JUST FOR FUN--HOW DID YOU GET YOUR FORUM NAME?

[JustKim]

When I meet new fellow instructors, I love to ask them how they got their forum name.  Did they pick it -- why?  What's the story behind it?  Did someone give it to them -- I won't mention any names "Sean Shoot Here". 

Mine is really a bit boring -- wish I would've been a little more creative, but It's mine, it works, and I won't be changing it.  My name is "Kim" -- not Kimberly -- it's Just Kim.  Recently my 90 something year old Dad (now 98) sent me some paperwork to sign and it said Kimberly on it, so I called him to just confirm that he had truly sent it.  I told him my name was wrong - it was listed as Kimberly rather than Kim.  He told me that that's what he told them and then asked if I was sure that's what it is.  I responded that I had a copy of my birth certificate right in front of me.  He told me, well, your sister, Sheri changed the way she spells her name too.    -- No she did not, but apparently he wasn't really too much involved in the naming of his 5 children. 

Once he told me the stories behind all of my siblings births, names, etc.  When I asked him about mine, he simply stated, "I don't remember".  I guess by the fifth child, well.......

Anyway, got a little off-topic there, but that's where I got my forum name and I, and I'm sure others, would love to hear the story of your forum name!!nn

Please share!

JustKim

[Pine Ridge Puma]

Hi Kim and other fellow Appleseeders!  I remember you asking at some point when we met at a Ladyseed in Alliance, NE how I acquired my forum handle.  We have lived in the Pine Ridge of Nebraska for 43 years, on a few acres, and we have a mountain lion population along with way too many deer, elk, bobcats, skunks, coons etc, so that is where my moniker came from.  I can see how your name would be confusing to people who are trying to be precise, especially on legal documents.

Pine Ridge Puma, aka prp

[DEH]

It's my initials and it wasn't taken already.

[Earl]

My middle name is Earl, I was named for both my grandfathers. And somewhere along the line I started ignoring instructions by testers and teachers and always used my full name for signatures and official documents.  I went by Earl in school, and the full name was almost secret. Earl was my family and friendly name, so calling me for sales got me a lot of Bills. When everyone at RWVA's beginning was hiding under a false name (just my opinion) I told them to call me Earl if it was open, and it was. This was back in 2008, I had lived a career on rank or family name, I was good with Earl.

[Flipper]

Hi Kim!
My forum name is also my nickname. My dad started calling me Flipper a couple years before my first Appleseed. I was flipper because I have such big feet  I have to wear a mens 10.5 size shoe because they don't make a big enough size in womens shoes. It would be a womens 13 if they did.
Most people think it's because of the 1960's tv show about the dolphin. So many people asked me about that, so I had to go watch an episode to know what they were talking about!

[JustKim]

OMG -- thank you everyone for responding!  LIke I said, I really enjoy hearing people's stories.  You can actually learn quite a bit about a person from some of these forum names.  I am proud to say that I "helped" my husband with his forum name, "gunjunkie" -- I heard someone use the term in describing someone who had entirely too many (no such thing) -- a sufficient number of firearms -- if there is such a thing.  Maybe I should say someone with an obsession with guns. 

Pine Ridge Puma -- I do remember you telling me how you derived at your forum name.  Love it!
DEH -- well, how do you pronounce your forum name?  "d""e""h" -- or some other way??
Flipper -- I hope you are proud of your big feet!  Not many women can say they wear a size 13!!
Earl -- Your name fits you well.     Question is -- what's your first name???

[AF5US]

So back in the day, I scored rifleman my third time out.  I was mildly offering some coaching to a buddy that was on the line with me.  The shoot boss / state coordinator at the time basically said . . .

"You're willing to take an orange hat? You fool! That's great! Pick a forum name! Now!  Do it now!!!"

"Umm . . . there's no internet signal at the range? I don't know what's available?"

"Doesn't matter - pick something unique! Quick! Before you change your mind!"

Welp . . . my amateur radio call sign is unique.

Continuing on with this story - Despite my call sign being AF5US, I am not a veteran of the United States Air Force.  I am not a veteran at all, and never claimed to be.  I didn't request it as a call sign (aka, it's not a vanity call sign).  It was just randomly assigned.  It's the product of clean living, I guess 

[TOMINCT]

 I came up with mine so if I was found at a range wandering around they would know where to leave me. Keeping it easy to recall also.

Besides all the other names I've been called aren't printable here, so I've been told! 

[Earl]

Sorry, trying to be brief so; William Earl Dungey.

[Catch-10-22]

Wanted something mildly clever and literary. Still get a smirk or giggle from a student or two at most shoots. Cat Gravity should post about his handle

[JustKim]

love this one!

Cat gravity - would love to hear your story -- sounds, ummm, interesting.

[Moylan]

I was looking for a Revolutionary veteran Irish Catholic to name myself after, but there weren't a great many of them due to the anti-Catholicism of the British colonies.  However, apart from some of the famous names from Maryland, there was Stephen Moylan, a Philadelphia businessman born in County Cork.  He served honorably throughout the war, mainly as a colonel of cavalry, and ended up being promoted in 1783 to brigadier general. 

Additionally, his initial appointments, for example as quartermaster general, were pretty disastrous.  In short, he didn't do a very good job.  But instead of going home in 1777 and saying to heck with it, he went back to Washington's general staff, and then began his run as a cavalry officer.  In other words, Moylan was a failure as a soldier who eventually turned it around and became...well, by all accounts, he became an OK soldier.  There's actually a great story of his cavalry troops showing up in front of General Washington wearing red uniforms, and General Washington having to gently suggest to Moylan that maybe having continental troops dressed in red wasn't the best idea.  Not a great soldier, like I say. 

But that's a big part of why I like him.  Most of us aren't George Washington.  Most of us are just regular folks, and when we try to do stuff we might fail at it, or maybe just do fair to middling.  Moylan's a great reminder for me to not let my fear of failure or mediocrity keep me from diving in and doing my best. 

I love the line from GK Chesterton: if a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing badly. 

So true.  If it needs to get done, you've got to do it, even if you're afraid you can't.  And you can't wait for someone "better" than you to do it instead. 

[CarrollMS]

Handle: CarrollMS
Source: USMC


In 1969 at Quantico, Virginia, the Marines issued me two stencils with "CARROLL, M. S." and my service number. The Platoon Sergeant told me to mark everything.  The large version survived; one can see it in my AS profile photo. I still use it today as an identifier and to mark my clothing and gear after 53 years. Since AS teaches the same steady-hold factors I was taught in 1969 with the M14, I thought it most appropriate to continue its use in this forum.


CarrollMS@yahoo.com

[Ramblin' Wreck]

Mine comes from the University I attended. Georgia Tech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Wreck
I'm Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluva engineer.
Although I wasn't smart emough to be an engineer so I graguated with a degree in Indistrial Management.
Wreck

[9mm4545]

"9mm4545" was the phone number of a long defunct range in Knoxville, where I held a life membership. When the range folded, they kept my money, I kept their phone number. As to the age old question of which is better, 9mm or 45? The answer is yes.

[GTEngineer]

This guy took my name so I had to come up with my own, but I did get out of that place with an engineering degree.    What's the good word?

Mine comes from the University I attended. Georgia Tech.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramblin%27_Wreck
I'm Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech and a helluva engineer.
Although I wasn't smart emough to be an engineer so I graguated with a degree in Indistrial Management.
Wreck

[Rattlehead]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtrnztbMTHE

[TomM1Thumb]

I had bought an M-1 Garand and learned about what not to do with your Thumb! So of course, I tried to slowly let the bolt close on My Thumb. Yes, it can be done. But it still hurts, I do not recommend doing so!! as the saying goes "Please do not try this at Home" or anywhere for that matter. That is why I am named TomM1Thumb as a reminder to never ever do that again.

[AJ Gonzales]

It's my name. (:

[Ramblin' Wreck]

This guy took my name so I had to come up with my own, but I did get out of that place with an engineering degree.    What's the good word?

TO HELL WITH GEORGIA! 

[TheMenace]

My forum name is kinda obviousâ€"at least to me. What may not be so obvious is my avatar. He is a geriatric version of the British comic character, Dennis The Menace, a prankster and ruffian. He and the U.S. Dennis the Menace were both created in 1951, three years after my birth.

[Google]

When I joined the program my day job required explaining highly technical information to people without a technical background.  So, teaching topics like IMC and KD came easier to me than many IITs.  At one of my earliest shoots a fellow IIT, who shall remain nameless (cough.. cough.. Cleveland.. cough.. cough..), declared "she knows everything, we should call her Google!"

It stuck and there was no escaping. Believe me, I tried.   

[Ramblin' Wreck]

Cleveland was right. Yours is the second coolest forum name in the program IMO. Morpheus has #1 spot. 
Wreck

When I joined the program my day job required explaining highly technical information to people without a technical background.  So, teaching topics like IMC and KD came easier to me than many IITs.  At one of my earliest shoots a fellow IIT, who shall remain nameless (cough.. cough.. Cleveland.. cough.. cough..), declared "she knows everything, we should call her Google!"

It stuck and there was no escaping. Believe me, I tried.   

[Agent711]

I love telling our history and like to throw in some references to side stories. Sometimes a student asks about them and I will spend a few minutes talking about it. So I chose my name after the code name George Washington used in the Culper Ring. There were spies used by both sides even leading up to the events at Lexington/Concord.

Here is an article for a taste of some of them:
https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/spies-revolutionary-war

[AH1Tom]

Not much of an imagination here either. The helicopter I flew in The Army is a AH-1 and my name is Tom.

[Tennessee Beast]

Tennessee Beast comes from a nickname given to me at a skateboard contest in Memphis in the early 00's.  I carried it over to Appleseed because it honestly is the only nickname I ever had that "fit" (and I went to my first Appleseed event with a friend from skateboarding).  I almost didn't use it because of some of my former antics, but I figured no one would "google" me because I am so well behaved now.   

[Vinnie]

My forum name is derived from a complex series of algorithms linked to an array of inverted differential equations. 

[Big John]

I've been given Big John and General Lee (being my first and last names, respectively) at work, so I picked one. Bobby Lee was in a different war than ours, and I am not a general, so it was the former, though I've been in very few mines and not yet bagged a Cajun lady. The hero of the song has got me by an inch and a few pounds at fighting weight, but only by that.

[Eagle Keeper]

Websters defines  Eagle Keeper as:
A guardian of freedom and liberty.
Someone who maintains F-15 (Eagle) aircraft.

…and I can get cool patches for my shooting jacket. 

[BD]

As I've always told people, mine came during a burst of creativity,
Yes, it's my initials.