Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Private Names

This is topic Private Names in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

We've had discussions on last names and first names. Now how about private names?

No, not cuddly-boo or big-john or other pillow names. Not avatar names, or screen names or boasting titles or nicknames.

I'm talking about something even more private than that. Your private name for yourself, that no one else knows.

Do you have one? If so, why? Do any of your characters have one? If not, why not?

Note that I'm not asking you to tell us your private name, although you can if you feel like it.

Posted by HSO (Member # 2056) on :

Hmm... I'm not ashamed of my private name. It was actually given to me, but I've welcomed it. No one calls me it anymore, but occasionally I drag it out for fun.

It is Captain Mad.

I like it. Suits me fine, except I was never an officer, only a lowly enlisted man. But who's complaining. That's "mad" as in crazy, odd, strange, by the way.

There was a brief period in time when I got promoted to Major Mad, but I was quickly demoted when our friends realized I wasn't quite that mad after all.

EDIT: I don't have any other private names for myself. Never thought about it really.

[This message has been edited by HSO (edited February 04, 2005).]

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

LOL...

I don't have a private name for myself. Never occurred to me that someone would. If people do, though, I'd love to hear about them.

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

Mine is my initials, T.J.

I like the fact that it is more gender neutral. When I was growing up, I didn't really like my name, I didn't feel like a Theresa.

There are times I still don't. That name sounds femanine, and conjurs up an image of a grown-up, nurturing, mother-type. While I hope to fall into that category some day, I don't always feel so nurturing or motherly.

I've always been a tom-boy, but I've never really gone by T.J., or any other nickname (my dad never really liked nicknames, so they were used around the house).

For some reason though, I started to think of myself as T.J. I tried it out as a nickname at camp for a week, and really liked -- it felt more like me. The year before that at camp I had tried out Terri, but it didn't feel right.

T.J. is a little more reckless and adventuresome than Theresa. T.J. is fun, a little wild, likes a bit of mischief and will climb 80-foot fire watch towers just for the view. Theresa likes to sit and crochet.

I would consider this my private name because it has more to do with how I see myself rather than a name that anyone outside of my head would call me.

I've never used private names in a story, but mostly because I've never thought to do it.

Posted by Corpsegrinder (Member # 2251) on :

There's a test officer up here who we know and love as Major Stress.

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

I was just thinking...in third person pov we call the character by the name he/she thinks of herself by. I wonder whether a private name is a name you think of yourself by or more like a name you would have liked to have had...but it isn't really in the forefront of your mind all the time?

The idea of a person naming himself is not new. It comes up in alien cultures a great deal of the time and I wouldn't be usprised to find out that some real cultures right here do /have done it.

I recently had a crisis of identity when I got married. Women in this country take their husband's names and I never questioned whether I would do it but it was a little weird. I still publish under my maiden name, partly for that reason and partly because of its significantly nice placement in alphabetical order. My married name is a nicer name, I like it better, but the other one is the one I used my whole life.

But I recently realized something important about my whole maiden/married name bit. I don't think of myself by either one of those names. I think of myself as Christine...the name I use on this and most other writer's forums. In fact, if I ever get to the point where I do a book signing I think I might just use my first name as my signature.

So if I had a private name then it is, lamely enough, my first name. Just my first name, no preservatives or artificial flavoring.

Posted by Corpsegrinder (Member # 2251) on :

I was just thinking...in third person pov we call the character by the name he/she thinks of herself by. I wonder whether a private name is a name you think of yourself by or more like a name you would have liked to have had...but it isn't really in the forefront of your mind all the time?

Did the main character in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" have a special name for his alter ego?

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

And since I started this, I guesss I will share. My private name for myself, for as far back as I can remember, is Chameleon.

Others have had their own private names for me (not nicknames because they were specific to one person only), mostl not suitable for this forum. Some which are acceptable here include:

Madman Mike
Major Mike
Foghorn
Uncle Grumpy
Munsilman
Mr. Clean
White Lightning

I just thought it might be interesting to get folks thinking about the private musings that could go on inside a character's head. How about a big bad barbarian, who thinks of himself a 'whispersweet'? A little slip of a beggar girl who calls herself 'crotchety'?

There is room for a private life in the heads of our characters, no?

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

Robyn_Hood

It's interesting that it ISN'T Robyn-Hood, for the reasons you explained in the post on another topic. That was an alter ego you assumed, but not your private name for yourself?

[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited February 04, 2005).]

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

T.J. has been around a lot longer than Robyn Hood. However, they do meet and become great friends, even though T.J. is from a technologically advanced society and Robyn is from a more agricultural society.

T.J. flits about, while Robyn is more tied to the land.

While the characters are both rooted in me, Robyn has far too many outside influences to be my private identity.

Posted by wbriggs (Member # 2267) on :

I never thought to have a private name nobody knew. After all, nobody would ever use it!

What I do find interesting is naming characters or places. Some cool names:

She Who Must Be Obeyed (Haggard; later adapted to be barrister Rumpole's secret name for his wife)
Nefernefernefer (The Egyptian; it means, beautiful! beautiful! beautiful!)
Galadriel
Management (Willis's Bellwether -- she never bothered to give him a name, and ended up saying things like, "Management stood in his chair.")

and placenames:

Teach tac Teach, Miraldra, Madling Meadow, Thripsey Shee (Vance)
Mirkwood, Rivendell
Neversummer Mountains (Dunsany I think)

[This message has been edited by wbriggs (edited February 04, 2005).]

Posted by Robyn_Hood (Member # 2083) on :

quote:
“I am the Chief of Ghalas-at,” he said. “My name is Chief Chowig.”
I was surprised that he gave his real name to a stranger. Everyone in our tribe had two names, the real one which was secret and was seldom used, and one which was common, for if people use your secret name it becomes worn out and loses its magic. Thus I was known as Won-a-pa-lei, which means The Girl with the Long Black Hair, though my secret name is Karana. My father’s secret name was Chowig. Why he gave it to a stranger I do not know.

--Scott O’Dell, Island of the Blue Dolphins

Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :

I have three different names for myself, which one I use depends on who I am at the moment. Sometimes I am Victor Foxx,(which is my writer self the one who is here now.) Other times I am Pyro Foxx, (One of my characters, I am him when I need to defend myself.) Sometimes I am just Victor, (Victor is less serious and less intelligent. Most people IRL see him.)

Ultimatly I suppose I call myself Me, that is everybody. I was Me long ago, and I shall be Me for long to come.

Posted by Rocklover (Member # 2339) on :

My private name is one a college roommate (who has stayed a lifelong friend) and I concoted while reading Tolkien together for the first time into the wee hours of the night in our dorm. We chose elven names. I'm Ithiel. She's Ariel.
We are now both getting as old as Elrond, but we often still call ourselves by our Elvish names in correspondence. It recalls pleasant times of seeking the comfort of warm cookies and milk as we freaked out reading about Shelob and Sauron by flashlight.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Why would you need a private name? Can't you distinguish yourself from everyone else without it? A name is for someone that is not you to identify you as distinct from all the other persons that are not you and not the one distinguishing amongst you and them.

In my mind, I am myself. There is no need to name me to myself, I am that I and no other.

Posted by Rocklover (Member # 2339) on :

That is only ONE function of a name. Ask any actor. When they put on the persona of a character, including the name, they in essence take on another identity. Another name is a way to explore the feelings and POV of someone else, to wear other shoes. In my case, it was just girlish fun. And even now, it does not demean Judith to be Ithiel once in a while. It embellishes her.

[This message has been edited by Rocklover (edited February 05, 2005).]

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

quote:
Can't you distinguish yourself from everyone else without it?

But which self, Survivor? I have several.

Posted by Netstorm2k (Member # 2279) on :

I am the Dude. That's it.

Another thought. To my children, I am Daddy. That's private because no one else in the world can call me that, unless they mean to sound stupid.
Unless it's my wife calling me that, but that's a story for another thread, and I KNOW Kathleen won't let that on this board.

[This message has been edited by Netstorm2k (edited February 05, 2005).]

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

I'm an actor, ask me.

A name can serve as a mask, that's true enough. As an actor I need to distinguish the character I play from the person that I am. But I don't wear a mask to deal with myself. Nor do I have more than one self with which to deal. In my own thoughts, there is no need to name myself, I cannot be mistaken for any other.

Posted by Pyre Dynasty (Member # 1947) on :

Ah but what if you were sure you had seen yourself walk by? Perhaps you were then someone else? Invasion of the Body Switchers! Or were you cloned? Or are you just deluding yourself for fun and profit? Well now I'm just babbling but seriously, I think there is a story here.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

For those of you who have usernames that are not your real names, I consider your real names as a kind of "secret name" (whether you do or not).

I'm curious, Survivor. Is "Survivor" only a username, or is it a kind of "alter ego" name you picked for yourself?

When I participated on GEnie (a BBS that was one of the few victims of Y2K), I had a username that I chose for my "alter ego." People knew my real name, but most of them called me by my alter ego name. (Damon Knight thought such names were silly and would only call people by their real names. Even if I know someone's real name here on Hatrack, I only call them that in private email. To me, calling you by your username honors the personna you've chosen for Hatrack. <shrug> )

It is rather cool to meet someone who was on GEnie and to tell them my username and to hear them say they remember me from that.

By the way, I have a couple of other special names that have been given to me. One is Edelweiss, in case anyone is interested. And I have a couple of other names that I've chosen for myself. (I am teaching my grandkids to call me "Nanakat.")

PS--another leftover from GEnie is that I am not "KDW." I am "kdw." "KDW" refers to K. D. Wentworth, a science fiction writer some of you may have heard of.

Posted by mikemunsil (Member # 2109) on :

Hey! I was on GEnie for quite a while. I don't remember kdw but you might remember my username. It was mikemunsil. LOL

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

Mike, I was an assistant sysop in the SF/F area, and my username was Phaedre.

Posted by Survivor (Member # 213) on :

Survivor is just a username. I picked it out before the combination of that particular username and my real-life first name developed any infelicitous connotations.

Generally, I reserve alter egos for semi-roleplaying type activities. Since I don't want to bother with vetting my comments here to see whether or not they're "in character", there isn't much reason for me to use an alter ego.

I'm not going to start calling you "kdw" or "Phaedre", just so you know.

Posted by Kathleen Dalton Woodbury (Member # 59) on :

No problem, Survivor. As I recall, I haven't called you "Survivor" when I've talked to you in person, so I figure it all evens out somehow.

The first time you referred to me as KDW, though, I felt a bit startled.

Posted by Monolith (Member # 2034) on :

I know a few people outside this site, and I call them by their respective names (you know who you are), however, if they ask to be called something else, I'll call them what they want to be called.

I usually put my name at the end of my threads or posts, but IF someone calls me by my username, that's cool with me. But to me a name is a name is a name. You are called by your name since you are born, and eventually you get nicknames (sometimes not the most flattering of things, in my case most definitely) or even teased by being called something you aren't.

If I do meet some of you guys off here, I'd introduce myself as "Monolith from Hatrack" then proceed to give my real name. That's what I've done when meeting people from AOL and that sort of thing.

Ok, that's enough rambling for one day.

Now back to your regularly scheduled forum:

-Monolith-

Posted by TaShaJaRo (Member # 2354) on :

My private name is the same name I use in real life. It is my middle name. I changed it back in high school, dropping my first name because I just did not feel it matched the image I had of myself. You know how when you hear a name, even if you have nothing to tag it to, it brings up certain visuals and connotations? Well, I felt that my first name belonged to someone else and that my middle name more aptly fit me.
So I dropped Wendy and adopted Kathleen and have never allowed anyone to shorten it or nick it.
Even though it is not exactly private, since I tell it to everyone I meet when asked, it is the name I chose for myself. Despite the fact that it is my middle name, I would have chosen that name out of any name in the world. It is the one I feel best fits me.