Names tell us a lot about things – and some names give away more than others. I’m reminded of the science fiction classic by Samuel Delany, Babel 17 which involves a language so rich in content that, if you knew the name for something, you could make it.

If this concept seems incomprehensible, bear in mind that even in English, some names convey more information than others. If we use the traditional UK English word for where a fox lives, ‘den’, it tells us very little. But if we use ‘foxhole’ it both tells us what lives there, and the nature of the home.

One aspect of naming I find very uncomfortable is the use of strange logon names online. While I take Peet Morris’s point in his comment on blogging that sometimes you want to be able to say something anonymously, surely this isn’t the norm? If I get chatting to someone in the pub, and they say their name is (say) Fred, I would frankly be a bit offended if I later found out it was really George, but they were using a false name to protect anonymity.

Apart from the terribly cheesy nature of names so many people adopt, I do worry when someone calls themselves GutPuncher or Weeblesox online because of what its says about their self esteem. I tend to use my name because, on the whole, I’m quite pleased with being who I am. I think it’s a real shame if these false names emerge from a lack of satisfaction with reality.

Second Nature fans will be pleased to learn I’m not knocking the urge to have an avatar with rippling muscles or other dramatic features, because Second Life’s a game. (Ducks to avoid the flak.) But social networking is supposed to be about real people communicating with other real people – and in those circumstances, the false names seem rather unpleasant to me.