How did you come up with your IGN and what's the story behind it?

Fius is a acronym from my old Gamer tag when I played Halo 3. Fius was taken after I got hacked so I put Damaged in front of it.

Aetch (DW) and Aethry (Pally): wanted the IGN Aether so I tried many variations until I found some I liked. Happy that my Successor Medal looks nice with such a simple IGN.
Arcival (Sniper): Percival's a cool name, stuck arc (bow) at the front.

Others are pretty boring but they all start with A and most have an X somewhere.

Hmm.. I'm-a-gonna do past and current just for the sake of doing it.

Past:

OxxSinxxO (92 before hacked) - My beta character. He got up to level 9X before he got hacked along with my array of other great characters with great IGNs... (Lol) Reason behind this was none, he was an assassin. I was 11.

Dkkayy (120 before hacked) - My favorite character. I thought it would be funny to stretch 'DK' out and so I did.

EasyKilling (51 before hacked.) - My old Axe Fighter. He was an awesome lil character, but I became too obsessed with his look and it ruined me from playing for a few months.

ClassyShot (89) - My favorite name ever. I have no idea why, but it was just a cool name for a Sniper. I surprisingly wasn't alone and got quite a bit of compliments a lot of the time.

Current:

MitserugiRyu (9X) - Any Kenshin fans around? :V Derives from practically his finishing kill, Hiten Mitserugi Ryu. GAH I really like it

MyAngelBeats (121) - My favorite name next to ClassyShot. I love the anime Angel Beats and instead of just putting Angel Beats, I thought it would be nice to put My in front of it.

DontSayLazy (40) - Once again, anime reference.

OrnateArrow (50) - I thought it was a good name for a WH. LEAVE ME ALONE, THE WORD ORNATE ROCKS.

FUTURE D:!!! :

EntryPlug (Future UA DK) - I take it back. This character will be my favorite IGN. The character comes from the anime Evangelion and I thought it would be funny to have that plus wield a giant spear/PA at all times. Entry ... Plug. ENTRY. I don't know. It was late.

Well I tend to name my chars from three things:

First: Like I love mythology and military like order my first ING in maple was godenvoy (banned due to borrowing to a friend and friend hacked on it, learnt my lesson) and by that I also started to use a misspelling of lucifer, not due to being the devil and such but because I find it beautiful (and also since I live in a such religious based country I also loved to mess around with people ); after that I started to become a bit addicted with angels and their hierarchy (part of it thanks to digimon) and such my oldest warrior is named fireseraphin (misspelled due to being stupid and not checking how it was actually spelled).

Second: This is my most used method for naming, I name based on the class its going to be IE: kazehawk: bowman; freezecut: aran; aurumfist: brawler.

Third: Unique naming since I just want a nice clean name, first was my cleric Arkezamo, then after a while of using the misspelled lucifer as my nick on most sites I signed in, I then came up with a name similar to it so people wouldn't think I was satanic or anything like that, made luxeraph that's just light in latin combined with seraph the six winged angel (commonly known as seraphim thier pural form) used by my cygnus (although I kinda hate that I used that name on a so short life class).

ekcolysp - psylocke backward.

Kasuhitomi = Kasumi & Hitomi from the game series "Dead or Alive". Used to play DOA3 and DOA Ultimate in High School a lot, before and after lunch.

I don't even play MS anymore, but wanted to contribute...

Names that I remember that have a story:
TobiasBlack: Oh god is this a long story... but long story short idea from middle school that I've still got in my head.. more an escapist fantasy than anything at this point. =/ Been through several MS-related revivals.
AtreyuWhite: The polar opposite to the Tobias character.
RibbonKnight: Character I made to play with someone, but we fell apart, so this guy was abandoned.
Mute[Revolver/Blade/Ribbon/etc.]: I just lost interest with the game as usual. Where I want to play it for the socialization, I realize I suck at socialization, and most of the "social events" require being a high level, something I didn't have the time/energy/interest to be bothered with, these guys/gals were abandoned as well.

I had a mage in Khaini. The name was some random asortment of letters that sounded fun. While on this mage I met a sin. Jealous of his damage and leveling speed, I made an assassin. Being the amazing creative guy I am, I looked up the root word of "assassin" and got "hassasin". Taken. Switched to Zs and ended up with the IGN "Hazzazin", and I still have him.

People shorted my name to Hazz and Hazzy, and it just kind of stuck.

Cheriipop,

I was eating a Cherry Dum-Dum pop at the time.


Not as deep as well as my other characters like Felicitates, Makime, Delicae, MiIkBun, Amaroux, etc.
I don't like names with super deep meanings cause honestly no one gives a pineapple. I just like short simple names, because my characters are like my children. They're meanings are behind their personalities, not what they're called.

Somewhat of an obsession with short usernames for the most part -> Cult (DK), Wail (CB), MlLF (Fighter), Oooh (WK), Ocoh (DW ripoff of my Paladin for lookalike name), Ooohra (BM ripoff of my Paladin), Ozmia (Aran named after the Princess of Oz), iXVi (F/P named for roman numerals), Syvy (Crossbowman, named for my irl name)

Sometimes I branch out into names that I like for various reasons -
Rifelle (Gunslinger, should be obvious female version of Rifle),
Ectopus (Brawler, named for my WoW character cause I'm lazy),
01010011 (I/L, binary for 'S', initial of Stereo),
0053 (Bowman, hex equivalent),
Fewmet (Hermit, named after bird poop),
Tawmet (Blaze Wiz, named alike to NL),
Bironic ('nother I/L, be ironic),
Gringivitis (F/P, poison in your mouth),
--------- (Mech, named after a popular TV show about giant mechas),
Nursery (Cleric, the reasoning is obvious),
CeSoir (Magician, literal 'tonight' in french, from that song voulez-vous couchez avec moi, ce soir),
Levanteen (Evan, me being lazy looking for a name containing 'evan', sounds like that magical number eleventeen)
XtremeBreast (Warrior, my take on a popular Khaini character)
Pentanol (Hunter, some kind of alcohol)
irksome, Sells - random mules


Sooo. Yeah. I make lots of characters. And aside from a few, they're one word starting with a capital letter.

Born2BeMild - ex Fighter then WH, now a Mechanic. Made after a joke with some friends from four years ago.

OverKillx2 - Hermit, Described how Assassins were looked at back then, being the KS kings, also used this for PSN which I no longer play, and probably steam, don't remember.

ShootzArrows - Bowmaster, Self explanitory.

DavesACygnus - Self explanitory.

ColdSkill - Aran.


I once had an Evan named iHasADragun.

General criteria:
1. Must be a word.
2. No numbers allowed.
3. Preferably linked/related to job class.
4. Should sound okay as an IGN.
5. Should be as short as possible.

Exceptions being mules, KoC mule, blah blah.
System developed over several years of making characters.

Well, most of my names have no story behind them, the only one being my main's name.

ISorienI - Several years ago my brothers got me to try and play one of the original types of MMOs. Something called a MUD, which was a text based adventure game with no graphics. I needed a name and somehow came up with Sorien, but when I tried using it in maple I found that the name had been taken (by some level 27 spearman no less ). So, in order to use the name I had to stick some other letters around it, but I refused to use the usual XxX010 crap.

I have various other characters with much better names now, but they don't have the same nostalgia as ISorienI. My newer characters have names like Drasim, Tsullo, Taolo, Rengrin, etc., all of which were all made with a rather simple process. That being me picking a letter, and then thinking of various made up words that all begin with that letter. Eventually I just use the random, made up word that sounds the best.

My first few IGNs were super pomegranatety, but I think they got a bit better as time went on.

BuzzNewgun - Spearman - My first character. Similar to Buzz Lightyear. Dunno why "Newgun" came to mind.
iMushmom - Hermit - The first IGN I was proud of, haha. NOT SURE WHERE "MUSHMOM" CAME FROM lol.
TheXtable - I/L - I gave a friend the idea of the IGN "TheXchair" so I made a similar one.
DeerRidge - Priest - I visited a prison on a field trip for Criminal Justice class and it was named Deer Ridge.
FishyAran - Aran - Wanted something to go with Arans, kinda. Not too proud of this one.
GetSleazy - I/L - My friend and I were trying to come up with matching-ish IGNs, and Ke$ha's song gave me inspiration! lol. (The friend's IGN was GetSneezy)
DrillMeBaby - Mech - I wanted something to relate to Mechs, and I thought that was clever enough.

And those are only the characters I actually played. I have several IGNs not listed here that I'm proud of, haha.

I like my names to be pronounceable, with no numbers or placeholder letters. They fall into a few categories:

1. Carry-overs from old MMOs and MUDs. These tend to be the first characters I make, and therefore are most likely to be my mains. In the case of maple, all but one of my usual names were taken by mules or ninja'd by a friend (thanks, friend).

2. Based on name generator results or book characters. I pick the ones that are vaguely pronounceable, change letters around until I like them, then keep trying variants until I get something that isn't taken. Rhayn is a name mangled from a book I was reading at the time.

3. Stupid puns and namesakes. Like CasterSugar for a mageling who casts candy-coloured spells. Or another one named after an eldritch abomination. Usually these are saved for mules and alts.

Maple IGN

Most of my IGNs are Luky[job/name]
eg: LukyMechanic, LukyShad, LukyAran etc.

It started from my dexless sin (B4 they were bandwaggoned to hell) whos name was xLukyStarsx
It was a miss spelling of Lucky but when I used Lucky on a char later on it would get confusing in guild/buddy chat re. them calling some one lucky or talking to me.

So Luky stuck and thats what I have used ingame.

Username

bennyjreg was the 1st ever username I used. It came from my full name.
Ben(ny) James Reginald Youdon'tneedtoknowmylastname

Other names

I often use the name Alphr in games aswell (LoL, CombatArms, and more)
It came about because I thought the name Alpha would be an epic name but it generally always taken my mods, tester etc.
so I used Alphr because its soulds the same (with a NZ accent atleast)

Old Characters:

Dragoonxzero(hunter v.05), Dranzerxzero(magician), Dracielxzero(warrior) - Beyblade fan boy names
AnubisSin(sin) thought of the name when i was in a restaurant. i was in my "OMG EGYPTIANS ARE COOL" phase
Phoenixshots(hunter) Phoenixes are my favorite mythical animal. shots referred to arrows
BloodFaIcon(Brawler/Infighter)Named after the Red Captain Falcon Clone

More Current Gen:
BIancNoir(DB) Last year in highschool meant last year of french. wanted the color scheme for my db to be black and white
MuhMuleisCoo(Magician) Awesome mule i made post BB
XXFaultroll(Warrior) warrior mule i made in name for a yugioh card named XX-Saber Faultroll
MarthOfAItea(White Knight)Named it after one of my favorite characters in SSB/FE, Altea is his homeland
EclipseDeSol(4th Wild Hunter) wanted to name it EclipseDeSoleil(french for solar eclipse) but it cant fit and i have it in spanish
LumenShadows(Dawn Warrior) BoE mule i made. Wanted an All Black look on a holy attribute character, Lumen reminding me of Tales of Symphonia
FrznStratos(Aran in Misery) Frzn being frozen and stratos refers to greek meaning War. War reffers to the war against the black mage and i used stratos because of the Yugioh card Elemental Hero - Stratos

Alilatias (my original Hunter, now intended for the Archer Legend): Mix of my name and my favorite Pokemon, Latias. Used this name almost everywhere I go since 2003, actually.
SaitoRockEXE (Wild Hunter): Megaman Battle Network reference, referencing both of Megaman.EXE's Japanese names. I really should have made him a Battlemage instead of a Wild Hunter...
Servbonne (Mechanic): Reference to Tron Bonne and her Servbot minions from Megaman Legends.
Lyssane (Dawn Warrior): Named after a special bow in the Shivering Isles expansion for Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.
Akusaria (Bowmaster), Aeroduas (Wind Archer), Serendis (Cleric), Variata (Battlemage), Ledani (Gunslinger), Islancia (I/L Wizard, character no longer exists): Made up on the spot.

Let's go, nostalgia!

SamusSin - Hermit. First character that I took on seriously. Was playing a lot of Metroid Prime at the time, so I stole Samus' name and stuck sin at the end of it. Simple and nice.
Snagret - Bucc. Named after the Burrowing Snagret in Pikmin 1/2, which attacked in small bursts at a time. I guess I tried to make it fit with a character, but I love how short and simple it is.
Salivatrix - Bowmaster. Named after the treasure in Pikmin 2 found within a hole full of burrowing snagrets. Many rages were had in that hole, so I named a character after this treasure to never forget what happened on those tragic days. ;_;
Dweevil - White Knight (first attempt). Named after the creatures in Pikmin 2 that harness the elements of nature. Thought it was pretty cool that I could apply the name to a class.
Xintar - Bandit (later deleted for white knight). Simple name that I came up with after trying to find a simple 6-letter IGN. I've used this name for almost everything after coming up with it.
IcyStrikes - Aran. Was rushing to create a name for an aran on the first day of release, so I came up with a name that describes the class.
Zweiblatt - Dual Blader. "Two Blade" in German after plugging it into google translate. Again, describing the class in the IGN because I couldn't think of a creative name.
Phazonic - Battle Mage. Named after Phazon in Metroid Prime. Since one of the later levels (and one of my most HATED levels in the series) is called "Phazon Mines", I stuck the name on my resistance characer since their town is built around a mine.
ScubCoral - Dawn Warrior. Named after the Corallians in Eureka SeveN, since I was following the anime at the time. They were seeking harmony (enlightment) with the humans, so I guess "Dawn" warrior fits.

Wierd how little I changed over all that time.

Sapta Zapta was a character on Israeli TV, a little old woman who beat up muggers and other baddies with her purse. Thought it was appropriate for a melee char played by a 42-year-old woman in a game made for 13-year-olds. It literally translates into something like "granny punch".

My other characters are mules, and their names are usually related to the job or purpose for which they were created (MySonTDoctor - bishop, MySonThePyro - Blaze Wizard, CuteHBSlave - guess), but sometimes just my mood at the time of creation. For example, my Dawn Warrior is named UnderDuresss because I didn't want to make a Cygnus, but felt I had no choice. Could not deny my main the 12 attack buff, which could only be gotten from Cygnus Knights at the time.

General rules: words. Except for my main, they're all in English. No numbers, no |XxOo|, no alternate spelling (L vs. i, etc) unless I really really want a name whose proper spelling is already taken.