Catherine is my birth certificate, drivers' license, and Social Security card name. Everybody in the world calls me Cate.

My name comes from a Chow mix I inherited after my mother passed away. Her name was Sheena. My mom used her as a guard dog and she lived outside. Sheena was nine when she came to live with me. She used to spin in tight circles and then jump on you. I started calling her shedevel and shortened it to shedev after awhile. Anyhow, she adjusted well to being a house dog and we became very attached to each other. She would wrap herself around my legs like she was hugging me. She died from cancer at age 14. I've been using the name as my internet alter ego since. I still really miss her.

Oh well, it's Rachy Lou like Mary Lou and Lisa Marie and Tammy Faye. Although, of course, I wear a lot less mascara. My given name is Rachel Louise.

And some idiomatic usage for y'all: When you become uppity, these names become "May" names. As in "All right, Miss Rachel May."

Jaggy (or Jaguar) was the name of my first cat. I inherited him from a roommate who, as it turned out, was not really a pet person. Jaggy was already named and declawed, and since he was around 12 at the time, I didn't change his name. When searching for a handle for Internet activities, I just used his alias. He was a great cat: independent and strong, yet very sweet and cuddly. He died last year at the age of 20, and I still miss him every day.

Love these stories.

Mine is a character name, taken from the book Good Omens by Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaiman. Aziraphale and Crowley are, respectively, an angel and a demon, charged with supervising the Earth. They've been there a long time, and built up a friendly relationship, despite being officially on opposite sides. Crowley is the cool one -- dark hair, leather clothes, sunglasses (to hide his vertical snake pupils) and a stylish black Bentley. Aziraphale gives the appearance of being a fussy, slightly effeminate middle-aged man (possibly gay, except technically angels are sexless) who collects books and likes to perform sleight-of-hand magic tricks. Both are among my favourite characters ever, and the book is wickedly funny. Read it, if you haven't.

Also, as it happens, Elisabeth has the same rhythm and number of syllables as Aziraphale.

I just made mine up when I was joining YLF - tex for Texas where I live and style because it was a fashion site. And I wanted something unique and fun.

Mine is the first letter of my name. "L"

Missvee is what I was often called as a child, especially when I was being particularly willful :-), although my real name is Val. The nickname has stuck for some reason...
Fun thread!

Fun read. Eliza is my middle name and I prefer it to my first name, so decided to use it. Too late to adopt it elsewhere, but I couldn't resist it here.

Like the dress and blazer. The shoes work, especially if they are comfortable and the work environment precludes other alternatives. I do find ballet flats in general a bit of a yawn recently, but sometimes there are compelling reasons for to keep things less of a statement.

Congrats on your first day. I'm betting that time in your new position will help identify the best ways to reference your style preferences.

ETA: Oops- the peril of late night posting on small devices. This was meant for Una's thread. Sorry.

I chose goldenpig because my daughter was born in the year of the Golden Pig, which is supposedly super lucky in Asian cultures. My MIL had been bugging us FOREVER for a grandchild (we had been together for 15 years, married for 8) so she was extra happy about her lucky "golden pig" grandchild. It was my name on the mommy board I was on, and when I found out about YLF from one of the other moms, I just kept the same name. I started using my real name here though, because everyone else does and I didn't want everyone to keep calling me Goldie, LOL!

[Oh, incidentally, I go by Mochi with my friends and teachers from tango class....one or two know I'm technically a Nancy, but I just tire of my real name, which I never liked and don't feel it suits me (it's okay if you want to call me that, really. I answer to both!)

I should have come up with a good name when I went off to college, and insisted everyone switch over. At 49 it's awfully late, and admittedly "Mochi" is limited--I could never refer to myself as that amongst Japanese people without sounding silly, for example....]

Rambling because I drove something like 15,000 miles to do a book project. And nothing would make me happier than to find a way to do it again. Maybe I'll have to change it to Apple Ann or something now that I seem to have hunkered down in the farming life.

Love this thread and the replies...I go by mine cuz I've been his 'mom' since he was 3 weeks old ( he was being abused) and although I've ha many fur-babies in my life, he has always been very special to me.

Mine is pretty obvious since I live in mid-town Washington, DC. I've always been a city girl at heart even when I lived in the 'burbs. As a college kid, I always ended up coming down to the city to enjoy the culture: the museums, art and music and I'm such a people person (well, usually). So, I ended up living here and have lived every minute of it.

Just got back from vacation, but had to chime in because this thread seemed so fun!

Charmian is a character from one of my all-time favourite plays (Antony and Cleopatra). She's a handmaiden, which seemed appropriate to a forum on fashion!

I just found this thread, too. I have no 'O' in my name, and my grandfather was adamant that I not be name Melina, after my namesake, should I be nicknamed Mel. Yet, I got the nick name Mo anyway. It was likely due to a bartender I worked with in the mid 90's that would proclaim Moooo lina. I never shook it. High school friends would never dream of calling me Mo. Anyone after about '95 does. As an aside, my grandfather also shot down Monica, since my last name is Harmon. Didn't want me being called an instrument. Good man

my dear late dad used to call me claracluck when I was a child so seems like a great name for forums ( better than my rl name)so its kinda stuck with me.

Archer - I aim straight

I was called Lyn in High School but after reverted back to my full name 'Lynette'. The D is the first letter of my Maiden name.

I was named J-o-d-e-l-l-e after mom Joanne and Aunt Adele, called Jody from the day of my birth. When I was looking for a handle for some other style forums, I decided to play off of the "Adele" part of my name and thought up "Adelfa." Later I found out it means oleander. Also, it is the name of a dorm where I went to school, but I forgot this when I came up with it. DD doesn't want me too google-able, and I go along in exchange for her not buying a motor scooter.

Haha, just saw this thread and it explains so much! There is another Claire or two on the form, so I needed to find my own nickname. I wanted something catchy and memorable. Since Claire means "clear" and I am a stickler for making myself understood, I chose clearlyclaire.

Raisin is a nickname my school-yard lady gave me when I was about 5. It kinda stuck My real name is Rae though. Yes, that's my full first name.

I was using RunnerRae but I didn't want the runner in there anymore, and since there is already a Rae I didn't want to use a form of that, as it gets confusing. I was surprised to meet another Rae though!

Such warm and thoughtful stories! My name is a combination of two friends from long ago: Laura + Linda. Nothing at all like my own name.

My initials. Really!

I was named after Rebekah, who in the bible brought water to Abraham's servant and his camels....which is fitting as I enjoy throwing parties and & making sure everyone has their drink of choice!
photo --I am a photographer and artist, so it seems to fit.

The M at my end is from my surname. YLF is the only online forum I use my real name, having lurked for ages before joining. My login ID is Rodosee, though, because I actually don't like my first name and because I think I am a forgotten goddess

My mother called my TraceyLiz as an endearing term since my middle name iis Elizabeth and 65 was year I was born...

It's comforting to be TraceyLiz in the forum world since my dear mother's passing left that endearing term behind.

Mine is a nickname from college. Mistakenly I was known as Joan for a bit (I did not challenge this as in the 80's it was good to not advertise ones real name at college parties). It rhymed with Sloane (also the girlfriend of Ferris Bueller) and I wished that were my real name. A dear friend came up with my many personalities in one name "jeannejoansloane". Of course if you just asked my name at a party I always answered "Fred".

Clara is my mother's middle name. I've always loved it and wished it were my name, too. 'T' is my first initial (Tracey).