Chp 248. The story behind your (online) name.

The internet hit me in the late 90s. Technology went a notch up like never before, shocking the byte out of us. Some of us were still using those large flimsy delicate 8 inch floppy discs back then! There was no Google, and the two most talked about sites were hotmail.com and hotsex.com IRC wasn’t popular then, and we used to chat on Perch, or Pearch, something like that. Netscape was a much much much popular browser than IE too.

My classmates of course told me people don’t use their real names in the online world (read:Chat), so we used to think of really strange and funny online nicks. Those names became a part of our identification even in the real world much later, so it was really important to come up with a good and catchy name in the initial phase.

Hence when blogs hit the scene and spread like wildfire, I was adamant in using a name that would be catchy and not embarrassing. If you are using an online nick, how did you come up with that name? What’s the story behind it? I’m tagging all my visitors on this, and I would love to hear about the origin of your nick(s).


Mizohican :

I started blogging in 2004, and back then, I had a Mohican hairstyle. Proud of my Mizo heritage, I combined the two and violà - Mizohican. It’s no rocket science, but it’s kinda catchy, unique, and simple. The name gave me two identities in the blogosphere – People I interacted with came to know I’m a Mizo and that I had a “funky” hairstyle.



I was fascinated about the Mohicans, and the book "Last of the Mohicans" was one of the first “real books with no cartoons” that I read during those Primary school days. I even fell in love with Madeleine Stowe in the movie version, years later. I saw a lot of similarities between the Native Americans and us Mizos as we’re both war-mongering tribal warriors, where bravery/courage is regarded as the highest honor in both our cultures, and cowardice a condition worse than death – the ultimate shame & dishonor!


illusionaire :

This was a name I coined from the words illusion and legionnaire – hence illusionaire – A “Dream trooper”, a warrior well-versed in the mystic arts of illusion and black magic. Phantasmagoria, the supernatural, mysteries of the unexplained etc had always fascinated me and I used to have a large collection of comics with fantasy-based themes. I wanted my writings to deliver just that.

I planned “illusionaire” to be the name and theme of my blog while “Mizohican” was supposed to be my blog-nick (the name that appears when you leave a comment). However, things got screwed up and illusionaire appeared as my blog-nick instead of Mizohican and the name stuck (trust me, blogger.com wasn’t that user friendly back in 2004). Now it’s too late to change, but I am not that disappointed because I kinda like this name too anyway.



Sandman :

This was a name I was planning to use only in the Mizo online world (discussion forum etc) but somehow the name caught on (due to mybloglog.com) and all my blog friends from South East Asia came to know me as Sandman too, which wasn’t my intention at all.

I wanted to use this only in the Zo online world because “Kima” is a very common name in our community. Similar to “illusionaire”, the Sandman here is about that mythical dream bringer, which again has a lot to do with fantasy, folklore and myth. It is by no means related in any freaking way to that person who can control sand or turn into sand, à la Marvel comic books (Spiderman movies etc)! Aaargh.

Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and Lordi’s “Blood Red Sandman” are based on this particular Sandman. I used the name because I wanted my writings to bring some sort of a dream-like fantasy or mesmerizing imaginations to my readers.



Morpheus, brother of Death, from Neil Gaiman’s
much acclaimed “The Sandman” series.

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So that’s how I came up with Mizohican, illusionaire and Sandman. Three online nicks of mine that I use in the cyber world. Do tell me the story behind your online nick(s). What are all the common online nicks that you use at various platforms – blog, orkut, mIRC, discussion forums, twitter etc? How did you come up with them or what inspired you to have such names? I’m sure you did not come up with it out of the blue with no reason at all, or did you? I am all ears, my friends.


Ps. Some of the more interesting online nicks who visit my blog frequently, that I’m dying to know the origin of, are given below. I’m just guessing the reason why you all used such names. Do correct me if I’m wrong… … (All in good fun, as always. Hugz, in advance.)

Just a Grail	Likes to drink her wine from a medieval chalice. Probably owns a chastity belt too.
Sundancer	One of those crazy people we see dancing on the streets in broad daylight.
Evuhleen	Actual name - Eveline. Boyfriend - “Me Tarzan, you Evuhleen. Me hungry, me poo poo…” type.
Pixie	Mischievous, alluring, foxy, but unfortunately, married.
Mimi	Tried to think of an exciting nick, any damn nick. Couldn’t, so she used her pet name.
Goldmember	Gold is inert. His “member” is the same. Hence, Goldmember.
Blind Dayze	Used to think ManUtd is the greatest team and became a fan. Regretting those blind days ever since.
NotGood	It was the first thing his girlfriend said after their first… you know…
Wonderboy	His folks wondered if it’s a boy…
Nohiddendepths	Not a very deep person. Quite shallow.
codeAries	Because codeTaurus was already taken…
father_sphinx	A she-male. Cross between a man (father) and a woman (sphinx).
The Chhamanator	Big fan of Arnold. Still has a naked poster of him on his bedroom wall.
Uncas	Another Mizo who’s a big fan of the Mohicans. But alas, “somebody” has already beaten him to the name “Mizohican”.

How close was I?