Unique

[rowyn]

My handle on LJ, "Rowyn," is based off a handle I've used elsewhere: "Rowan." I started using Rowan on FurryMUCK back in, um, 1993. I've since used it on Sinai and FreeOpenDiary.

The trouble with "Rowan" is that it's a pretty common name. OK, not as common as "Mary" or "Chris" (when, in a fit of thoughtlessness, I applied to FurryMUCK for a new character named "Chris", I received a note back stating, "Chris is taken. So is Kris, Chrys, Khryss, Kriss, Chriss and Riss. Please don't ask for any variant on this name, we have enough." I came back with a request for "Xylantha."), but still, as handles go, it's pretty common. Since it's also a type of tree, a Google search on it yields nearly a million results. "Rowyn" is better by a few orders of magnitude, but it still yields over a thousand. Presumably, some of those are me, but I didn't find them in the first several pages.

Rowan is still a big improvement over my very first computer handle, which was "Cat." That no one else was using that in my university's computing community tells you something about the size of the community.

My own RL name (combined first and last) is much more unusual -- in fact, almost all the results from it are about me. If I throw in my middle name, I don't get any results at all. Unique!

But a good internet handle, to me, is still one without spaces. URLs don't have spaces, and I dislike using underscores, or dashes, or concatanating names. I'd rather have just one word in a name.

So I'm sitting here thinking, "Do I want a unique name?"

The trouble with unique names is that they have to be either made up ("Hi! I'm Fyiara!") or combinations of two or more real words/names. I don't want to do the first/last name route for the "no spaces" reason cited above. Sometimes two combined real words sound nice to me. I've used handles like those a few times in the past: I had FurryMUCK characters named "GhostDancer" and "Shadowsteel."

But combined-word names aren't necessarily unique--the two above yield hundreds of hits, none of which have anything to do with me. In fact, even "Xylantha" isn't as unique as I thought it was. Lycos and Geocities both have people who use it as a handle. The only name I ever used on Furry that gets no hits from Google is "Keth'avith."

Furthermore, combined-word names suffer from what I believe RHJunior once termed the "Backlot Holloywood Indian" effect. They can come off as hokey or pretensious.

And all of this aside: Is it just too late? I've been going by Rowan for most of a decade now. Who's gonna call me "Stormcipher" if I change my mind now?

Comments

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

The handle that I use on SinaiMUCK used to be unique, too, back in the day. (I think I've used it as my "personal furry" name for about seven years now.) Then I had a Juno account for a while and tried to set that as part of my e-mail address with them - and it was already taken! Imagine my shock. ;-)

My handle here on LJ is not unique at all, since I got it from an old children's book. One of the characters in this book had the name of "Sophrania," but her family nicknamed her "Phronsie." I just doctored the former name up a little bit.

Well, actually ...

[rowyn]

Google gets eight hits on Sophrani, five of which ARE you. That's pretty unique by my standards. ;)

(Does this mean I can call you Phronsie now? >:)

Phronsie? Ack!

[minor-architect.livejournal.com]

Er, no. Please no.

Rats.

[rowyn]

:)

I'd eventually get used to StormCipher

[telnar.livejournal.com]

I'm probably not the target audience for this question since I don't call you Rowan now except for the occasional reference on the web, but I reached the point where I could reliably remember "Rowan" in the proper contexts within a month or so of first hearing it. StormCipher, or any other reasonably short pronounceable name, shouldn't take any longer. Incidentally, that's about how long it took me to reflexively remember that I'm "Telnar" :)

[gen.livejournal.com]

Alas, that phenomenon is only marginally familiar to me, both online and in real life. Although I remember when I first went to furrymuck and asked for "Genesis" I found that the name was taken by some rather extremely sexual character, but amazingly the name 'Gen' was not. so I either go by my real name or a nickname.

It was funny, at a Halloween party we had out here I asked cimerris (who goes by the name 'Devin' out here) what his real name was. He looked at me and said, "Devin." Um... oh.

[caffeinewabbit.livejournal.com]

One good source of unique names is to use another language. My original handle on Furry was 'Yamaneko', and that was unique for a long time (until Chrono Cross came out, grar!)

And you can use the Hollywood Indian techique when doing that, and no one will be the wiser. My friend ecureuilreine for example - that's french for "Squirrel Queen" ;)

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

'Lynx' gets taken pretty quickly most places, but so far 'TuftEars' seems to be pretty easy to snag.

This reminds me of the 'Google' game where you have to find two or three common words together that result in one and only one link being spit back from Google. Considering how many dictionary pages are out there, this is not that easy.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

I had to chuckle; tuftears sounds like the result of tuflove.

===|==============/ Level Head

[rowyn]

That is quite horrible of you.

:)

[level-head.livejournal.com]

"Who's gonna call me "Stormcipher" if I change my mind now?"

No one. Since you're already thinking of "Stormcipher", if you change your mind you will be using some other moniker.

However, I could get used to "Stormcipher", weather or not.

If you like Rowan, phonetically, you can always spell it a bit differently. I had good luck coming up with some quite reasonable-sounding character names for my story that have no hits whatever--even by last name alone. I alternated between "nowhere" and "everywhere, buried in the noise".

===|==============/ Level Head

Keep Rowan :)

[ex-strangess744.livejournal.com]

I thought about _our_ conversation about names earlier, and after a lot of thinking, I decided I didn't agree with either your logic or my own, on second and third thoughts.

A name is just one of many details people file about others. What allows people to distinguish you from others is how strongly you imprint on them. This is mostly by time, or by personality compatibility. A unique name is actually a barrier because it enables them to remember your form with a reliability that does not match their grasp of the _substance_ of you.

Barring being esthetically or irrationally disturbed by it, I'd say keep it.

And if you're mostly concerned about search engine stuff finding you, use a cryptic words in each entry and a note in the main page that this word appears in all your net documents to distinguish you from the millions of other Rowans in the forest :)

(smiles and hugs) I've always liked it, at any name, and I haven't seen -that- many Rowans in RL. maybe 3 ?

Re: Keep Rowan :)

[rowyn]

I don't know. There are advantages either way. In fact, I'd say you are less likely to be correctly remembered for an unusual name than for a typical one. Unusual names take time to stick in the mind; you can't remember how to spell them, or pronounce them, in many cases.

But I will probably keep Rowan, unless I come up with a handle I like better. And I'm happy enough with my RL name. ;)

Re: Keep Rowan :)

[rowyn]

Of course, you're a fine one to talk about sticking with one name, given that tremendous array of names I have known you by. >:)

Re: Keep Rowan :)

[ex-strangess744.livejournal.com]

(grins) I never insisted you try to discern and keep up with my most common mu* name or handle of the moment :) But it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know you have, regardless, and yah, ok, it's a long list :)

But I'm biased about the RL one because it's like your RL name goes with Shirp, but somehow you did change and both are too light hearted for you....a tree with protection against magic somehow has more gravity, to suit your somewhat serious demeanor. However I imagine things look different to you :) And I dont' _dislike_ your RL name, certainly it is burned into my brain with many fond associations...I just like Rowan better :)
(giggles wryly)

What's in a name, other than vowels and consonants?

[krud42.livejournal.com]

Even though this is almost two months old, it was too intriguing for me not to comment on. (Besides, I've been out of the two-cents-giving loop on FOD for too long, and on ITW.)

To be honest, I think you're better off having a name that isn't unique. Or at least, one that you already know isn't. Oddly enough, when I came up with Krud back in... holy cow, it's almost been ten years now... I thought it was original. It wasn't until a year or so ago that I did an online search, and lo and behold, I was one of at least a half dozen or more people (or groups of people) using that monicker. In fact, there's a guy on this site using the name Krud, long after I started *fake pout*. I resorted to that cheapest of tactics, adding numbers after my name. (That's how attached I've become to the name in just a couple years.)

At least you can safely say that nobody you know will likely confuse you with another Rowan/Rowyn/Rowen/whatever. There aren't THAT many of them, after all. (And Black Adder doesn't count.)

The only reason I can see for switching to another name is if you're wanting to separate yourself from the name Rowan in your own mind. (Perhaps it's not an issue for you. Sadly, I often think of myself as being named Krud now, I've referred to myself by it so much. Which incidentally is my biggest obstacle in ever finishing that novel w/ that character, but I'm veering way off-topic here.)

Okay, it's after two a.m., I need to hit it.

Re: What's in a name, other than vowels and consonants?

[rowyn]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Krud comes to LJ!

Or at least, Krud lets me know he's here even if he has been here since August. And only written two entries.

Never mind, I guess you haven't exactly made the big switch yet. :)

As you can see, I've pretty much decided to stick with Rowan. Like my RL name (which is roughly as unusual, in fact), it's become familiar and it seems like it'd be too hard a habit to kick now. :)