Names and Name Calling

The recent explosion of the internet and all things web-ish has lead to a rather interesting phenomena of the self-given name. Once upon a time the father of the child would give the son or daughter a name, and that name would be linked to the father forever. I, for instance, would be David, son of Daniel, son of Fred. All very masculine (don't you think so, Ben and Emma?). Then, with an increase in the number of people living in settlements (ie, cities and towns), the surname came into usage. Again, these were given. The surname could have been simply 'son of Daniel' - either FitzDaniel or Danielson. Or the surname could have been to do with the occupation - butcher, baker or armourer to big and scary Norman knights (as Searle means). Names could also be used to signify social position - in India certain names are reserved for certain castes.

The point is, in all cases these names were given and inherited. People had no choice in the matter. There were the occasional means of getting around this. You could change your name by deed poll (I'm not sure when this happened), or be known by your second or third names. My grandfather was known as Fred - his second name because he didn't like his first.

There were also nicknames. Such as Bush, Paddy, Scrubber, Muzz, Muzza, Gazza, and Shazza. These tended to be derived from the name of the individual in question, or imposed by group consensus (which rarely took into account the attitude of the victim). Therefore, throughout my school career I was known by the nicknames of Moses (wore roman sandals the first day at Intermediate and never again after that), Hippo (got stranded in a sandy bog on camp), Searle, See-ar-lee, Searly and Dave (not much imagination really). Again, names were given and not chosen.

Until now. The internet has provided us with a means of self expression through the use of the username. Examining these can be quite revealing. Take the names of Nic, Ben and Tim (as their parents know them). They are know online as Saint (or sitting duck on Counter Strike), Luther and Cardinal. I have no idea how they came to choose these names, or why they decided to choose names that are loaded with religious significance. Please note, Nic - Jameson's is not the holy spirit. I know I started this paragraph saying that names could be revealing - I change my argument because I'm confused by trying to figure out why Nic is a Saint. Pirate Jesus?

Anyway - this has lead to a rather confusing situation. Introductions used to be 'Hi I'm Nic, my phone number is *blah*'. Now the introduction goes something along the lines of 'Hi, I'm Nic, unless you read my journal where I'm Saint, unless I'm playing Counter Strike, where I'm Sitting Duck. My phone number is _, my cell phone number is _, my office number is _. My email address is _ and my website is _.nic.com'

Bloody confusing.

I am a simple man. Therefore I'm going to be easy. My online names will either be Dave, or Surly (a neat allusion to one of my favourite Simpsons characters, and a play on Searle - Searley - Surly).

That went on for a while. Anyway, congrats to James who is now married (I assume). Good Stag Night - but you're not going to hear anything about it from this lout.

Also congratulations to CD - who kicked Canterbury (woohoo!), and to Kenya, who beat Australia in the Sevens (WOOHOOO!).