Backstory - Nickname
I got requested to do a backstory on how I chose my nickname “ksami”. Not sure how this is gonna be useful; maybe help some kid create a nickname next time?
So I was around 11 - 14 years old when I decided to have a consistent nickname to use throughout cyberspace. I was creating an account for a multiplayer game, probably Runescape, and thought it would be cool if my nickname gets recognised throught cyberspace no matter the game or forum or site. Before that I didn’t really have a need for a consistent nickname since I played games like Counterstrike with friends I knew. Moreover the Internet was suddenly exploding with life; and I had just decided that I really wanted to work with computers.
Context being in Singapore, the trend in nicknames around that time (or even now? I’m out of touch on this) seemed to lean heavily towards using uppercase on seemingly-random letters, lots of ‘x’s, ‘z’s and leaving out vowels. Embarrasingly enough I followed the trend and my first nickname I used was “xKnz”; fortunately only used in CS matches and one or two online game characters.
Grew up a little more, realised I couldn’t stick with “xKnz” for the rest of my life, sat myself down and began to brainstorm a nickname. I had a few criteria I followed but until now I don’t know why I followed some of them.
- Starts with ‘k’
- Sounds Japanese but isn’t (cannot be voiced using Japanese phonemes)
- Short, around 4-7 letters
- Have a difficult to pronounce consonant combination
- Be slightly on the cute side
- Still be cool
And with these few rules I pulled out of thin air, I agonised for longer than I should have. I started with “kb” (skipped vowels) and went down the list to “kz” over and over, speaking it out in my head to see if it fit all the criteria I had.
Out of the blue, “ksami” clicked. I was really pleased that I had actually found a nickname that fulfilled all these ridiculous criteria. And as they say, the rest is history.
Today, I shall finally reveal how it sounds in my head! * Warning, Unicode ahead *
/kʰsɑmi/ (based on IPA)
Haha that didn’t help much did it?