What's the story behind your avatar or username?

[Nurse Wretched]

I'm a nurse-midwife, and worked as a nurse for years before that. Everyone always knows Nurse Ratched -- thus, Nurse Wretched. It would totally be my roller derby name.

[neshmi]

name: This is a name given to me by the local workers at the site I dig at in Jordan, the name just means good, generous, kind...

avatar: Handpresso, a small portable espresso machine. Goes with me to field projects so I can get a decent cup of coffee

[matilda]

Username: From Natalie Portman's first role in Léon: The Professional .

People say that I very much remind them of her.

And for the avatar: I am a fitness freak.

Edited January 28, 2011 by matilda

[greengrass2]

My mousepad (which is basically functionless) has a picture of my old undergrad campus, which has a beautiful green landscape. So, I picked my username from the first thing I saw when creating my profile. Boring story, but true.

[greengrass2]

My username reflects my incredible confidence and high self-esteem. My avatar reflects my originality.

My friend did that when he was applying to grad school. He looked like a chipmunk.

[TMP]

"Tickle me pink!" was a phrase that I heard from my 11th grade chemistry teacher. I've always been terrible at coming up with completely random usernames that doesn't involve my real names. Every time I try to think about other names besides Ticklemepink, I just... blank out. I just like it.

My avator... well... for another forum is actually a picture of Charlie Brown at the stone fence where he usually says "good grief." I love it because I often say "good grief, what have I done?" especially when making stupid wise choices about graduate school and academia in general.

[Strangefox]

"Tickle me pink!" was a phrase that I heard from my 11th grade chemistry teacher.

"Tickle me pink!" - does this phrase mean something?

[TMP]

"Tickle me pink!" - does this phrase mean something?

Nope. I just liked the sound of it. Like Tickle Me Elmo, remember that awesome toy? And yes, I'm quite ticklish anyway.

[Herbie]

It's actually a typo. I realized this later (aka, yesterday). It's supposed to be Chulianne - the way a Laotian girl says my first name with ''anne.''

[Strangefox]

Anybody else willing to tell a story behind their avatar/username??

[DrPepper-olic]

I drank 4 or 5 cans of Diet Dr. Pepper the day that I joined. I kinda hoped the screen name would shame me into drinking more water. The avatar is one of the few photos on my work computer that isn't a wedding photo. I have a few other baby animal photos, all considered livestock. I'm working with commodity prices at the moment so it reminds me of what I'm studying. Also, I think teacup pigs are so cute!

[Mrs. Grad]

I'm a newlywed and my husband is the one applying to graduate programs this year. Initially, I chose another username, but too many people were asking me about my applications, so I thought a new title would clarify the situation.

And I thought I might as well go for the nostalgic 1950s housewife theme while I was at it, hence the avatar. (Though, truth be told, I'm not a housewife at all. She works hard for the money.)

[Waw]

Not an exciting story in my case. Waw is the first letter of my surname, and that's what's in the picture. People started calling me by that letter when there were too many people around with the same first name.

[kotov]

The new avatar I'm using is a banner from the 1968 Red Square protests over the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. It reads "Za vashu i nashu svobodu" ("for your freedom and ours"), which is a common phrase in the Slavic countries. I figured it was pretty appropriate, considering that I work with Eastern Europe (though with Romania mostly, which isn't Slavic) and given the recent eventsin the Middle East, etc.

[NUcat72]

My name is pretty straight forward, and makes me EXTREMELY identifiable if someone knew what they were looking for, something I didn't think about when I joined the site. Lame? Yes. I'm unoriginal in the naming dept. I guess

[CreanhouseEffect]

Indiana basketball fan (Head Coach: Tom Crean) and my topic of research is environmental public policy. Thus, CreanhouseEffect.

[The Lorax]

favorite children's book. Also I'm a tree hugger, and an activist, and the Lorax is a bad ass.

[Kessith]

My username is a bastardization of a name of a character in one of my favorite sci-fi series. The series is called The Coldfire Trilogy and in it is a race of beings that are kind of like cat-like people. I love cats and feel that I could have been a cat in past life so I liked this race. The character's name was Hessith but I remembered in wrong and thought it was Kessith. It works out since I like Kessith better anyway. It is also my character name from Final Fantasy Online (recovering? current? addict)

[Thorondor]

Username? Because Tolkien's Eagles are badass.

When I'll be bothered to find the avatar I want, it'll be the cover to either Robot Visions or Robot Dreams. Or one of the robot murder books. Because Asimov's robots are badass.

[A_Murphy]

Mine's from the best cop in Detroit.

Edited March 2, 2011 by A_Murphy

[newms]

Mine's from the best cop in Detroit.

I got it the first time you posted it just now. Alex Murphy/RoboCop

[A_Murphy]

Thought I'd go for some extra difficulty just for fun, but in retrospect I don't know what I was thinking when I challenged the refresh skills of gradcafe users.

[Moxie42]

When I was in high school I learned that Penn Jillette had a daughter he named Moxie Crimefighter which I thought was the COOLEST name in existence. I still kind of do. The 42 along with my avatar come from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[beelz]

I had that Stephen Lynch song "Beelz" stuck in my head.

You know, My real name is Beelzebub but you can call me Beelz....

It's such a cute name haha

[everygirl]

I am Every Girl. Like all of you neurotic grad school hopefuls, only Canadian.

But I used to choose my usernames based on whatever item was immediately beside my right hand as I typed. I have been ContactLens_Solution, EmptyWaterBottle, and BagoCatTreats in other forums.