h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sounds like fun! It obviously wouldn't be applicable to my "sign-on" name, as I use a nickname that was given to me many years ago by others. And the case of the letters will change depending on where the capslock has been left. Or as fancy takes me!

Byeeeeeeeee

So what does Peta mean?

Or Jimi X ?

I'd always assumed mine was self explanatory
But if you know different......

Hello Peta, sorry, I didn't realize that this is where I'd find a response! Didn't look.

OKAY! Analysing for Peta ...

First impression: sounds like Peter, pronounced with an English accent, which leads me to feel that the owner lives in the UK, perhaps is English, perhaps has an English accent, and/or enjoys the accent.

This user is friendly but reserved -- the name is short, permitting just enough grip to hold it, but not giving away much information ... however the "pet" part of it allows the short name to sound warm and likeable at first sight. The capital "P" suggests long time computer use -- I find that long-time users have generally gotten over the lower-case syndrome, though not all.

The general easy typability and lack of ostentation or fancy effects in the name suggest a brisk, practical personality, not given to fuss or personal decoration. That is reinforced by the shortness of the name, which suggests a desire to maintain an economical footprint -- all four letters are mainstream -- "e-t-a" are the first three most commonly ones in the English language -- and require no special effort to type.

A short name may suggest a person of medium height -- in the same way that a very long name may suggest a tall person -- though on both sides of the situation there are those who might either want to add height by using a long name or shorten a profile by using a short name. I would hazard guesses based on what other information I got from the name. In this user's case I would say ... medium height.

A word about intentions: like I said in the article, though it looks as if I am "reading" the user's character -- and of course it's fun to discover whether I am right or wrong -- I think a NameReader's commitment is to reading the name for what it SUGGESTS, not what it may or may not REVEAL. Tell me if this makes sense or not ...

Hello Jimi X, sorry it's taken me three days to look here!

Okay, Analysing for Jimi X

First impression, the user is familiar with Jimi Hendrix, suggesting that he/she belongs to a generation which was familiar with Hendrix' music. But that's just a first impression and is grounded in my own age and music bias!

Second impression, the user likes a bit of colour in his/her personal presentation -- the J and X -- high Scrabble values -- a little out of the way on an English keyboard. This (the out of the way letters) suggests that the user is comfortable with foreign flavours -- doesn't mind, perhaps actually likes to suggest an other-than-strictly-English persona.

X, with its strong associations with X-rated and triple-X rum suggests a person who is amused with the idea of flaunting a mild naughtiness -- but nothing painful or truly nasty, just playful. That impression (the playfulness) is suggested by the innocence of those two "i"s -- there's something very vulnerable, in my opinion, about a lower case "i" standing all by itself at the end of a word or name, with its detached and floating dot, its modest height. Two "i"s reinforce that vulnerability. A person who will use a lowercase "i" at the end of a name voluntarily is either attempting to seem harmless or IS young and innocent. Of course that impression is immediately off-set by the capital X ... suggesting a playful nature, someone who would like to be both a bit dangerous and a bit childlike.

You mean ... Bald Bloke actually means you're a bald bloke??

Nahhh. That's not the point. Regardless of what you really are (whether bald or a bloke) the use of such a name suggests a person who is direct, four-square, open and unafraid. You see the point? When one offers information which doesn't have to be offered then it suggests that you are willing to make revelations beyond the call of obligation. Since, in this era it is still considered (I think! Forgive me if I'm wrong!) mildly unfortunate to be bald, then a person who offers this information unasked is saying, "I don't mind being thought to be bald -- " and maybe also "-- in fact I think it's rather COOL!" And so it is -- why not? It's certainly cool not to be concerned about such minor matters as personal hair-cover. It may even be a come-on ... there are regular reports that ladies are attracted to a gleaming expanse of nude head ... such heads confer a soft, rounded, baby-like appearance to a man ... but I am veering into another field altogether here and so shall stop.

Claiming to be bloke offers a different series of interpretations but in a similar vein -- I wonder if I can say that it offers a bit of information about age? I think people of an earlier generation to mine -- I'm 47 -- would feel it unnecessary to state bloke-ness, it being taken for granted that anyone who didn't claim to be female, must be male. At the same time, I think "bloke" is a word that suggests someone not quite in the first flush of youth -- can't be sure exactly why. Maybe the sound of the word? Something sort of angular and solid about it -- and English. Combined with the "Bald" it offers a strong suggestion of a Mature Male Being, of middle years and possessed of a comfortable, stable character, willing to be honest and dependable.

Rather nice, huh?

I didn't say this IS what you are like, just what your name suggests ...

The two "B"s and the internal "l"s suggests a mild fondness for alliteration ... maybe a pleasure in words which is belied by the up-front declaration in the meanings of the name.

Sorry, BuskingBob! I didn't see your response till just this afternoon. Didn't look ...

Analysing for BuskingBob ... well, like I said in the article, I'm not looking for what you Really Are ... maybe no-one knows THAT! .. but only for what your name suggests you are. For this reason, even if you chose it out of a hat and it has nothing whatsoever to do with you, what it SUGGESTS ... is that you are a person given to offering road-side performances, have an easy, out-going, open-air personality, perhaps are of taller than medium height, like alliteration -- so maybe words and wordplay. That you like taking on different persona. That you don't mind a somewhat irregular, unconventional life-style. And at the same time, are not so unconventional that you would mind having a very simple, down-to-earth nickname tagged onto the end of the "Busking", suggesting a man-of-the-people type, and glad to be that.

A capital letter in the middle of a name suggests a user who is willing to take a bit of trouble -- after all, leaving the caps lock on would result in entirely uppercase letters whereas it takes a tiny bit of extra effort to make one letter stick up from amongst the rest, in an unusual manner, given the way most of us spell and capitalize. It doesn't suggest a spur of the moment choice -- because the second capital is the beginning of the second part of a two-part name if one ignores the idea that it might be made up of bus-king-bob rather than busking-bob.

Three "b"s -- that's a lot of "b"s in one name -- suggests to me a roundedness, a fondness for round forms. It's also interesting to see that the whole name allows several complete mini-words to be pulled out of it -- bus, busing, bin, big, bug, us, sin, sob, skin, king -- etc. Such a user may like the idea of getting good value for money.

Wow.

... and since you were my first "client" Ming, I think it's only right to offer a link to my analysis of your name here at h2g2, but because of my oversight, located elsewhere ... here's the link:
http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=24942&thread=48870 -- and let me say, I am as astonished at the outcome as you, Ming! I don't expect any of this to have real-world echoes. Particularly the twins. How cool.

That wasn't too bad!

I was born in the 1960s, but am very familiar with Hendrix. The Jimi is just a derivitive of my own name James (in part as a tribute to him). The 'X' is from an old nickname I picked up in a summer job when I was a teen. The people I worked with called me 'Jimmy X' and from there I've only modified it slightly to be my online nickname.

But interesting stuff.

Oh, and I'm an American and have never played Scrabble.

- X

Well you paid my site a visit so I couldnt help but to return the favor. I am actually quite intrigued by the Idea of On-line name analysis. The name I commonly use is Drezdock.
What you think of my H2G2 name wouldnt go unappreciated either.


--------------------END TRANSMISSION ---------------------------

Sounds like fun. Can you do me too? Preferably without checking my homepage as I have an explanation of my own there

Wow this is blast, especially given my interest in divination methods (I hope this tidbit of info does not colour my reading)

You said the more names the better, so put me in check:

Tadhg Christopher Bird Cain (current nom de plume)
Johnny Fusion =11811=
KeltBoi
ZenMondo

Hi! Thanks for offering your name!

Dancing Ermine ... no, I've not been to your page because that would spoil all the fun for me! I want to aim for interpreting the name for what it suggests, so the less I know about the user, the more truly free-form my interpretation is ... of course it's amusing and a bit amazing to discover that something or the other DOES match the user's real self, but that's just a bonus.

Well Dancing Ermine suggests to me ... a lively and warm personality! It conjures up an amusing image of little white stoats in their winter coats, waltzing very nicely in a big ballroom. This user is not complex and knotted up -- the alphabets are all standard ones and the words are both straightforward. Of course it's not exactly every day that one encounters ermine ... then again, ermine is something I associate with the robes of royalty in a canonical, fairytale sense -- something familiar, though unusual, associated with royalty. So I would say this a person who enjoys a bit of traditional romance and fairytale, who is not opposed to the concept of royalty, who has a sense of history. Someone who likes luxurious textures.

Using completely normal words and spellings suggests a user who doesn't engage 24 hours a day with science fiction, the paranormal, the otherwordly. At the same time, the image of dancing ermines suggests a lively imagination. Someone who like animals -- maybe someone who opposes the use of real furs?

Now I'll go and check your site to have a good laugh!

Nice of you to stop by. Okay! Analysing for Drezdock and Researcher Extraordinaire!

Drezdock ... hmmm. It's not a word or name that I recognize. It makes me think of doctors. Maybe "Drs", which when pronounced sounds a bit like "doctorzzzz" so -- Dr + z but that's difficult to pronounce, so maybe "drez" derives from that? The "dock" after it seems to support the idea of doctors. Maybe a PhD, rather than medical -- Researcher Extraordinaire allows me to lean further in that direction. But why "doctors"?? I'm not on firm ground here and I don't think this association is likely to be correct, it's just an amusing exploration of possibilities. The very first association the name suggested to me was "Dresden" but that seemed unlikely too. Maybe this name is based on a real name, some combination of sounds and letters.

When I'm not trying to parse the name, the "z" in the middle suggests a person with an interesting profession/hobby/interest buried within an otherwise standard life. Interesting rather than bizarre -- if it had been "x" or "q" I might have thought otherwise. But "z" is one of those letters that I associate with differences which are important but benign. That, of course, is merely because I react strongly to the less familiar letters in English language-use. Maybe if I were a French speaker it would be different ...

While we're on the subject of Researcher Extraordinair!!!! -- well, there's an "e" missing at the end of the "Extraordinaire"(in English -- I don't know enough about French, whether it's one of those adjetives which won't end in an "e" if the noun isn't feminine) which suggests a person whose mind moves faster than the fingers and (to me at least) the choice of those two words together suggest someone who is interested in wines or likes to read about wines, spirits, fine foods, gracious living. The four exclamation marks, well ... that looks to me like someone who has a sense of irony, rather than a person who is given to personal super-sell. It's the combination -- the other features of the name (no special characters, no obvious pushing of self forward) do not add up to someone who walks around with an ego the size of the Ritz, so then the title is ironic.

This user is likely to be a thoughtful person, not a web-fiend (perhaps just getting into the scene rather than a long-time habitue?), introspective, cautious (doesn't really reveal much in the names), tending towards conservative values (typical capitalization) but interested in breaking out of the mould (the actual choice of words), and possessed of a nice sense of humour.

I'm having fun here ...

Wow! A lotta names there!! A user who takes alternative philosophies seriously, that's for sure. And someone who spends a lot of life on the net or at least on the 'puter -- like maybe with games or ... music? That's because of Johnny Fusion =11811= which also tells me that this user likes symmetry, somewhere deep inside -- not all the time, maybe, not in every dimension, but it's there: a pattern is preferred to random chaos (that's another point which makes me think of music -- also KeltBoi which I assume is a playful version of Celt Boy). But all those interesting letters and spellings ... it's not just an interest, it's a way of life, an attitude. And at the same time -- I'm hazarding this -- not an upbringing. The interest is something self-grown, built around looking for identity, something to believe in, something beyond the standard offerings of urban life.

I'm going to look at all the names together and pick my way towards those that speak to me in some way.

This user prefers the unusual to the usual. Is maybe a bit of a performer, likes to explore different identities, different lifestyles, but is still definitely looking (not settled on any particular one). The current ZenMondo in use here suggests that there is, after an era of searching, perhaps an effort to look for spiritual peace. So despite the many names, this user is not really an extrovert with many handles for the world to pick up on, but a person who values the Inner Self, who must be protected behind shields and heraldic devices, even though the ones on display here sound creative and make-believe rather than traditional.

I get a sense of spikes and sharp angles -- probably because of the slightly jagged profiles presented by words which have capital letters poking up in the middle.

And yes, telling me of an interest in divination DOES flavour my view ... but "KeltBoi" would incline me to look in that direction anyway. The combination of Celt and Zen ... well, that's quite a mix! An interesting one though. Good luck in your path.

Do you want some more fun?
How about Wakan ?

This was really interesting, I love stuff like this

Close enough. Most of what you say does seem fairly accurate (well perhaps as how I like to see myself ). I suppose I'm slightly more fond of fantasy than science fiction, but I do tend to spend an awful lot of my time reading oter worldly works. Any bit of escapism that lets me use my imagination.

Not opposed to fur though, oddly enough (beware the onslaught). I am of the opinion that it's fine to farm these animals for their skin though not keen on having them trapped them in the wild. A bit of a contradiction I suppose but that's how I feel. Similar views on eating meat in fact, at least I'm consistent in my oddness

Thanks Wakan -- yes, I'm still having fun doing this ...

*sniffing over this new name*

My very first impression is ... Indonesia. I don't know very much about Indonesia, so at another level my first response is ... here's an unfamiliar word and sound, one that doesn't belong within the universe of sounds familiar to me. Which could mean a user living in a culture other than the Anglo-European world -- on the other hand, there could be a cool, straightforward explanation for the name, such as : W. + aka + N, with "aka" being the familiar acronym for "also known as". So a person with two other initials, W and N which have been melded together rather cleverly to form this particular name.

Okay, onto what Wakan suggests to me purely at the level of sounds. I realize that "Wakan" reminds me a bit of "ratan" which is why I keep thinking of bamboo and the Far East. But aside from all that, here is a user who is neat and practical -- a short name suggests a person who doesn't have a lot of time to spend on typing in a huge long name. In case the name IS a meld, then it supports that idea. Wakan is also easy to recall, it has a pleasant echo of "wake" as in "wake-up" embedded in it, as well as "walk on" ... I get a sense of someone alert and aware.

"W" is one of those letters I have a special response to -- it takes up a lot space relative to other letters and is hard to reproduce gracefully in calligraphy, because it's got those three legs waving unsteadily in the air -- unlike say an "m" which keeps its three members firmly planted on the line ... and this user has allowed it to remain in capital at the beginning of the word, suggesting a willingness to make a quiet but confident statement. Then there's a "k" in the middle too, sticking up like a flag. I would almost expect the final "n" to be capitalized. But this user is not ostentatious and likes a certain quietude. A capital "n" would be much too irregular.

Very little is revealed, so I would say, a cool, mature person, stable and secure, someone who may be smiling very slightly, while reading this ...