I used to use the name "Cyclonus" online (on various metal forums and other stuff), in the mid-to-late 90's.... it was the name of a character from The Transformers (my favorite character was actually Starscream, but that was already taken at the first place I registered, so I chose "Cyclonus" because it sounded cool). Around 1998 - 1999 I started actually meeting online people in person, and it got sorta confusing, since they knew me as "Cyclonus", but I never used that name in real life. So I decided to just start using my real name online to make things simpler. Plus, my real name is weird enough that no one is likely to get me mixed up with anyone else anyway, so there's not much reason to bother with a handle at this point.