What made you choose your pen name?

[Katzalcoatl]

I'll start. It is a combination of my name and the aztec deity Quetzalcoatl. I wanted to honor the roots of my culture by referencing a very important culture in the history of my country. Plus I always found that deity awesome.

[VibrantFox]

I've actually gone through three different pen names and bounce between three at present but for my main one, Vibrantfox, it's a love of vibrant colors and then one of my favorite animals

The other i use, Monobun, is actually a play on my primary pen name since monochrome would contrast vibrant and then bun is one of the prey animals to foxes wound up passing Mono onto an OC tho so i don't really use it a much save for a tumblr sideblog since i'm already kind of married to it over there and i don't wanna change my layout (i think it's very cute)

[candiedcotton]

I had a feeling there was a Quetzalcoatl reference there. One of my favorite mythological entities.

I like word plays. I have a really bad habit of coming off poorly with how I talk to people (I'm on the spectrum and most of my issues are in human connection/communication) so people often tell me my tone is overly serious or aggressive or antagonistic. It sucks because I really love humanity as a whole and I wish I could build relationships like other people can. To be sweet as cotton candy, as the saying goes. But I am instead candied cotton, which is not something that sounds very good at all. lol.

[candiedcotton]

Foxes are the best. I have a big o'l flaming fox tattoo on my back.

[Katzalcoatl]

I didn't know if you would explain your pen name, but that twist with the cotton candy, hit my art loving soul.

[candiedcotton]

Hahaha, well thank you, I appreciate it.

[LostKelp]

You should know that there is actually very little irony in it, some of the stuff you say really brightens my day. And I think you're a really kind person. I wish you all the best man.

[candiedcotton]

Well thanks, that's actually really awesome to hear. I have spent most of my life in some form of therapy (I used to be what was considered non-functional) and I learned a lot of valuable tools in how to interact with people and things like that. It's easier on forums though. I can kinda handle chat stuff sometimes like Discord, but that's pretty uncommon. In person I have a really really hard time trying to talk though. I still can't really do it alone, lol. My partner pretty much handles all real-world communication for both of us, and thankfully enjoys doing it (he's a total social butterfly). But I have a life of my own so I try to spread the word that it can be done with a lot of work!

[tarraxahum]

Dandelions are my favorite flowers and I've been called a human version of one (meaning their yellow stage), so... Taraxacum --> Tarraxahum

[Hayka]

Hayka in an old language means "Calm, Soothing, With Mysterious Vibes"
So I choose it

[michoverse]

Micho is my nickname, so Michoverse is my universe, the worlds in my head.

[Samael-il-Ifrit]

I have come to accept that you can't make everyone happy

But i can make everyone equally mad
so Samael is the name of the devil in bible, and Ifrit is a kind of djinn in quran, basically their version of the devils.
Now I have managed to trigger two groups at the same time.

[michoverse]

hahahaha I love it

[Flios]

Good question...
I actually don't know where "Flios" came from. The only thing I remember is that one of my elementary school friends was playing around and coming up with fake words. "Fleos" was one of them, and for some reason, it just made something click in my head. It just sounded... cool, so I changed the e to an i and now it's my pen name. People read Flios as Filos sometimes though...

[Caro]

My actual pen name is a name from a yearbook i found in a free bin outside of a used bookshop nearly ten years ago. Most of my life I never went by my actual name anyway because its long and complicated and never sounded like my name outside of the mouths of Spanish speakers. I always found it hard to respond to because I would never listen for that pronunciation.

My pen name sounds like a real name which was important to me for my comics. I’ve been using it as my name in real life for nearly a decade. In my day job, its easy to introduce myself quickly and its very easy to google. In my hobby where I perform on stage with the name, people end up remembering me very well. I have lost count as to how many people have stopped me in public to ask “Are you _____?” I think its in large part due to the simple and easy to recall name.

[WildMoonCrow]

My pen name is just my first name and the first letter of my last name I know it’s not very imaginative, but I couldn’t decide on what to choose so I just kinda settle on that. My name is kind of unusual outside my country anyway

[DarkSena]

My artistic name DarkSena I'm using was originally created back in early 2006. There was a character who's name was Sena and his story was so close to mine that I took this name as mine however... also the same year I wanted to join a forum and that name was already taken SO I was so utterly creative right so I had to improvise with an alternative and that's how I happened to create the name I've been using ever since

[RiidDisBuk3]

Ironically, the name RiidDisBuk (Read-Dis-Book) comes from being predictable in Smash Bros games. As in people reading me like a book.

I use the name everywhere I go on social media. And now that I am using the name to write books, people are gonna take me for a book lover. Which I am, but it's not where the name derives from if that makes sense

[thepenmonster]

My favorite camera is the Olympus Pen EE2. A half frame camera from the 1960s. The pictures look like something half remembered.

But it's really difficult these days to find one where the meter is still working so I haven't been able to use one for many years now.

[cherrystark]

For a couple years, I had heart trouble so Stark became a good surname for me.