# Where Did You Get Your Handle?



## Ankari

Chilari's latest challenge thread makes mention of her name and how she came up with it.  I thought that was interesting.  If you use a handle, how did you come up with it?  Does it have a special meaning to you?  Where do you use it?

I was 13 years old and new to fantasy.  I just finished reading _The Dragon Reborn_ by Robert Jordan (holy crap, its been 19 years!) and I knew that I wanted to be a writer.  Well, it was the summer and my family planned a "trip" to go back to my ancestral homeland.  While on the plan I had tons of time to think about my world and, of course, my hero.  I needed a name.  I would go through hundreds of them but discarded almost all of them.  We were going to land in the airport in Ankara, Turkey to switch planes.  As the captain spoke the city's name, my mind wandered, mulling over trivial things.  One of those things was "What do the people of Ankara call themselves?  Ankaran?  Ankari?  WAIT!  That's the name!"

And Ankari was born.  I've used it since then for table top RPGS, MMOs, email accounts, everything.  My MMO live included EQOA, EQ2, AoC, LoTRO and DDO.

Who else?


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## Philip Overby

Phil the Drill was my pro wrestling name.  I wrestled for four years on the independent circuit in grungy high school gyms and National Guard armories.  Most of the time I wrestled in front of about 40-50 people, but sometimes in front of 200-300.  I came to find later that there was a boxer named Phil "the Drill" Williams, but since I was just Phil the Drill aka The Drill, I didn't feel like I was ripping him off.

Pic available in the "What Do MS Members Look Like?" thread.


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## Kelise

I generally go by Keladryie, which is a name a friend made up for me in the first year of high school, for the book she was writing. Kelise is a newer handle of mine, and it comes simply from my names - *K*atharine *elise*.

I hope that if I ever get published, that the publisher will let me use it as part of the name I write under. For a while I was considering Kelise Emery, but I'm not convinced on that name as of yet.


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## Aidan of the tavern

Well my names Aidan and I'll let you figure out the rest.


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## Ireth

I was maybe 14 or 15 years old, and I'd just joined a LOTR fansite called Council of Elrond. I needed a username, so I went to one of those elvish name generator sites and it gave me the name Ireth Telrunya. I used that for my CoE name, and just Ireth for here. It's what most of my internet friends know me as.


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## Reaver

*Just like existence itself...I am, have always been and shall forever be Reaver. *

Okay...It was my call-sign in the Marine Corps.


A picture of the real me will appear when there have been enough "yes" votes and I reach 350 Reputation Points.


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## Elder the Dwarf

Young the Giant is a band.  I don't really listen to them, but my friend had told me about them a while back.  I didn't have anything to use as a fantasy-like nickname, and at the time I joined everybody had a cool nickname.  I thought of the band and I thought that would be a pretty good name.  So I just kinda put my own spin on Young the Giant and turned it into Elder the Dwarf.


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## Graylorne

I took my name years ago, from the Greylorn book by Keith Laumer, an SF story. Adapted it to be unique and o wonder I'm still the only of that name on the web.


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## ArielFingolfin

I got my name from two of my favorite literary characters. The first Ariel from Shakespeare's The Tempest and second is one of the elves in Tolkien's The Silmarillion. Not very original either in name or story, but I like it.


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## Caged Maiden

I just used my name... I'm also caged maiden in certain places (like deviantart) but that's my business name, a play on the fact that when I wear costumes I am usually corseted.  So since corsets are a specialty I make, I went with caged maiden for my business name.  Too bad I didn't think to use that here.  If I could switch I would because Anihow is lame.


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## Sheilawisz

As you all know my name is Sheila, and the wisz part comes because, years ago, the main weapon of my Mages was a magical fire called Wiszlash =)

So, Sheila+Wisz= Sheilawisz!!

The Wiszlash weapon was re-imagined to change colour and name, but basically it's still the same stuff.


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## Ghost

I made it up, then some time-travelling ancient Greeks came and stole it from me.

The bastards.


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## Ophiucha

I like healer archetypes and I like snakes. Originally I was going to go with "Asclepia", which would be a feminine form of Ascelpius, the healer with a serpent for a staff, but I like the letter O a lot more, so I went with the constellation, Ophiuchus, which according to legend is Zeus putting Asclepius in stars, though there are other myths related to the constellation, so I guess I get a bit of range for interpretation. And I make it feminine because I'm a woman.


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## Penpilot

Painfully obvious, although, I really only type.


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## dragonangel517

Years ago, when I first signed up for Yahoo mail, I wanted to use dragon517, but it was taken. Dragonhuff was one of the suggestions offered and I loved it. My last name was Huff at the time. After my husband passed away, and I eventually got remarried, I decided to drop the huff part , but dragonmarcotte just doesn't have the same ring, so I went with angel instead. I still use dragonhuff for some things, too lazy to change all my log-ins, and can also be found as bardragon in a few places.


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## Steerpike

Limb by limb, it appeared that he was sound enough, but the sum of these several members accrued to an unexpectedly twisted total. His face was pale like clay and save for his eyes, mask-like. These eyes were set very close together, and were small, dark red, and of startling concentration....

If ever he had harboured a conscience in his tough narrow breast he had by now dug out and flung away the awkward thing - flung it so far away that were he ever to need it again he could never find it. High-shouldered to a degree little short of malformation, slender and adroit of limb and frame, his eyes close-set and the colour of dried blood, he is climbing the spiral staircase of the soul of Gormenghast, bound for some pinnacle of the itching fancy - some wild, invulnerable eyrie best known to himself; where he can watch the world spread out below him, and shake exultantly his clotted wings.

(Steerpike, from Peake's Gormenghast books)


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## The Blue Lotus

Hmm, Well Unlike others my name has no meaning at all. 
At least not to me not really... 
Lotus flowers are important symbols in my religion and through out the ages in other religions. 
Blue is one of my fav colors, Slap the two together and there ya go. 
Nothing special or fancy or even slightly moving, I wanted something different than my other Id's on the net.


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## Telcontar

Tolkien. Buried in the denouement of "The Return of the King" is a line where Aragorn picks the name of his royal house, calling them Strider after the name he went by in the north. But he translates it into elven so it'll sound better - Telcontar is the translation. I liked the sound of it, liked that it connected to Tolkien, and liked that (at the time) it was not a well-known artifact of the books.


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## Jess A

As some here have already deduced, I have a fascination with wild weather and I try to be near storms when I can, even when they might drop a tornado or two on my head.

The name actually originated from Raymond Feist's books - the nickname given to the character Arutha for a moody personality. It was also a nickname of mine when I was a kid - I was likewise rather moody :| and my friends also read the books. Though it's been a very long time since anybody called me that! I was re-reading the books recently and had a little chuckle to myself.

Given my obsession with the weather, I thought I'd reclaim the name for myself, this time without being offended by it.



Caged Maiden said:


> I just used my name... I'm also caged maiden in certain places (like deviantart) but that's my business name, a play on the fact that when I wear costumes I am usually corseted.  So since corsets are a specialty I make, I went with caged maiden for my business name.  Too bad I didn't think to use that here.  If I could switch I would because Anihow is lame.



...seems your wish came true. Took me a few moments to realise who you were until I read your post fully. My brain is in pieces somewhere...


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## suzannasinister

My name is not from anything I am proud of other than the name itself.
Years ago I was involved with a criminal boyfriend.
He had a nickname with the Local Police dept. and they had a local rag called the Evening Whirl that highlighted all the local arrests and criminals on the loose and captured and crazy stories about things that went on in the city.
My BF was arrested, I happened to be there at the time, they took us both in.
They released me because I didn't have anything to do with his crimes other than he came home to me.
When the paper came out that week, the headline read "Hammerhead and Suzanna Sinister apprehended, Crime on the Southside all Cleaned Up"
As if he or even We could have committed every crime in a city of a million and a half people...Please be serious!
Anyway
that's how I got my handle
I liked the handle
thought the headline was unfair
but hey make the best of it yes?


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## ElliotWyndwryght

My mother was positive that I would be a male. She had this system with her kids (nine altogether) if the pregnancy was easy then it was a boy, if it was stressful the baby was a girl. So they were calling me Elliot before I was even born. But then; I was born, and mom had to ditch her system. 
I've always wondered what I would have been if Elliot, so when I needed to come up with a handle I used that and added Wyndwryght. A wright is a craftsmen, and I like 'y's, and wind. So: Wyndwryght. 
Elsewhere I use the handle Senka Sheridan, which means Shadow Searcher.


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## Ghost

suzannasinister said:


> When the paper came out that week, the headline read "Hammerhead and Suzanna Sinister apprehended, Crime on the Southside all Cleaned Up"
> As if he or even We could have committed every crime in a city of a million and a half people...



Maybe they thought you were supervillains? You're a legend, Suzanna!


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## Androxine Vortex

a friend of mine came up with my name for a RPG game I would play with my friends at school. I use the name for one of my MC but his last name is Vortex backwards so it's, Androxine Xetrov


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## KellyB

Mine's just my name, Kelly + B from my last name.  I have a hard enough time coming up with character names in games, so when I join websites, I just use my own name if it's available.


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## Jess A

suzannasinister said:


> My name is not from anything I am proud of other than the name itself.
> Years ago I was involved with a criminal boyfriend.
> He had a nickname with the Local Police dept. and they had a local rag called the Evening Whirl that highlighted all the local arrests and criminals on the loose and captured and crazy stories about things that went on in the city.
> My BF was arrested, I happened to be there at the time, they took us both in.
> They released me because I didn't have anything to do with his crimes other than he came home to me.
> When the paper came out that week, the headline read "Hammerhead and Suzanna Sinister apprehended, Crime on the Southside all Cleaned Up"
> As if he or even We could have committed every crime in a city of a million and a half people...Please be serious!
> Anyway
> that's how I got my handle
> I liked the handle
> thought the headline was unfair
> but hey make the best of it yes?



Wow, quite a story. Bet that's a kicker at any dinner party.


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## suzannasinister

chuckles
I know right!
who knew it would be so easy!


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## suzannasinister

snort/giggle
I try not to tell that one first!~lol~


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## J. S. Elliot

My first screen name was actually Moonlight-Zelda, and the more I looked at it, the more I began to draw parallels with my second screen name. Zelda (from the "Legend of Zelda" series, naturally) is the bearer of the Triforce of Wisdom, and by proxy, is a direct representation of the godess Naryu. Naryu has triple crescent moons as her insignia, which in a roundabout way, also relate to water and time. So, that screen name itself is rather self-explained. 

SeleneHime, what I'm using in most places that aren't fandom-related, draws off of Moonlight-Zelda. It can be generally summed up to "Moon Princess" in short, which also relates to a favorite character of mine when I was a kid. So, yeah, yay for mythology and nostalgia. ^_^"


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## Meg the Healer

Meg the Healer was a famous healer of the Highlands. So famous were her healing powers even the local Faery folk called upon her when faced with illnesses for which they could not cure. She was one of the very few humans ever allowed to walk freely into the realm of Faery and back again. Meg lived to be 100 years old, at which time she was taken into the faeryland where it is believed that she still resides.

I took on this moniker after I became a Massage Therapist in 2006 and since my first name is Megan, it just seemed to fit. However, I am neither famous, nor am close to a 100 years old. But every time I read a book - I do walk freely into the Faery worlds.


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## squishybug87

My little boys' nicknames; my older son is Bug and my younger is Squishy. Then I was born in 1987.


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## ShortHair

Somewhere around 1998 I started on my current project. The narrator quickly took on a life of her own, as good characters will do, and pushed me to bring her to the rest of the world. At first I called her Kyusha, a vaguely Oriental name that didn't bring any hits on Google. For a while I called her Little Mouth. I finally settled on Short Hair. The other elements of the story gradually shifted around her, but she hasn't changed. I hope you'll meet her some day.


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## CupofJoe

Well over 25 years ago on a Sunday afternoon I was on a deserted Railway station when I met a native american called Joe. He was a Navajo Singer. We talked for hours as we waiting for our trains. He changed the way I looked at and thought about everything. It was the moment I grew up a little.
So the "Joe" bit appears in any online name I have to use...
Anyway there is all of that and I an addicted to Coffee [especially if roasted with a hint of figs and dates - an Arab flavour I am told].
PS I love this thread!


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## FatCat

Hmm, I hope I don't break any forum rules with this, but mine is a nickname I got in highschool from friends. We were smoking...stuff in an underpass of a highway, sitting on a little ledge that was 10 ft. directly above a small creek that went through the tunnel. The ledge couldn't have been more than a foot wide, so when we were done, getting back proved to be extremely difficult, to say the least. Out of the six of us that were present, only me and one other guy managed to not fall into the creek. Later, one of my friends remarked that I was like a fat cat, because i'm fat and somehow retained balance haha. Use this handle on most everything.


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## DaimenNightWalker

Daimen NightWalker is one of my main characters in my book I'm writing right now.


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## Wynnara

Wynnara is a character in my series. She's a human girl of about 10 with short red hair and an impish expression. In my story she is wise far beyond her years and possesses countless lifetimes of history and knowledge inside her, but still manages to view all that she knows with the clear-sight of a child.


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## SeverinR

I posted this before, I think on this site, not sure.

I joined the SCA, and studied the names of Germany in the period I chose,
Severin was a common name in 1200's, the castle my persona, and my personal favorite castle I have seen from a far,
is the Rheinfels castle.
So I became Severin Rheinfelser, in service of Rheinfels castle.
Since working on writing, I have decided to shorten the name, and it is now Severin Rheiner. Still SeverinR.
It is also my handle on Deviantart.
My pro pic is my unregistered COA in the SCA, and a shield I made. (one of two)  
[I have two more shield blanks ready to create.
With a third on the shield press. ]
Bascially it is two Flowers over the sun, I am the sun and my daughters are the flowers.


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## Jess A

FatCat said:


> Hmm, I hope I don't break any forum rules with this, but mine is a nickname I got in highschool from friends. We were smoking...stuff in an underpass of a highway, sitting on a little ledge that was 10 ft. directly above a small creek that went through the tunnel. The ledge couldn't have been more than a foot wide, so when we were done, getting back proved to be extremely difficult, to say the least. Out of the six of us that were present, only me and one other guy managed to not fall into the creek. Later, one of my friends remarked that I was like a fat cat, because i'm fat and somehow retained balance haha. Use this handle on most everything.



Haha - at least you can mock yourself.


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## FatCat

Oh yes, at the very least I can do that


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## Sparkie

I'd like to say that I got my nickname by doing MIG welding for so long, but that's not true.

I got the name by doing something stupid when I was a kid.  I won't say what I did, but it involved me, a boombox, a puddle of water, and a frayed electrical cord.

The end result may explain why I am the way I am.


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## Joe the Gnarled

I made this one up new for this forum.  I think I was just feeling a bit stiff in the joints that day.  Im really not all that gnarled, but my name is Joe.


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## thedarknessrising

I just thought thedarknessrising had a sort of epic, evil ring to it. I kinda like it. It describes me. Epic and Evil


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## Barsook

Mine is badger in Russian


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## Jess A

Barsook said:


> Mine is badger in Russian



Your avatar brings to mind the Salamandastron badgers from Brian Jacques's _Redwall_.


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## Barsook

Little Storm Cloud said:


> Your avatar brings to mind the Salamandastron badgers from Brian Jacques's _Redwall_.



Because it's from a cover to a Russian Redwall book.  I think Lord Brocktree is the book.  The image of the full cover is in the Redwall Wiki.


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## Grand Lord BungleFic

I was in a silly mood when I created my handle.  "BungleFic" came from "bungling fiction".  Combining that with the title of "Grand Lord" struck me as extremely funny.  It called to mind a hopelessly pretentious guy writing stories that entertain no one but himself.  

I truly hope that's not me.


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## Legendary Sidekick

I wrote a story called _Legendary Sidekick--in 4D!,_ but there's a little more to it than that. For some reason--and I really can't tell why since I've always been kind of an introvert--people would introduce me as The Man, The Myth, The *Legend*. So there's the first half. The second half would be the way I began my own personal war against crime (at the age of 19), when I stopped a shoplifter on the run with a single kick to the stomach. When I joined the college karate club a month later, I found out the move I stopped the "bad guy" with was a *Sidekick*.

(As for my personal war against crime, I tackled another shoplifter eleven years later. Then, in 2006 when I lived in Hong Kong, I saw five Triad members shaking down shopkeepers on Chinese New Year. I decided not to get involved. So ended my secret life as a vigilante.)


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## Legendary Sidekick

ShortHair said:


> Somewhere around 1998 I started on my current project. The narrator quickly took on a life of her own, as good characters will do, and pushed me to bring her to the rest of the world. At first I called her Kyusha, a vaguely Oriental name that didn't bring any hits on Google. For a while I called her Little Mouth. I finally settled on Short Hair. The other elements of the story gradually shifted around her, but she hasn't changed. I hope you'll meet her some day.


So "Short Hair" is a girl?

Funny. In Hong Kong, there's a guy named "Long Hair." He used to be a protester. Now he makes seven figures (in HKD--but it's still six-figures in USD) as a legislator.


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## Jess A

Barsook said:


> Because it's from a cover to a Russian Redwall book.  I think Lord Brocktree is the book.  The image of the full cover is in the Redwall Wiki.



I have that book somewhere. I adore Redwall, though the later books fail to grab me. But I am going off topic...


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## Anders Ã„mting

Anders is my actual name. Ã„mting is my mother's maiden name. A few years ago she had it changed back, along with two of my siblings, since it's a very unusual name.

I don't actually want to change my name, but I'm thinking of using Anders Ã„mting as a pseudonym if I get published since it would stand out more than Anders Backlund.



Ghost said:


> I made it up, then some time-travelling ancient Greeks came and stole it from me.
> 
> The bastards.



Funny thing is, I'm called Ghost on another forum, have been since forever. So when I see one of your posts, I always go: "When did I post that?" for just a moment.


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## Ghost

Oops, I posted that when I was Ouroboros.

I've used the name Raven on some forums/chatrooms. I have that same moment of confusion when someone else has it.


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## Phietadix

Barsook said:


> Because it's from a cover to a Russian Redwall book.  I think Lord Brocktree is the book.  The image of the full cover is in the Redwall Wiki.



I love the Redwall Series. My favorite of the books is mossflower.

Anyway. Phietadix is the main culture of my currant book. It was formed by combining greek letters 'Phi' and 'Eta' with the french word for 10 'dix' since at first my culture was supposed to be a mix of ancient greece and mideval Europe. But now its more Roman, but the name stayed the same.


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## saellys

Saellys was the main character of the first fantasy story I ever wrote, back when I was a teenager. It was awful, but I've kept the name ever since.


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## tlbodine

Here I'm boring -- just my real initials and name, which is the name I write under -- but in non-professional places on the web I go by Fenshae.  That was kind of a silly nickname that evolved thus:  

When I was a kid, I joined Neopets (back when it was new) with the username Wolfskin (as in, "wolf's kin").  Somehow that got shortened to Wolfen, then Fen, which somehow everyone started calling me.  So I decided to adopt that as my new nickname, and added "shae" to make it more interesting.  So now everybody calls me Fenshae.


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## Wanara009

"Wanara" can mean two things. In Sanskrit form (spelled "Vanara"), it means "Human with monkey tail". They are prominent race in the Hindu Epic described as being half-monkey half-man. In Sundanese, Wanara means "monkey". They are also one of the "Four Practitioner of Arts" in my world Andalusia, along with Human, Gagasnesrawa (aka Garuda), and Naga (the only non-sapient being in the world capable of using the Etheric Art)


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## Shockley

Being a language guy, Shockley is interesting because it's one of the few mystery names left. Is it Celtic (Scocleach)? Nordic (Scheochli)? A random misspelling of the Old English word for tax collector (Shock-Levy)? Norman (Shakerleghe)? I've put a lot of thought into it.

 Also, I was born with it.


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## Snowpoint

Snowpoint is the northern-most city in the Sinnoh region, and also the whole Pokemon world so far. Sometimes I uses the name SnowpointQuincy.

Nothing special, just a name I made up for a Pokemon Forum. Now it my go-to internet name.


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