Anyone else have your pen/stage/ alias name picked out, or is that my own little oddity? I mean, aside from those of you who have actual pen or stage names. Or, um, aliases.

I was born in Argentina, and the hospital wanted to shave my head (sanitary reasons, is what I'm told) and pierce my ears (cultural norms); they, too, were overruled. My mother - refined but mighty.

Huh! And did they get exemption from the naming rules by not being Argentine? I know there's a strict set of names you can give babies there, because a guy I know comes from a crazy Anglophile Argentine family and they were psyched he was born up here so they could give him an English name. His sister is officially Ana but always called Ann in the family.

I always thought that if I needed a stage name, I'd keep the first name and go with my paternal grandmother's maiden name, Dunston. Easy to pronounce, yet still somewhat unusual.

Anyone else have your pen/stage/ alias name picked out, or is that my own little oddity? I mean, aside from those of you who have actual pen or stage names. Or, um, aliases.

When I was in high school, I wanted to have a pen name that would get me shelved near Christopher Pike, since I not only loved him but also had a theory that he was secretly Indian.

I drafted my obituary when I was a freshman in high school, and my plan was to die with the last name Winter. I did not go into great detail about any actual Husband, but I was firm about the name.

I was going to be called Louise (maybe after my grandfather Louis?) My Brother, who was in grade 2 at the time, was in love with a girl named Sue. He told my parents that if they didn't name me Sue, he would call me "Shut-up" for the rest of my life. My brother always gets his way.

And a starship captain! Jesse - yes, they got an exemption or whatever. I think names were (are?) supposed to biblical and maybe saints? ETA: Starship captain was to P-C.

I wanted to have a pen name that would get me shelved near Christopher Pike

Polter Piake. You're welcome.

"if a woman dresses and acts indecently, this is a direct route to unhappiness, one-night stands, brief marriages followed by rat-like divorces, ruined lives of children, and madness."

I, too, am now wondering what a rat-like divorce is. And if I should start wearing more miniskirts to increase my one night stands, marriages, and madness. Mostly I wear pants.

My name is rather random--my mom told me there was a journalist with my name (ETA: huh, I just looked her up. Guess she was more famous than I knew--and Jewish. Because 99% of the people with my name are, which I don't think my mother knew) and she liked it. My dad had made her agree on his family naming tradition for boys, so she got the girls. My middle name is after my paternal great-grandmother.

No pen name. I don't think I'm actually named after anyone specific. They wanted a name that worked both in Farsi and English. Susan (pronounced Sus-san) means Lily of the Valley in Farsi.

I didn't get a middle name since my last name was a mile long. But I asked for one for my 18th birthday. I told my mom that she could talk to anyone except me. Not sure exactly where she pulled Lexine from, other than it being derived from Alexandrea. I liked it so much, I gave it to Kelly.