Apologies if someone has asked this recently but why did you choose your username?
Some are obvious of course, but others are so quirky that it might be interesting to hear the stories. If you don't want to give your real name you can still avoid it, for security as this is a public zone.
Mine is just a sort of condensation of my real name, which is fairly long.
I don't use the same username on the other 2 forums I belong to (unrelated to thyroid). One I used my old cat's name plus "mom", the other my dog's nickname. I couldn't think of a clever name for here 
so because I live at the seaside that's all I could come up with 
There are a couple of really clever names on here and I'm envious that I couldn't think of anything like them!
After SeasideSusie 's comment why not include pet names as well.
We called my first cat "Friday" after Robinson Crusoe's sidekick, who arrived as a stray on Friday 13th. She was also black, very confusing if you are superstitious.
The best pet names I've ever heard were a dog called Hoover, because he was expert at vacuuming up crumbs, a cat called Mandou (Catmandu, get it!) and another cat with the longest name in the Bible, Mahershalalhashbaz, which means "Speeding to the spoil, hurrying to the prey".
My cousin had a dog called Claude and a cat called Tatty. I wish I was witty and clever
Me too, one cat we had moved in from next door to escape a houseful of noisy children, and was called Tom. I hated it, so predictable (like calling a Basset hound Fred) but couldn't think of a better name. So, being in Wales, he ended up being called "Boyo"
I had a big ginger rescue cat and he was already named Tom, so being in Wales we named him the Welsh versionTomos.
Twm (Tom) is the short name for Tomos, we had a cat of that name. My mother's suggestion, after a notorious Welsh thief - a sort of Robin Hood character except he didn't apparently give to the poor! His full name was Twm Siôn Cati, (Tom Son of Katy)
Years ago we had 2 beautiful Golden Retrievers and we named the male dog Deke and the female dog Coy so when we called them together it was ‘Decoy’. 😂
My name is what I called myself when I was 3. My name was Linda Stewart or lala toot as I said it.
Brilliant!
Mine was chosen because it basically says nothing about me. (Which is a bit sad, really.)
I have used jokey names on forums and eventually they start to embarrass me and I wish I could turn back the clock and choose something else.
I have used real first names before - but never my own.
I've used a favourite word of mine. Then that backfired - someone joined the forum concerned and often mentioned their pet cat who had the same name as I used on the forum and that irritated me.
So all of the above was the impetus for me choosing a non-descriptive name.
Still a good one. A HUMAN bean rather than a jumping bean
Ooh, it's been a long time since I would willingly jump for anything.
HB - yours is my favourite of all usernames on this forum 
Thank you I'm surprised by that.
I had no inspiration the day I joined. But, I had read a poem that morning, about geese, so I just thought greygoose sounded good.
As for pets, where to start! lol Had cats called Tabby, Cassiput, Purl, Sidney, Baggy and, of course, Tommy - but that was my son's choice. And dogs called Flossy, Rex (his former owner called him that!) Dog-dog, Heineken - or Kenny for short - Opaline and Sam. Sam is my favourite boys name, and I called all my tortoises Sam, as a child. Now I have a grandson called Sam. lol My present dog bears the name of Davro. Don't ask me why, or what it means, I have no idea! He was given that name in the shelter, but he was there so long nobody could remember why. I wanted to change it but couldn't think what to, so I left it as it is. But, his motto is: doesn't matter what you call me as long as you call me often. So, he'll answer to any name, like Davo, Baby, Bubba, Dada, Chicken-legs, you name it! He doesn't care.
One cat we had was called Kibi (pronounced Chibby) and that got changed to Chibs, or Chips, or even Fish and chips! And a little tortoiseshell was called Josephine (after Joseph's Coat of many colours). And there was Kari, after a foreign word meaning "Little noisy one", which she was!
"My present dog bears the name of Davro"
Bobby Davro?
As I said, nobody knows. I don't even know Bobby Davro - who's he? He was in the not-kill shelter for 8 years, those that took in the puppy and named him had all moved on, and there was no explanation in his records.
Hi Jnetti,
Buddy is my Labrador (hence the photo!) I chose a random number because there are a few other Buddy’s in the forum.
Mine is the football team I support
Seems pets' names are often more interesting than ours!
I hate my real name so much! I should have changed it years ago - getting married didn't help because his name was worse than mine! lol And, in any case, I still had my hated Christian name. I would have liked to have been called Francesca, I think. With a plain old Smith at the end, nothing anybody can make a joke about, as they could with my real name… But, it's too late, now.
One other name I did consider as a user name was DendriticFrog. But, then thought of the hours I'd have to spend explaining what 'dendritic' meant, and what it had to do with frogs. lol Greygoose was just easier.
When I did Biology we had to do some really nasty experiments with frogs, testing their reflexes when they were minus part of their brains (didn't think about it too much at the time, but horrible looking back). So yes, dendritic frog would be too subtle and not nearly as nice as a goose!
I did once hear of a girl with the surname Harse. And her parents made the mistake of naming her Rosemary. You can guess what they called her in school!
Yes, shame about the experiments, because apart from that, I loved biology.
Sometimes you wonder what exactly people are thinking when they name their children. Poor girl.
From a toddler I used to play with creatures in the garden rather than dolls. My mother said the first time I presented her with a worm she had a hard job admiring it instead of shuddering! I thought it was wonderful. I even talk to spiders, usually to tell them they would be better off outside, before putting them out as kindly as possible. And the other week apologised to one for blundering into a web in the garden and destroying it. After all that skill and hard work too!
That sounds just like me. 😊
Not like me at all! I hate all insect life - with the possible exception of bees. I don't want to kill it all, like some people, I just want to stay as far away from it as possible! Human biology was my thing.
When I was teaching, the kids (in days before it was compulsory for lower secondary classes) would sometimes ask "Can we have sex education?" My answer was "OK, I'll tell you how plants have sex." "We didn't mean that!" "I know you didn't"
Or they would ask "Can we have human biology?" Meaning exactly the same thing of course. So I would say, "OK, structure and function of the lungs"...
One of the very few times I managed to get the better of them!
I liked Botany, too.
Did you know that fungi have sex - sort of? They join pairs of their own nuclei. Basically sex is merging of chromosomes in a special way. Even bacteria can do that - share bits of DNA. Sadly for us it means they can share DNA that is resistant to antibiotics
Haha! that brought back memories of a girl at our school Annette Kirton...poor girl. Everyone took the mick out of her. My username are my initials!
HAHAHA! I didn't get it until saying the name out loud 
I once had to phone someone with the surname of Postle. But his first name wasn't Archie, Albert or Andrew. Pity! And there was a butcher called Brest in a nearby town, who no doubt sold breast of lamb. I also knew a lady called Kneebone. She was doing some kind of medical work, but it would have been so funny if she had been been a physiotherapist or similar
Why do you hate your real name, now that you’ve said that I’d really like to know what it is!
No way! I'm not telling anyone! lol
Hi Hidden , mine came from a name game. Suits me...apparently! 🤪😂
Isn't Zippy a character in the Muppets or something 
Rainbow - Zippy, George and Bungle
SeasideSusie got it, @Jnetti, but I still prefer it being because I like driving! Not sure about the Appletush...a bit 'cheeky', 😂!
I used to drive, gave up a few years ago now, but when my children were young I had a lovely little metallic blue mini and I called it Tootles. There was a Ladybird book called Tootles the Taxi which I used to read to my son, and I used to drive them to cubs, brownies, etc, hence mom's taxi got named Tootles!
Sorry Hidden I've taken your thread down another path again
Hi SeasideSusie - and Hidden too! I'm dreading the day I have to give up...especially as it's a sporty number but getting in and out is difficult. In the meantime my daughter and I enjoy 'topless' days (roof down 🤣) and singing tunelessly but nonetheless having fun! Who can hear you at that speed? (Daughter has special needs so effectively a child in an adult body, but we have great fun together!) Current car called 'Christian' as he's grey, and a niece said he had a nice rear end! 🤣
No problem. It's supposed to be a fun thread anyway. Change from moaning and agonising about our medical issues.
I called my first car Kiconco (pronounced "Chichoncho", meaning "Gift", and was offended when a friend said it sounded like a sneeze!
Mine is obvious - if you know!
Helvella is a genus of ascomycete fungus of the family Helvellaceae. The mushrooms, commonly known as elfin saddles, are identified by their irregularly shaped caps, fluted stems, and fuzzy undersurfaces. They are found in North America and in Europe. Well known species include the whitish H. crispa and the grey H. lacunosa. They have been reported to cause gastrointestinal symptoms when eaten raw.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvella
I like that, it's interesting. I'd often wondered what your name meant or where it came from but had never googled it.
I won't try to eat you then
It's an interesting moniker. But early in my TUK days, in a hypohaze, I once read it as Valhalla.
I chose my username because the Maple tree is my favourite tree especially in Autumn, and I could eat bucket loads of maple syrup if I didn't restrain myself. The Moose part, I chose because I love the quirky looking creatures for some odd reason. Although, I'm not Canadian, I love the Pacific Northwest areas of Canada, the U.S and Alaska... How I came to actually name myself as MapleMoose on joining here, I'm not sure, maybe I was feeling like a hefty moose as I was downloading a stack of pancakes drowned in warm maple syrup... Oh boy! I'm getting late night cravings... Oh dear, those were the days before Gluten Free and low sugar... Sorry, a little mournful glimpse of the care free diet days 😄. Perhaps, I should have called myself CookeyMoose instead 🤪.
Mine comes from the day someone called me a "grammar nazzi" 😂
And 88 is a lucky number in Chinese culture.
Are you Chinese?
No, I'm not but I've a strong interest in the culture.
I have a beautiful dog who is half malamute and half husky. Although beautiful she is a handful
We have a dog next door who is a cross between a husky and a Staffie but doesn't look much like either! Lovely dog, daft as a brush but not so good with other dogs
Mine is uninspired. I just picked various letters from my name and the 17 was the year I joined the forum. I really should have chosen from my long list of pet's names through the years.... a pedigreed Blue Himalayan cat named Brittle Bear's Bojangles, which I always thought was quite catchy.... our other cats.... Arasmus, Jynx, Ragamuffin, Libby, Chatterly, Milo, Dickens, Bynx, Mazzy Mae, Pepper, Sheba, Beethoven, Pyewacket (loved movie Bell, Book and Candle.... and that cat was truly possessed. We would come home and find her sitting/laying on top of the curtain rod waiting to pounce on us.) For some reason the cat's names were more interesting than our dog's names. But, I still contend that our dogs McKiefer I&II, Tippie, Brownie, Rebel, Mingo, Blackie, Bimbo, Wolfgang, Danny Boy, Jade, Jasmine, Benji, Baxter, Gabby Sue, Gidget, Sam (aka Moondoggie), Sallie, Shortstuff, Speckle and Thibeaux all had good, solid names to be proud of.😊
Wow! I said that pet's names were often more interesting than people's. But no parent in their right mind would call their kid "Brittle Bear's Bojangles"!!!!!
Great Caesar's ghost!! One would have to be completely round the bend to saddle a child with such a name..... But, this was a pedigreed cat after all, where names usually tend to be a little over the top just as a matter of course, in my opinion.😊 His parents were Brittle and Bear. The naming shows lineage (mother, father) then the kitten's name (Bojangles, which is what he was called.)
Zephyrbear was my favourite dog, a springer spaniel. I held him the moment he took his first breath and again as he took his last and in between we had 13 years of the most faithful companionship I have ever had with any living being and I still miss him dreadfully.
Aaaaaa that's the problem, they don't live as long as people. Unless your pet is a tortoise or parrot of course!
FINE
Stood for Frustrated, Inadequate, neurotic and Exhausted.
Good one, will have to remember that next time of saying "I'm fine" lol
Mine is what my Dad called me when I was little. I don’t really like it for my username but I don’t know how to change it.
Just looked it up. You are allowed two username changes, but only two. Look on your homepage under "Settings" and scroll down the list.
I quite like Dinglebell though
Thank you. Now I’ve just to come up with another name....erm, erm..
Belle, as in Beauty and the Beast? Combined with name of a pet, something you like to eat, TV programme, hobby....?
Mine is from the A.A. Milne book ‘Now we are Six’ Just after giving birth to our last son my hubby gathered our other tiny children around us and said ‘ and now we are six’ and I said ‘oooo I’m sure that’s a book’
I have 5 kids, all boys, and my hubby really has the personality of another teenager at times. Therefore, I am completely Over Run By Kids 🤪
Lol
Neither is mine. Though it might be an idea to change it as it means you can be traced by someone dishonest who gets on here
My old favourite cat was called Mossop after a character in the children's tv show the riddlers. For some reason we nicknamed him mozzy.
My username is the name of my cat. Starr. 666 she's brilliant company, but, when she brings in gifts for me I call her a wee beast.
Mine is a combination of my initials and both my cats. They were already named when they were re-homed to me, Kai and Max. At age 4 I didn’t feel it was fair to re-name them x
A nickname my uncle called me when I was little.
Mine is the nickname my husband calls me.
Our cats are: PoppyCat; CharlieBear; Josey Wales; GeorgieBoy or George Wales. The two Wales’ were originally someone else’s cats and her surname is Wales so she named them based on her name.
Hummingbirds are beautiful and amazing creatures
They are, I love them. I’ve got a tattoo of one on my shoulder
I live in Arizona and with our mild climate we have hummingbirds in our yard year around. We have 3 feeders that are constantly enjoyed by the little hummingbirds.
How amazing. I was lucky enough to visit my aunt in South Carolina and she had loads visiting. Beautiful
"George Wales" Don't you mean Prince George?
That’s why he’s called it but he’s definitely more of a GeorgieBoy
Mine is the name of one of my cats. My avatar is her picture.
I thought up a great name for joining a games forum decades ago, Dribblin’Wizard. I can’t remember how it came about but I loved it.
Maybe I should use it again somewhere.
I like using a picture of your cat as your avatar. I think I should change mine!
Jones: name given to me by a colleague because he loves calling people different names.
TheAverage: again given by the same colleague because I received SP50 on a motorway 🤣
Mine is one of my jack russells nicknames her name is Dottie, hubby loves dogs with little old people names if we had the space would have a pack of jacks that all had old lady names.
Charlie is our old rescue dog came with his name, he gets called charlie pup or Buddy, Dottie has so many names Dottie bot she has a big brown dot on her bottom, or spud cos she is white with brown spots and eyes.
once had a rabbit called puff as in pastry and a guinea pig called billy , billy the pig not billy the kid so puff and billy and where i lived there was an old railway track called the puffing billy steam train i guess
also have an african grey called Freddie after Mr Flintoff, we got him the year they won the ashes
"if we had the space would have a pack of jacks that all had old lady names."
Doris, Emily, Phyllis, sarah....?
exactly my mum is Phyllis her sister is Doris, they we have Joycie, Gladys and Joanie, love Betty, etc
My mum was a Phyllis too, and when I worked in a care home there were FOUR Dorises!!!
My moms name was Catherine Gertrude Marguerite. I thought they were lovely, her sister called her Gert.
My lovely dad
When creating mine they said stuff to do with choosing favourite animals to be anonymous. So I took one of my initials and my current belt colour for karate to make insect and colour combination.
I love cake, especially homemade and fresh out of the oven. 😋
This exchange is really fun and made me smile.....I chose my name because it was the name of a little beach shack store at my favourite seaside haunt as a kid.
It was called The Saltwater Shop and sold all sorts of wonderful little seaside treats that are just so much fun when you are a kid......big colourful beach balls, shimmering metallic windmills, colourful buckets and spades and those little animals they make out of shells with the googly eyes!
I remember waking my parents up every day at 6am, pulling on some clothes as fast as I could in the cool morning air and running up the grassy hill to be the first one to see the sea!
That sounds fun. Glad you aren't a crocodile! (Saltwater crocodile, the biggest kind, live in Australia I think)
Ha ha... I don't think I could handle being a croc, they don't chew their food properly. My indigestion would be constantly playing up!
Australia is stunning. I would love to visit. They are absolutely blessed with some of the most amazing life on the planet.
Mine is rather boring. They are a combination of our mares names, Lunar though we call her Lulu and Copper, which gets shortened to Cops 🤷🏻♀️ couldn’t think of anything else. My other horse is Hugo, but I couldn’t think of a way to get his name in there too.
My cats names have all been quite boring, we have a big ginger tom cat at the moment called Henry, my cat before him was called Charlie, they are both rescues that came with those names, we’ve also had a sooty (my Dad was a fireman and he rescued her, came home with her sat in his lap one day after a shout) had a tigger, because she loved to run and jump at anything, and we’ve had a Salem, she was found on Halloween and she was pure black. Beautiful cat.
I wouldn't call yours boring! Sounds quaint (or cute as the Americans say) and a lot of fun to me
Mine is after a character in an 80s cartoon series JEM and the Holograms. It just makes me smile 😃
Had to look that up. An American TV show?
When I sat down to write my name, I knew I wanted it to be something I am a fan of, with an adjective to big it up. The first good thing that popped into my head was Avocado, and I thought Silver was an understated fancy adjective.
Mine is because I am a Kate Bush fan. The song Kashka from Baghdad . The Lionheart album.
It made budgies 'bounce with health' according to the 1960s TV ad!
My user name is a play on my real name but in Welsh. I had a black lab that used to bring huge stones up from the stream every day, so he was called Cole as in Cole Porter. Current very elderly cat is called Moog which is Welsh for smoke, her exact colour.
A pig called Bramble because she has a prickly character, and one called Tiddles because she is so huge. The sheep have names - Goggles has black circles round each eye, Bond cos her tag is 007, Friendly cos she is always first for a cuddle....all 30 have names, some of them not so polite!
I had a pig called Blodwyn, but nobody seems to remember the pop group Blodwyn Pig!
seren fach = little star
I know only a tiny bit of Welsh and learned a few songs in school, including the National Anthem of course and Sospan Fach, but was brought up in the Eastern industrial valleys where the Ironmasters forbade Welsh in schools. You may have read How Green was my Valley. My great grandfather was Welsh speaking but I never knew him.
I'm fluent in Wenglish though
LOL well I am a retired union electrician and alot of men I worked with always called me electriclady, I just decided to change the last letter, for fun ☺
Yes. They said it was because he was black, and people don't want black dogs. But, he isn't even black, except for his head and back. His legs are the most gorgeous chocolatey brown, and his chest and abdomen are mainly white. I sometimes wonder if he's the same dog…
Thinking of animal names, I once read a story involving a thoroughbred racehorse called Rowan. The father was called Everest, the mother was Ash Blonde. = Mountain Ash. Clever.
Well, ponies are fun. In the US I’m DesertHorses and the picture is my lovely Morgan mare Dream Baby. Sadly my multiple cancers kicked the stuffing out of me and my ponies have new homes and jobs where they get the attention they deserve.
I always had a crush on the Cartwright boys from Bonanza - Hoss, Adam and Little Joe (the cute one). So a little black mustang colt I had became Little Joe as he had the same kind of good looks and devil may care attitude.
Patti In AZ
😊. We are neighbors - sort of!
Char in AZ
Tucson
Your mare is gorgeous! Beautiful colouring on her xx
You’re right, ponies are fun! Your Dream Baby was beautiful! I had 3 quarter horses, 2 past away from old age the youngest one was too spirited and crazy and bucked my daughter off on a regular basis so we had to find Twilight a new home, she was a beautiful mare🐎
I think my username is self explanatory but just in case it isn’t to anyone but myself, my name is Deb and I live in Texas. My cats —Muffin, Max, Molly, Dolly, Pooky, Gizmo, Simba, Kiara, Jake, Tony, Jasper and One Eyed Tom. My favorite cat was Simba, he was abandoned, I bottle raised him from a tiny kitten, he got diabetes when he was 6 so I had to give him insulin shots twice a day for the last 2 years of his life, it was really heartbreaking. My avatar is Jasper’s picture. Dogs— Casey, Lindbergh One, Lindbergh Two, Radar, Mighty. Horses—Twilight, Harley, Tex.
Wow! A lot of animals. Is there a collective name for cats, as with lions? A yowl?
I guess I didn’t make myself clear, which I’m known for, those are all the animals I’ve had over the years. I just have my 1 cat Jasper now, and dogs Radar and Mighty. My cat Tony was 14 and Jake was 16 when they both passed away last year☹️I’m definitely a cat person, but then I also love the wildlife that’s comes on my property, I live out in the country and it looks like a wild rabbit sanctuary at times, one of the rabbits is partially tame and will come up to me for some carrot shavings, I named her Hoppy and I take care of toads, birds, etc.
If you’re referring to a name for a large group of domestic cats I just read that it’s called a Clowder, which I’ve never heard of before and I’ve had cats my whole life.
Mine wasn’t too imaginative. We always have cats so trying to quickly come up with a username I just used ‘Cats’ plus the year I was diagnosed with NASH which was ‘2018’. I use the same username on all the communities I participate in on HealthUnlocked.
Well, they were already on to CBD oil!
Great post Jnetti. Thank you.
My user names sort of gives the game away I guess.
But talking of names, as a small child I had an imaginary friend and constant companion called Sago Thomson....don't ask, I have no idea either!!
I had a lovely childhood so that wasn't caused by the yearnings of lonely child... maybe just a dippy one!
Did anyone else have an imaginary friend?
"Did anyone else have an imaginary friend?"
Strangely I didn't in spite of being a sometimes rather lonely child. I would lose myself in a book instead, or play at being an animal
Being "Dippy" is common for hypos. When first becoming really unwell, (before starting on thyroxine), making a cup of tea was a major undertaking. I would stand in the middle of the kitchen and turn slowly round in circles, saying "Umm" because I couldn't remember what to do next, where to find what was needed to do it with and exactly how to do it. Then there was the process of actually doing it, which was just as hard. Apparently it's called "Psychomotor slowing" and I had it in spades.
Many here know only too well what that's like!
I rather wished I had had an imaginary friend. But, try as I might, I couldn't find one! It must have been fun for those that did.
I'll be your imaginary friend ;o)
Your picture is too scary!
Ha ha it looks like the pumpkin I have outside my house ... my son did it and everyone thinks it looks scary :o)
My imaginary friend was very much part of my pre school childhood....I must have seemed, been even, a very odd child.
We had all sorts of adventures and she often came to tea..... with a place set for her by my long suffering mother!
I've just done a "search" and found this article,....maybe I'm not quite so odd after all!!
theguardian.com/commentisfr...
For whatever reason DippyDame it is and perversely, I've grown rather fond of her too because together we have found light at the end of a long dark frightening thyroid tunnel!
I certainly didn't expect to write that on this forum......so, thank you TUK
As Hidden said. "just for fun".....and we all need some of that!
For me it was always animals. People were often unkind and teased you or wouldnt let you play with them.
Animals were not imaginary friends but I was always pretending to be one. A graceful deer, a beautiful horse, or even on at least one occasion a wriggly worm!
I grew up amongst all sorts of animals so maybe I took them for granted......except the horses.
You're right animals don't judge in the way that people sometimes can.
Happy days....
Now I like people too, except really nasty characters, and don't mind being teased as long as it's not malicious, and can give as good as I get. But if an animal doesn't like you they soon let you know!
Mind, the -llyn is suggested to be from the Welsh for lake. Sometimes. Which is a masculine noun.
But "v" isn't a letter in Welsh, so, perhaps, helfa? Hunt.
My user name is part of my granddaughter's name and her age at the time of my joining. I couldn't think of one at the time so I chose that, 😕
Because that is my name and im from scot ?
Sort of polish version
I'm a hair stylist 💇♂️💇♀️💆♀️🧖♀️
I was just turned down by NHS endocrinologist. I have a plan but I do not want to waste any more time. I was hoping for a T3 prescription.
Just in range?
Can we get a UK NHS prescription fulfilled in the EU and then import the medication back to the UK?
Just curious for those that self medicate... 
Memory Loss – Your Experiences?
