Aselin

Everyone needs an alias. When working on the internet I often come across occasions where they ask for my name. I never want to give my name. Mostly because while sites I’m surfing often have information I would like, I would like to be the one who retrieves it. I don’t want anyone contacting me with information they think I need.

By using my alias, if they contact me I can tell if it’s data I really want or stuff I can delete immediately.

For a number of years I used “Zeeba Tweed.” Any e-mail I received with Ms. Tweed in the subject line could be immediately deleted. It has worked well for this cyber surfer. I’ve met people with worse names, but not too many. There are people with names that make me wonder if their parents really wanted them. A Reader’s Digest I was perusing at the dentist highlighted some recent legal name changes. One that stands out is “Lula from Taloola Doing the Hula” this poor soul recently changed her legal moniker. I suspect she also changed her phone number and address after she told her parents they were on their own in their old age. I mean, really.

Another name I came up with is “Minerva Snodgrass”, referencing mythology and Sunday morning comics at the same time. I think I’m a nomen genius. My children are lucky their father protected them from any of my naming creativity.

So, imagine my surprise as I’m going through some recently found family papers to find a real Snodgrass family in my ancestry. Get out! What are the odds? I thought Snodgrass was just a downtrodden comic character. I was really excited. This cosmic coincidence made me chuckle as I welcomed them in to my ever growing family tree. Inputing the children of Elvin and Jane into my database I doubled over in laughter. Brothers Markus and Matthew also had a baby sister: Minerva.

So much for my made up alias. I wonder if she has a record?