So what's with these nicknames?

[Zirngibism]

You know what I mean. It seems like a lot of the artists we all tend to know have these nifty aliases:
(BARoNTiERi, Vyle, Noxizmad, Sparth, Android, Viag, Puddnhead, etc...)
And they aren't just screen names when magazines print your alias.

What/who started this trend in the case of illustration/concept art?
Have artists always, to some degree, given themselves names way back in history?
Perhaps it's just a way to make one more memorable, especially if they had a common name?
(It seems most aliases come about after a certain degree of recognition. Has it become a way to boost up one's confidence, like a nickname makes one feel more like a heavy hitter?)


So yeah, just curious about this and its origins.

[Justin.]

It's an internet thing. I don't know of any forum where it isn't the norm to have a nick. It probably started when ISP's allowed user names to be different than real names.

[Flake]

Have artists always, to some degree, given themselves names way back in history?
Goes waaay back..

Domenikos Theotokopoulos- El Greco

Alessandro di Mariano dei Filipepi- Boticelli

Guido di Pietro- Fra Angelico

Jacopo Robusti- Tintoretto

Michelangelo Merisi- Caravaggio

Mathis Gothart Nithart- Grunewald

[Elwell]

Flake is right, but Justin is righter.

[waranghira]

Just so you know, I searched about this subject here some time ago and found a handful of threads.

Try it :D


EDIT: oh you were talking about history. >.<
blame people like Cyrus "the Great" or Alexander, or the people who called them that.

[DavePalumbo]

Funny, my first thought was Moebius for the contemporary illustrator pseudonym. Just part of the marketing I suppose, like Robert Zimmerman/Bob Dylan or James Osterberg/Iggy Pop.

[Rabid]

Plenty of examples in History of this, but it seems like we embrace these nicknames more than artists, who didn't regard themselves by these names. I agree it is an internet thing. I don't know abotu you guys but how many fo you actually take your nickname to your gallery showings, or real life discussions. Other than the CA workshops since that is already prevalent. It does help since there are a million Johns, Steves, and Jennifers out there...

[sparth]

justin, i think the internet probably emphasized the phenomenon in a certain way for sure. but finding a nickname is a way to promote one self's universe in the way you want it, without specifically stick to a two parts name, especially if this name is not something you'd want to put forward for a reason or another.
maybe picasso wouldn't have been what he is today if he had been using is full name:
"Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Martyr Patricio Clito Ruiz y Picasso"

in the comic industry, it has been happening for decades and decades. Herge rings a bell? or like dave said, moebius is a perfect exemple. :)
not even to mention the music industry, where most not to say all artists would never sell themselves and their productions under their own administrative name.
Vangelis?

s

[VulgarDragon]

Yeah, I'm wondering if I should have gone with something cooler. Probably too late now because Emily G probably won't change my user name (based on my real name) to something else made up. PM me if any suggestions, thanks.

[Justice Von Brandt]

Which one is most likely to stick with you?

Android Jones
or
Andrew Jones

Anybody and their brother can be a Andrew, few Android.

Good marketing I suppose

[Blue]

I've been tempted for years to sign my paintings 'Blue', but never could muster the guts. I might still...

[Naomi Ningishzidda]

I list my signature name on my resume to be clear...

Naomi Ningishzidda, it's an artsy combination of my first name and my muse....

my legal name has varied but I prefer to have a consistant sig across the board so I adopted this one after much thought.

husbands come and go yknow...if you're a traditional girl like me and like to take their name, hmm, well, that settles the problem...