Got a nickname? My alumnae magazine (yes, that’s the proper Latin; I went to a women’s college) printed an interesting article on nicknames (which I will now shamelessly quote from since I can’t link to it). “In a community with a commonality of aspirations, languages, social behavior, rules, etc, nicknames are used to foster a sense of belonging and solidarity. A group facing an external threat will especially prize solidarity and use nicknames extensively.” (I also learned a new word: an onomastician studies the origins and forms of names.) This got me thinking about the proliferation of Internet related nicknames. We’ve got domain names, email addresses, hacker aliases, and chatroom handles. Sometimes popular systems like Instant Messenger force us to choose new aliases since our preferred ones are already taken. And some people create independent indentities for themselves online, with accompanying aliases. How many names do you have? And how many identities?