal is not only a definite possibility, but a certainty!!!

The irony? Oh yes, the irony, because now that I love jazz so much, my nickname spawns hate, yes hate, in the hearts of those who also aspire to be jazz giants, who think that I must have crowned myself the ruling iron fisted King in all of jazzdom.

So I'm here to ask- nay...beg, I'm here to grovel, no maybe just ask, yes that's it, for your understanding in this most unusual of nicknaming situations in the entire history of this one specific situation.

Your attention is much appreciated. Thank you and goodnight. Choosy moms choose jiff.

[wesbed]

My user name is a conglomeration of the first three letters of my first name and the first three letters of my last name.

Damn, I wish I had a more colorful explanation.

[danasgoodstuff]

My full given name is Dana Gray Scott, hence danasgoodstuff, a name I also thought might be good for a web site and/or bricks and motor store if I ever have one.

I moved from "the States" to Canada with my parents in 1966, summer between 6th & 7th grade and I do remember some of that "American rebellion" stuff, but then we still had maps with India as part of the empire upon which the sun never set...

Edited June 12, 2003 by danasgoodstuff

[Jim Alfredson]

My handle is pretty obvious. My full name is James Theodore Alfredson III. Most people call me Jim, although in music circles I've started to be known as "Jimmy". My mom always called me Jimmy to distinguish me from my dad and I tried to get away from that as I got older. I even tried to be James in elementary school but it never fit. Now I don't mind being called Jimmy at all. Especially since I discovered Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff!!! B)

[chris]

Well, I chose Chris because it is so unique. You never hear of anyone named Chris, do you?

My real name is Skeletor.

[Jim Alfredson]

[jacman]

i'm an RN. years ago i worked in at an infusion (intravenous therapy) home health company. previous to that job, i worked at a large hospital as an "infusion RN", on the IV Team. when i went to work in Home Health i had tons more IV experiance than anyone else there. if someone needed an IV and no one else could get an IV started, they'd call me. pretty soon the other nurses there started calling me 'The Jacman'. kinda like Superman. the 'the' got dropped, and everone started calling me jacman, and the name stuck. i work at another company now, but several of the folks from the first company work there also, so now everyone at the new place calls me jacman, too.

[catesta]

UP

Cause' we got new folks.

[DrJ]

Oh so many reasons for the moniker. 1) I'm a family physician. 2) I was a huge fan of Julius Irving as a kid. 3) My dad is infamous for making up silly little nicknames for everyone, sometimes 5-6 to a person, trotting them all out periodically for variety, and one of mine since finishing med school has been "DrJ." So you see, it was written in the stars...

[JazzKitten]

I've assumed the persona of "JazzKitten" for about 4 or 5 years now, since choosing a login name over at the BNBB. I adore little animals, and I have a special affinity for felines because of their independence, grace, intelligence, and playfulness. At first I had thought of calling myself JazzCat, but since I'm still a student of jazz and not yet a fully qualified "Cat", I decided to go by a diminutive form of feline. Q.E.D.

JazzKitten

[jmjk]

jmjk---just my initials, pronounced "jay-em-jay-kay", not as a word.

Edited July 29, 2003 by jmjk

[dave9199]

First part=first name. Second part are the years in the 90's that the band I started , called Puddle (rock band; influenced by Husker Du (one of my all time favorites), The Ramones with some Sonic Youth for good measure) were together. 11 releases inside of 7 years.

[Rooster_Ties]

First part=first name. Second part are the years in the 90's that the band I started , called Puddle (rock band; influenced by Husker Du (one of my all time favorites), The Ramones with some Sonic Youth for good measure) were together. 11 releases inside of 7 years.

So, is this you???

[dave9199]

Nope, not The Puddle, just Puddle. I actually owned the trademark for that name in the 90's even though there were a few bands named Puddle. Makes me wonder if Puddle Of Mudd were going to call themselves Puddle but saw it was already trademarked. I might've made a crappy band amend their name!

[mikeweil]

Weil is German for "because". It's also the name of various villages there. My favourite origin myth (?) is that when Napoleon conquered Germany, he ruled that all Jews had to have their second (aka Christian) names written down. There were too many Levi's, so some became Veil's (anagram) and Weil's (near anagram). I guess the renamed Jew could then say "warum"? (why [the change]?), and the official making it could go "weil" (because).

Also, I'm S.A. Weil. The first bit of that S.A. works out as "essay" when spoken ... essai in French...or try. so I'm "try, because".

I always thought I was named after Simone Weil, famous French philosopher, also S. A. Weil. Her "A" is Adolphine, mine is Anthony. Thankful for small mercies. My mother denies this is so, but I don't believe her.

Simon Weil

Discovered this thread only now while searching something entirely different, and only 'cause the search function didn't work!

My family's name is WEIL, like Simon's, and for reason's unknown to me there is no Jewish ancestry in out family, but my father's side came from a region in Germany where there are a LOT of streams and villages called WEIL or Weilbach or Weilburg or you name it ... There is an old German word "weiler" meaning a very small village, maybe it comes from that.

Mike is the American short form of my first name, Michael, that's it. I'm not that fond of using fantasy names to diguise one's identity on the web.

Great to read all those stories, I hope you don't think it's odd I revive this thread.

[Joe]

What's a Milazzo, you say?

[vajerzy]

Just found this thread....

vajerzy- my wife is from Virginia and I'm from New Jersey....

Last name is Kelly- my great-grandfather is from Miltown Malbay, County Clare, Ireland- arrived in the States around 1890 or so....we visited Miltown Malbay in October, 2000 and met people who knew my great-grandfather's relatives and descendents in various forms- saw the house where he was born, and where his mother (McNamara) grew up. The family history thing is a work in progress....

Very interesting reading about different people- isn't it amazing that people from all over the world come to this one place??

[Simon Weil]

Weil is German for "because". It's also the name of various villages there. My favourite  origin myth (?) is that when Napoleon conquered Germany, he ruled that all Jews had to have their second (aka Christian) names written down. There were too many Levi's, so some became Veil's (anagram) and Weil's (near anagram). I guess the renamed Jew could then say "warum"? (why [the change]?), and the official making it could go "weil" (because).

Also, I'm S.A. Weil. The first bit of that S.A. works out as "essay" when spoken ... essai in French...or try. so I'm "try, because".

I always thought I was named after Simone Weil, famous French philosopher, also S. A. Weil. Her "A" is Adolphine, mine is Anthony. Thankful for small mercies. My mother denies this is so, but I don't believe her.

Simon Weil

Discovered this thread only now while searching something entirely different, and only 'cause the search function didn't work!

My family's name is WEIL, like Simon's, and for reason's unknown to me there is no Jewish ancestry in out family, but my father's side came from a region in Germany where there are a LOT of streams and villages called WEIL or Weilbach or Weilburg or you name it ... There is an old German word "weiler" meaning a very small village, maybe it comes from that.

Mike is the American short form of my first name, Michael, that's it. I'm not that fond of using fantasy names to diguise one's identity on the web.

Great to read all those stories, I hope you don't think it's odd I revive this thread.

Ahhh...that's interesting. I had always kind of assumed that Weil was a Jewish name. Mostly because all the people I knew of called Weil were Jewish. 'Cos there are names like that.... Did your dad have any problems with it in the Nazi era?

Definitely blows a hole in my origin myth as being true for all (and perhaps any)Weils. Looked up Weiler in my dictionary and it says "hamlet"( which is a small village).

Oh well time to rethink.

Simon Weil

Edited October 7, 2003 by Simon Weil

[catesta]

Glad to see this thread revived, I hope some of the newer members will take part.

[Shrdlu]

Here's where Shrdlu comes from

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_262a.html

I first came across it in an old Australian comic strip called "Colonel Pewter", which used to appear in the Melbourne "Age". When we were grad students, my buddies and I used to say "cwmf!" when annoyed.

[mikeweil]

Did your dad have any problems with it in the Nazi era?

Definitely blows a hole in my origin myth as being true for all (and perhaps any)Weils. Looked up Weiler in my dictionary and it says "hamlet"( which is a small village).

Oh well time to rethink.

Simon Weil

AFAIK there were no problems when my parents had to research their "arian" ancestry before they married in June, 1939, just three months before the war started in September. You had to trace it back three generations, and I remember my mother once told me they couldn't trace it any further back, anyway. I believe my mothers side may have some hugenotte traces from south-west Germany, but my father's branch stems from that small village not too far away from the town where Elvis Presley did his service in the 1950's.

I never took the time to deeply investigate my family name's etymology, I'll do some search on the web ...

[Simon Weil]

Did your dad have any problems with it in the Nazi era?

Definitely blows a hole in my origin myth as being true for all (and perhaps any)Weils. Looked up Weiler in my dictionary and it says "hamlet"( which is a small village).

Oh well time to rethink.

Simon Weil

AFAIK there were no problems when my parents had to research their "arian" ancestry before they married in June, 1939, just three months before the war started in September. You had to trace it back three generations, and I remember my mother once told me they couldn't trace it any further back, anyway. I believe my mothers side may have some hugenotte traces from south-west Germany, but my father's branch stems from that small village not too far away from the town where Elvis Presley did his service in the 1950's.

I never took the time to deeply investigate my family name's etymology, I'll do some search on the web ...

On your mother's relations in South West Germany, it's kind of irrelevant, but I think there must be a fair number of Jewish Weils who come from Alsace - A Jewish aquaintance immediately jumped to the conclusion that my family must have come from there (actually Stuttgart and surrounding areas).

There are some Jewish Weil things on the internet, notably this which has Rabbi Weils going back to the 14 th C. And those Weils seem to derive their name from Weil-der-Stadt. But I don't think I'm related to them.

As far as I can make out we can trace Weils back to the turn of the mid-late 18th Century. But it's not clear if they were called Weils then. If I remember right there are some records (written in hebrew in family religious books) going back to the 17th Century - but those guys don't end up being called Weil.

I had a great-aunt who was kind of obsessed with family history and she went into it quite well. One of her obsessive ideas was that we must be related to Einstein

because there are Einsteins in our family - and also people who lived in the village that the famous Einstein ?came from (or maybe it was his family).

But those people weren't called Einstein...

Simon Weil

[catesta]

UP

Cause' we got new folks.

UP again!

Why the hell not? B)

[Uncle Skid]

Mine has its origins in a tale of two brothers-in-law.

A few years ago, one of them discovered Photoshop, and all the wonderful things that you can do with that software. Well, this was one of his first efforts:

Needless to say, I have been “Skid Mark” ever since. I guess that's better than being Vanilla Ice or something like that? (maybe not!!)

Another brother-in-law (who also now has a new “rapper” identity, and his face immortalized on a slightly modified cover of Vibe magazine) rechristened me “Uncle Skid” when his twin daughters were born two years ago.

Yes, Virginia, there is a real Uncle Skid. "Ya better check yourself, 'cause Skid Mark's in da house!"

-- Mark