What goes into an e-mail address?

For most students, it’s the typical first initial, last name combination, chosen by freshmen who don’t know any better. However, creativity does color some of the more funky addresses, which apparently are also chosen by freshmen who don’t know any better.

Open the student directory to any page, and run your finger down the list of e-mail addresses — or have fun with the Vincent “finger” command — and several addresses are sure to catch your attention.

They cover many facets of college life. There’s the descriptive—hungover; the cocky—lovegod, hottie, allthat; the inane—butthead (there’s no beavis) and even the downright crass— asswipe.

Students’ rationale for their addresses extend from sheer silliness to total coincidence, and several usernames have unusual stories behind them.

“I met my sweetie ten years ago over the CB radio, now an outmoded form of communication. His ‘handle’ was doctor. So it only follows that when I chose my e-mail address five years ago, my address should be docsgirl,” writes Liese Vanderbroek, a second-year student in liberal arts and science.

“Good thing that he’s still my sweetie today. The way that I understand it, I am stuck with that e-mail address forever while I’m here at Iowa State,” she continues. “It could be worse, I could have used my CB handle, and could be forevermore: Bambi.”

Vanderbroek, 35, says the address will not appear on her resume.

As college campuses strive to keep up with the trends of the electronic age, the use of e-mail addresses on resumes and other biographical documents seems to be on the rise. Many students say they were not aware of the possible ramifications of their e-mail addresses when they picked them.

“I got my e-mail account when I first came to college, so I was naive to the fact that my e-mail went on every important document Iowa State would send out,” writes bwiserlt, a.k.a. Mary Renfield, a sophomore from Hancock. “Many times I’ve looked back and thought, ‘Why didn’t I choose a more practical name rather than the name of a beer?’

“The unfortunate part is that I’m pretty sure I can’t change it. Oh, well. I guess you have to make mistakes to learn from them.”

The belief that a username is permanent seems to be a common one among students when, in fact, usernames can be changed in 197 Durham Center for a fee of $25.

Some students are brief in their reasoning: “Well, we all want our e-mail address to be sexmonkey, but that’s nine characters long. Hotstuff is only eight characters.”

Others claim their address to be the result of a fluke: “The point of my address is just pretty much an accident. I meant to type kermit — for no reason, it just sounded cool. An irreversible mistake left me as hermit.”

Not all students were careless in their choice of an unusual username. Some have picked their addresses carefully and use them to reflect certain interests or aspects of their personalities.

“My e-mail address is barbra, for the one and only Barbra Streisand,” said GSB Vice President Carolyn Jones. “Streisand is one of my ultimate role models. She is intelligent, talented, witty and beautiful. I think I first started to admire her in junior high after I borrowed some of her CDs from the library.

“I do plan to put my address on my resume. Although it’s not completely professional, I think it shows personality and creativity.”

Mikael Brown, whose username is satan, reports receiving bible quotes via e-mail, as well as inquiries and commentaries regarding his address. Brown, a senior in geology, said he chose his address because “there are 712 men and four women in the United States who believe they’re God. None who claim themselves as Satan.”

“Every few weeks or so, someone will e-mail me or z-write me commenting on my user i.d. or asking me ‘What is Satan like?’,” Brown said. To field all these questions, Brown has set up a Web page, giving background information on his username.

Some students have resigned themselves to an old nickname, using it as their e-mail address for simplicity. Jacob Varghese, a freshman from Country Club Hills, Ill., said he was given the racial nickname “sinbad” by his football buddies. “I thought it could be cool for old times’ sake, if I were to have it as a username,” he said. “Since then, I’ve come to terms with my name.”

And some just can’t seem to get away from their reputation on campus.

“It seemed that in my first two years here … I had great luck in meeting women, whether it be in class or at a party or even at the cafeteria,” writes “macdaddy” Matthew Morris.

“Now, please note that I did not hound these women or anything like that. I just made their acquaintance, and everyone on the floor started to call me the macdaddy, so the name stuck,” Morris said.