I have been foruming for a number of years now and have always wondered about people's usernames. Some are very straightforward using a first name. Some also incorporate what appears to be a birthyear. Some might give a hint as to the person's occupation. Some of them I have absolutely no idea! Whenever I have somebody on this side of the computer, they usually say "What the heck is an Atwinator?" So I thought it might be interesting to start a thread to explain unusual usernames.
 
I am originally from just outside of Amsterdam in Holland so my background is Dutch. Both my parents are also Dutch with mixed European backgrounds. My real full first name is Edwin, and the way that is pronounced in Dutch is "Etvin". So obviously this was someting I didn't want my friends to know as a kid growing up. Invariably they would of course and that wasn't very much fun! Anyway years later but before I got married in 2001, I had puchased a home and rented out rooms in it to friends. One of these was a guy named Dave who is actually resposible for my interest in video as well as computers in general to some extent. Anyway so eventually Dave hears my parents call me Etvin one day when they were over. Of course he find this very amusing and takes the ball and runs with it eventually morphing it into "Atwin". I tried to get even with him by calling him "The Dwaff", a name which he used online from that point forward. Then in further defence I took the very wimpy sounding "Atwin", and toughened it up a bit by adding "ator" , as in "Terminator" to the end of it. Since then it has just kind of stuck. Unfortunately Dave committed suicide about a year and a half ago. Silly as the name is, when I see it I fondly think of him.

Adelaide's been great so far Shaun. Most of the relatives are starting their holidays that they took for the wedding now so there is a lot of socializing going on. Last night was both bucks and hens night so that was fun. The women (27 of them) had a supposed sleep over party 5 minutes away from ours. Eventually they ended up crashing our party all dressed in PJ's and bent out of shape so that was interesting! I actually drank a whole 6 pack of Coopers Pale Ale, which is more than I've had at one time in well over a year. Everyones looking forward to Tasi but they are warning me it will be brutally cold! Haha....yeah right!

I almost forgot you used to go by strongdotguy Guy. I dinstictly remember wondering what it's meaning was though. Now it all makes sense. I'm glad you mentioned about Fortvir too because that was another one I could never figure out! Bedtime now....I'll sleep better!

Mine is super simple.  I do this video stuff just "For Fun".

I do find myself getting more and more into it and as I learn,  I want more still.  Video stuff is very addictive.

That's a perfect example of a case where I had completely the wrong idea. I actually always thought that Poncho was the name of your pet collie! Now I know. Is the avatar you often use your dog?

Nope, the collie is Mr. Tucker.  He is almost famous.  He was on local TV a few years back for saving a ladies life.

Hey, he's more than my pet dog, he is my buddy...  I'm pretty much retired, we go out walking every day.  Here he is in action at a recent Celtic Festival.  Yes, we have Celtic Festival's here in New Mexico.  [media]http://vimeo.com/1028734[/media]



Rich

Makes a lot of sense, and of course most of us wouldn't be into it if it wasn't fun! I also find it quite addictive, partially because the technologies are constantly changing and evolving.....even progressing in some instances! I also just love a great image and all the possible applications for it.

Yeah I hear what you're saying, I don't sign up for many websites anymore but I can remember sitting in front of a registration page trying any combination of anything that made sense to me and having all of them already being taken. So I would hit some random keys on the keyboard, it would work, and then I would forget what it was on my next visit and never go back again. That hasn't been a problem with "Atwinator"! Oh, and for the record, I think David is a nice name!