Screename 101

I love Screen Names! In fact, I've probably had 100 of them. I must have 50 on Yahoo alone.

I have noticed that men tend to use part of their own real name in a screen name. Women rarely do that. I chalk it up to women being more afraid of stalkers and more careful about what they reveal to strangers on the Internet.

So I'll often see a name like Mark203494. They typed in a common name and then the numbers were randomly generated by the screen name program. Names like that don't stand out, and unless the numbers mean something personal to you and your friends, a name like that can be hard to remember.

You might want to pick one name for fun and one name for business. You probably don't really want a web conference with your supervisor at work under the name Crossdresser_from_Dallas. Keep this in mind when picking an email name as well.

Though it's tempting to have an x-rated name, that can get you banned from some chatrooms. And it can seem insulting to other roomies. I, for one, avoid anyone with 'Master' in their name. Most of them have egos bigger than the grand canyon.

If you plan to use the name for instant messaging, you might want to pick a name that doesn't make your Grandmother blush, just in case you end up in a family instant message conference.

So, just how do you pick a great screen name? First of all, don't get too caught up on one name, especially if it's a common word, because more than likely it is taken. Here's where a little creativity comes in.

Say you wanted the name Red_Eagle. Most likely that would be taken. You can try red_eagle_92049 (zip code) or red_eagle_ca (red eagle in california or whatever state you are in), red.eagle (period) red_eagle_23 (Your name plus your age). Eventually you'll find a combination that will work.

Sometimes it helps to use a thesaurus. If ghostgirl is taken, use a thesaurus to come up with combinations like spirit woman, spectregirl, spookygirl, etc.

Different programs allow different characters, so don't get too stuck on having exactly the same name on yahoo, paltalk, hubpages, and gmail. You may have to go with variations of the same name, like gypsydancer, gypsy.dancer, gypsywoman, etc.

Stealth mode:

Sometimes there is a reason to make a name no one knows for chatroom use. Use it if you are too tired to respond to IM's, if someone in the room is harassing you, to see things from a new perspective, to celebrate a holiday, or just for fun.

Remember, the whole world is on the Internet. A name that is completely obvious in meaning in your home state may be completely confusing to someone from Italy or Rio or Israel. It may even be obscene in another language. Wild bird would mean something different to someone in MO than it would to someone in Liverpool.

Try not to use a name too similiar to a regular in a chatroom you frequent. Otherwise you will constantly be asked if you are that other person. For example, in a pagan room, names with Raven, Dragon, and Wolf in them are very common.

Even if you pick a name that is obviously feminine or masculine, people will still ask you what gender you are. Remember, men sometimes do pick feminine names if they fantasize about being a woman.

That can get very sticky if you want to have a tryst on the internet with someone named Mary, and Mary is really a guy from Miami. And don't forget that in a chatroom, people are going to call you by the first syllable of your name. If you name is Foxy_Maiden, it's not so bad being called Foxy all day, but if your name is Bob_is_my_master, you're going to be called Bob all the time.

If I need a new name, sometimes I make a list. I put adjectives in one column and nouns in another and draw lines to randomly connect everything.

For example column A would have:

Red

Frozen

Tricky

Sultry

Smart

Quiet

Serious

Studious

Holy

Turquoise

Column 2 could have:

sparrow

professor

dancer

singer

drummer

Scottish

viking

quest

librarian

spider

Some of the names from that list would be frozen_sparrow, red_viking, trickyspider, seriouslibrarian, holy_quest, turquoise drummer, etc. You get the idea. Put your favorite hobbies, interests and beliefs on your own list and come up with a great screen name.

If you are on a relatively new program like Hubpages, or Soulcast.com, you stand a good chance of getting any name you want. Other programs like Yahoo or G-mail, may require a half an hour of trying various things before you can get one you want that isn't taken.

If you aren't sure of the spelling, check the dictionary. If you spell it wrong, every time you go in the chatrooms someone will point it out.

Most of all have fun. If your first name doesn't do it for you, just make a new one.