Top Ten Metrics For A Cool Avatar Name

Last week we noted the irksome strangeness of Residents whose names resemble AOL chat handles or even worse discordant mishmash.  Now the author of Second Effects has a helpful anatomy of a great avatar name, broken down into into ten metrics: Length (less than 10 characters is better), Spell-ability, ease of Pronunciation, Memorability, Rhythm, and more.  Better yet, he's created a cool scoring system to rate your own name.  "Hamlet Au" scored 80 out of 100, which sounds about right.  At the moment, the top name among his readers is "QueenKellee Kuu", which is lovely and memorable, but its 87 ranking seems a bit on the high side.  (Then again, some of the metrics are subjective.)  Go here and see for yourself.

Just who is the author of Second Effects to determine which avatar names are cool, anyway?  Well, his is "ArminasX Saiman", which he openly acknowledges as a horrible handle no one can pronounce, but now that he's built a successful effecs business, one he's kind of stuck with.  In other words, learn from his mistakes.

Comments

[ArminasX Saiman]

That's exactly right, Hamlet - I cannot tell you the number of people I've met who casually created their name when they first joined Second Life, only to discover far too late they were stuck with it forever. There should be more warning and a little assistance to ensure residents end up with reasonable names.

[Harper Ganesvoort]

Connie Arida has the latest high, with 91. Y'r humble correspondent only scored a 63, but you get penalized for fairly common first names. (I thought there wouldn't be that many people outside of Alabama who used "Harper" for a first name (grin).)

[Scottius Polke]

Hello...my first post here :)

I agree with Arminasx. It's hard to focus on a good and memorable name when you first are joining, because 1)you are basically just trying out the program, so might not put a lot of effort or thought into it when first starting and 2)it's hard to know what a "good name" is when you have never been to Second Life.

I am okay with my name, but would have done it a bit differently now. I like the first name, but would have tried to get a first and last name that tied together a bit better. I basically picked the last name I disliked the least.

FYI I got 72 on the (fairly subjective) rating system.

[Scottius Polke]

Scratch that...I got a 75, as I appear to be the only Scottius in all of Second Life.

And 84 if I checked the name flows box, but I erred on the side of caution.

[Piranesi Heliosense]

I don't know; I agree with the AOL-izing of names, but otherwise it just comes down to personal preference as opposed to some arbitrary naming feng-shui. It's like expecting 21st century poems to all be written in iambic pentameter, and thinking something's "wrong" when they aren't. Who cares?

[Eric Reuters]

Ahem....

"Eric Reuters." 97.

[Hamlet Au]

Just for kicks, I put in "Philip Linden" and got... 76.

[Marianne McCann]

I'm a 77, m'self -- an I like to think my name *is* pretty distinctive.

[Zeph Fall]

... Wow. Zeph Fall got 89?