Explain the etymological origin of your user name!

[Big Al]

“Big Al” just seemed like a general nickname I could use when I first posted at JCS, because I didn’t want to use my real name. It always seemed to me to be such a drab and obvious choice for a handle, but oddly enough, I’ve never had any trouble registering it anywhere. So if you see it at any jazz board, chances are it’s me.

The avatar seemed pretty self-explanatory, right down to the full first name. It really is Alfred.

My last name, Rearick, is a variation on the German “Rehrig” (I have no idea what that means), which got changed when my family came over in the 19th century. What I can’t figure out, though, is why anyone felt the need for a name-change, especially one that made an already-confusing last name even MORE confusing!

[BruceH]

I was going to pick a user name like "Tricky Sam Nanton" then just said ah, the Hell with it.

[ralphie_boy]

My real name is Frank. Ralphie boy (actually Ralph) is a nickname that I acquired about eight years ago when we bought our house. My next-door neighboor, who has since moved started calling me Ralph one day for no apparent reason. I originally introduced myself as Frank but for some reason, he thought I was Ralph.

Best part of the story is that after a few months of this, I finally told him that my name was Frank. He called me Frank for about a week or so and then went back to Ralph. Once my friends heard this story (and witnessed a "hello Ralph"), they started calling me Ralph.

I'm also a Honeymooner's fan, so I decided to go with Ralphie boy.

[Guest Mnytime]

The first 3 names (which is what I go by here for reasons I don't want to bore you or possibly excite you ) of my full name translates into English from Arabic (though I am not an Arab) as

Generous Noble Genius or (Knows All)

Now how is that for a name? :D

Especially when your supposed to live up to it

Edited May 16, 2003 by Mnytime

[.:.impossible]

"Impossible" was a word I used to describe Tony Williams' drumming or Eric Dolphy's bass clarinet when I first started listening to jazz. Being new to cyberspace when I joined the Blue Note board, I thought it would be a good idea to keep some sort of anonymity so I chose "impossible." I've been using it ever since. Strangely enough, I've tried to register here and there and "impossible" has been taken! IMPOSTER!

My birth name, Cary Atwood Ralston Jr., is mostly geographical. The most interesting thing though is that all three names point to one general area in Scotland. Makes sense since most of my blood is Scottish, but I don't think my grandparents had geography in mind when they named my dad.

He was actually named after Cary Grant because my Grandmother absolutely loved him. Atwood and Ralston are family names from our Scottish heritage.

[Ed S]

[connoisseur series500]

No need to explain my pen name. The "500" was simply just a random number.

My real name is Paul Maginley and my last name was probably originally McKinley or something. It's Scottish or Irish--I really don't know which nor care very much. My paternal great-grandparents were first cousins, and their name was Goodall. I imagine my real name should be Goodall for that reason.

My mother came from Italy.

You guys can call me Conn or Conn500 or Paul or whatever. Nice to know you all!

Edited July 29, 2003 by connoisseur series500

[Jazzmoose]

You guys can call me Conn or Conn500 or Paul or whatever. Nice to know you all!

THANK YOU!!! I always want to address you as Paul (mainly because of my fear of reversing the o and the i in your handle!), but didn't want to presume anything...

[Savoy]

I think there's a town in France named Savoy.

I think Savoy is some kind of cabbage.

I chose it because of it's jazz connections, and the fact that I lived about 3 or 4 blocks from the one that was in Harlem NY.

[Late]

Thought I'd bump this one back up for reading, and so that others might post. A good topic!

My handle is actually my name. Late is short for Laton (which is pronounced as if there were a "y" in there). I've heard of and met people with the name "Layton" or "Leighton," but I've yet to meet (or even read about) another Laton. Got to be some in Scotland, I think. You can call me Late or Laton.

Am used to the jokes regarding tardiness or being deceased.

(The avatar is Newk — from the recording session of The Bridge!)

[Matthew]

Well, on a former jazz board, I went by the name JuJu for most of the time. I chose that name because when I signed up, Wayne Shorter's JuJu was playing on my computer. Then I decided that after over two years I would take the step of using my real first name. I felt that comfy with the people there. When I did, the boad closed down! Sorry, I know it was my fault. When I signed on here, I debated whether to use something different, JuJu, or Matthew. Decided on Matthew after all -- it just doesn't sound right to be called JuJu. Plus people like Ed, Lon, Chris, et.al., were a good example to follow.

PS: I feel just as comfy with the people here.

Edited May 22, 2003 by Matthew

[Chuck Nessa]

Matthew, I remember Juju as "a man of the cloth". Nice to make the connection from the old board. This does feel like home, doesn't it.

[catesta]

This does feel like home, doesn't it.

All that's missing is the "Street Team."

[7/4]

7/4 is a ratio that represents the 7th harmonic in the harmonic series.

[Soulstation1]

i wanted to be "Soulstation" in honor of the mobley classic, but i just it had already been taken, so i just added a "1" and it worked. i like the space theme of the title.

i thought about becoming "money jungle" on the new boards..

real name is jeff, for those that don't know

ss1

[paul secor]

When I joined the old BN board, I decided to just post under my real name - I'm not sure why. When I joined this board, I did the same. Anyway, my last name is French. My father's father's ancestors were Huguenots who emigrated sometime before the American Revolution. (Incidentally, my wife's mother, who was originally from Newfoundland, and was a teacher, told her that in the British Empire, the American Revolution is referred to as the American Rebellion - don't know if that's true now or was then. Perhaps some of our British members can let me know.) I've been told that the name was originally Secord or Secor'd, but I've never been into geneology, so I can't say for sure.

I do know that I was named Louis Paul by my mother, after her father, a fireman in Minneapolis, who died in a firetruck accident when she was very young. Both sides of my mother's family are German, and I'm not sure why he was named Louis Paul, since neither seem to be German names, especially Louis. I've always been called Paul, never Louis, Lou, or Louie, and I've sometimes wondered if I would have turned out differently if was a Lou. (I do feel a strong connection with Danny DeVito's character, Louie Di Palma, on Taxi, so perhaps I'm really a closet Louie.)

[Simon Weil]

Incidentally, my wife's mother, who was originally from Newfoundland, and was a teacher, told her that in the British Empire, the American Revolution is referred to as the American Rebellion - don't know if that's true now or was then. Perhaps some of our British members can let me know.

I've never heard it referred to like that in the UK. But, evidently, it used to be. For, amongst other things, a google search brought up this:

The American Rebellion

(1776)

Rudyard Kipling

I

BEFORE

’TWAS not while England’s sword unsheathed

    Put half a world to flight,

Nor while their new-built cities breathed

    Secure behind her might;

Not while she poured from Pole to Line

    Treasure and ships and men—

These worshippers at Freedom’s shrine

    They did not quit her then!

Not till their foes were driven forth

    By England o’er the main—

Not till the Frenchman from the North

    Had gone with shattered Spain;

Not till the clean-swept oceans showed

    No hostile flag unrolled,

Did they remember what they owed

    To Freedom—and were bold!

AFTER

THE snow lies thick on Valley Forge,

    The ice on the Delaware,

But the poor dead soldiers of King George

    They neither know nor care—

Not though the earliest primrose break

    On the sunny side of the lane,

And scuffling rookeries awake

    Their England’s spring again.

They will not stir when the drifts are gone

    Or the ice melts out of the bay:

And the men that served with Washington

    Lie all as still as they.

They will not stir though the mayflower blows

    In the moist dark woods of pine,

And every rock-strewn pasture shows

    Mullein and columbine.

Each for his land, in a fair fight,

    Encountered, strove, and died,

And the kindly earth that knows no spite

    Covers them side by side.

She is too busy to think of war;

    She has all the world to make gay;

And, behold, the yearly flowers are,

    Where they were in our fathers’ day!

Golden-rod by the pasture-wall

    When the columbine is dead,

And sumach leaves that turn, in fall,

    Bright as the blood they shed.

That was written 1911. Maybe the loss (or impending loss) of Empire gave us a different perspective. Kipling was "an icon of Empire".

It'd be interesting to know when the change took place.

Simon Weil

[connoisseur series500]

Kipling was a great poet and short story writer. Many people may not know that he won the Nobel Prize; which is ironic given his general praise of British imperialism.

He did modify his views about war when his son was killed in the unheroic trenches of World War I.

[Parkertown]

Great thread.

I had a devil of a time getting registered back on the 'ol BNBB. I think I was doing it backasswards, concentrating on username versus screenname or something. Tried probably 50 different ones before it finally allowed me to use this one.

I live in a town in Colorado named Parker. Kinda similar to using Steely Dan's "Parker's Band" title, but I didn't want to do that as I wanted to be somewhat original. So it's somewhat of an homage to Bird.

I recall when I was 6 or 7 years old, circa 1971-72, I informed my friends and family that from that point forward, I would be known only as "Groovy"! Groovy Foley...the Irish hippie!

[Jazzmoose]

I recall when I was 6 or 7 years old, circa 1971-72, I informed my friends and family that from that point forward, I would be known only as "Groovy"! Groovy Foley...the Irish hippie!

Groovy, you're going to regret posting that...

[White Lightning]

My handle is quite stright forward: My forst name is Barak which means "Lightning" is Hebrew. My last name is Weiss which is "White" in German.

Sounds like a 70s rock group or a name of a Native American to my ears. I like it!

[jazzbo]

Sounds like something distilled in the hills!

[White Lightning]

Maybe That's why I like it

[EKE BBB]

Simply the initials of one of my favorite musicians (Edward Kennedy Ellington) and one of my favorite suites (Black Brown and Beige)

Not too arcane, really!

[brownie]

I was on a Clifford Brown trip when I started posting on another board.

Have been a fan of his music for decades. And still getting kicks when

I play his records for the thousands time.