What does your ENWorld name mean?

[Aeolius]

When I was in college and researching a poem about aeolian harps (Coleridge or Emerson, I have forgotten which) I stumbled across information about the Greek wind god Aeolus. Having traveled to Greece many years before, I was already fascinated by Greek mythology.

Weeks later, during Christmas Break in 1985, I used my brand-spanking new Apple IIgs and 300 baud modem to sign up for AppleLink: Personal Edition, which would later become AOL. I chose my screen name on a whim... Aeolius... combining aeolian with Aeolus.

Fast forward a few years. Yes, I choose my screen name from a wind god, yet I am fascinated by the sea. Well, there's always Aeoliscus Strigatus, the striped shrimpfish, or the Aeolidiidae family of sea slugs to choose from

 

[TarionzCousin]

"weem" is the mis-pronouncing of the first part of my last name.

The first part of my last name (Wiemholt) is pronounced like the word "why"but many pronounce it "weem"holt. My friends called me "Weem"holt intentionally for a while and it eventually became "weem".

Your last name appears to be German, so it's not actually wrong to say "weem".
(Compare with the pronounciation of tiefling, for example. Of course, Americans can't pronounce that correctly. )

Yeah, [MENTION=9470]weem[/MENTION]: you're mispronouncing your own name. To pronounce it that way it should be spelled "Weimholt." In German ie and ei combinations you pronounce it as if it is the second letter. Tiefling is "tee-fling," for example ("Teufel" is "Devil" in German).

 

[Initiate]

When I first started joining forums I didn't know what to use. So I took a look at what I was interested in at the time for inspiration. This was before I knew about D&D or most of the neat stuff I know about now so I checked for names from games.

This was around the time that Command and Conquer: Yuri's Revenge had come out and I had become a fan of his faction. On a whim I tried the name of my favorite unit, Yuri's basic infantry the Initiate. The forum accepted it and I ended up defaulting to Initiate whenever I sign up for a new site.

 

[Smoss]

Lazy college kids led to my handle...

Everyone got email in college (It was my first ever email account. And my first access to the internet...)

It was the same for all. first letter of first name, then full last name. People often had fun with them if they made a word (Poor, poor Heather O'Brien for example). For me it was Smossman.

Of course, two syllables is WAY too many for lazy, drunken college louts...

So I became Smoss. I barely answer to my real name anymore it is so rarely used.
------------------------------
Smoss
Doulairen

Edit: And yes for Mahdi - I did join a frat... And we had to be given nicknames. My "namer" and I both already had nicknames - His was Stein. So we were lazy and kept them. We had better things to do anyways. Like ROLEPLAY!

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

In real life I have a girl's name (not Vyvyan) and I am a rat bastard DM. I'm also rather reserved, but there is this rotten punk deep down inside of me whispering bad violent thoughts to me. I also feel much younger at heart than my age belies. I picture that persona as my favorite sitcom character, and thus my screenname. Vyvyan is the orange-haired one in my avatar in case you're too young to be a Young One.

 

[Nadaka]

Yeah, [MENTION=9470]weem[/MENTION]: you're mispronouncing your own name. To pronounce it that way it should be spelled "Weimholt." In German ie and ei combinations you pronounce it as if it is the second letter. Tiefling is "tee-fling," for example ("Teufel" is "Devil" in German).

Some of the US German immigrants around ~1890 intentionally swapped 'ei' and 'ie' in their names to sound more English, not realizing that the English pronunciation of the letters was practically the opposite. I don't know how many did so, but I know my fathers family did.

 

[weem]

Some of the US German immigrants around ~1890 intentionally swapped 'ei' and 'ie' in their names to sound more English, not realizing that the English pronunciation of the letters was practically the opposite. I don't know how many did so, but I know my fathers family did.

Yea, ours was switched as well - and it was previously (iirc) Veinholdt (or something right around there).

Anyway, it's pronounced as our family has always pronounced it, so we are pronouncing it right as far as I am concerned, English be damned

 

[Peraion Graufalke]

Some of the US German immigrants around ~1890 intentionally swapped 'ei' and 'ie' in their names to sound more English, not realizing that the English pronunciation of the letters was practically the opposite.

Well, Germans can be crazy like that.

 

[Traveon Wyvernspur]

Mine is the name of my favorite D&D character I played. He was a Paladin of Tyr.

 

[JohnRTroy]

My ENWorld name means I don't wanna hide behind a Pseudonym or Avatar.