My Names

[poliphilo]

I've never used a pseudonym before. And I wouldn't have done so here on LJ if it hadn't been the etiquette (so to speak.) I don't mind people knowing who I really am- and if you want to be told I'll tell you, no qualms.

But I like my adopted name. I've started to identify with it. It's more elegant and eloquent than the real thing.

But what's with this "reality" business anyway? Which is more real- the name my parents gave me or the one I have given myself?

My real first name derives from an ancient Roman family, the most famous member of which has a leading role in Shakespeare. It's further identified with the guy who set the early Christian fashion for going out into the Egyptian desert and hallucinating (otherwise known as monasticism.)

Wanna have a guess? No prizes I'm afraid.

And my last name is an odd little monosyllable of uncertain derivation. It might mean "grey" or it might have something to do with milling.

But Poliphilo- he's this Italian Renaissance Alice who scuttles through Wonderland (in search of his girlfriend) oohing and aahing at the architecture and furnishings. I didn't spend a whole lot of time choosing the name, but I find it fits very comfortably. Lover of Many Things is what it means.

I want it on my tombstone.

Comments

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

i have to say, i like that you are called lover of many things. i think that would be a wonderful epitaph...

i am barbarakitten_t, because kitten was taken and my given name is barbara, which means "stranger." it is, in many ways, fitting. kitten is what my chosen family calls me most of the time and when i first ventured onto the net (not PLATO, which was my REAL first venture into cyberspace, but netnews, which was where i found my first 'world inside the crystal') i became kitten of alt.callahans. that was in 1991.

i don't know how other people think of me, but i have the distinction of being a verb (to kitten-the act of spewing liquid (either hot or cold) in the general direction of the monitor and speaker who has produced the response...generally a response involving being happily delighted but sometimes being amazed, astounded or outraged.)

i would be interested in seeing you under the Light of Reality(tm) and knowing more about the person behind the name.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

St Barbara is one of my favourite saints.

Do you know this wonderful image of her by Van Eyck? http://www.artchive.com/artchive/V/van_eyck/st_barbara.jpg.html

I'll post my real name tomorrow- after all the guesses have come in. And add a bit of autobiography

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

what a lovely picture! i had never seen it before. i'm not familiar with many saints, but isn't barbara the patron saint of explosives?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes indeed she is. And of artillery. There's a first world war propaganda poem by G.K. Chesterton called The Ballad of St Barbara which is rather splendid in parts. http://www.gunnies.pac.com.au/misc/ballad.htm