PSN PlayStation Network Usernames

PlayStation Network will finally allow you to change your username soon, and with that in mind we figured it’d be fun to share the history behind our IDs. So before we let you loose in the comments section, we got all of our team into one room and asked some hard hitting questions, like what is the meaning of ‘Quintumply’ anyway?

Annette Magaña: anet123

Yup, it’s that boring. I butchered my name and it looks like my 10 year old self was as lazy as my present self. 123 because, why not? Maybe I thought I was too mature to have 'cookieblaster' as a username so... Yeah! I’d like to think I just knew to plan ahead from early on.

Christian Kobza: X_FREAK_X_SHOW_X

A friend of mine created a PSN account, gave it to me, and purchased The Punisher: No Mercy on it so I could play with him. With his permission, I just kept the account and began using it as my primary because, I dunno, free game, right? I know now, nearly a decade removed from the incident, that I placed too much value in some crummy $10 licensed PSN game. But, I have since accumulated 84 platinum trophies and hundreds of dollars in purchases on that account and have yet to live the username down: X_FREAK_X_SHOW_X. It's exactly the type of name you'd expect to see from someone obsessed with The Punisher after 10 minutes of username brainstorming. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be changing it as soon as I have the opportunity.

Jade Sayers: jadeypops

My username is jadeypops. It was a nickname that my best friend in secondary school, and I always thought it was kind of cute. I’m torn between the nostalgia of keeping the old name and changing it to fit my social media names (ohnoitsjade). I had a semi-successful run at The Last of Us online mode, and it makes me sad to think of a world no longer terrorised by jadeypops.

Liam Croft: Liam_Croft

After growing up playing Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare online on the Xbox 360, I became enamoured with the killcam that states "killed by...", and so I based my most embarrassing online handle around that, A Silent Raptor. Yeah, that was a dark moment for me. And so, after maturing a little and making the jump to the PS3, I decided to ditch the fancy names that you look back on in shame and settled on using simply my own name instead. Yeah, Liam_Croft. I figured, I can't hate my own name, right...

Nicole Hall: wickednick94

I recall the sheer panic of setting up my PS3 with my stepbrother when he asked, "Quick, think of an online ID!" Curse younger me for mashing together one of my most used words of the time and my nan’s nickname for me. As much as I hate to admit it’s grown on me, I’ll be glad to change it upon the update. [I still use the word 'wicked', Nic - Ed]

Rebecca Stow: MediaMoo

I seem to be one of the rare PS4 players who genuinely likes their PSN account name and won't be changing it when the opportunity arises. I grew up working on a cow farm tending to cattle and calves almost every day for five years. It was around this time I created my first website to practice very causal video game journalism and when prompted for a name for my site, I simply mashed my two favourite things together, digital media and cows which resulted in MediaMoo. When I bought my PS4 it seemed on natural to keep the name, and though my first website is no more the nostalgia lives on through the name.

Sammy Barker: get2sammyb

I’m showing my age here, but back in the hazy days of AOL Instant Messenger my brother and I used to hit up chat rooms for some ol’ A/S/L action with the ladies hanging in the lobbies. The whole “get to” thing was his idea, but it stuck. It won't be changing – I just wish my good friend Dina would kindly vacate my Twitter handle.

Stephen Tailby: Quintumply

I wish there was a more interesting tale behind my relatively obscure username, but there you have it. 'Quintumply' is a ludicrous word I invented in my teens, but the original meaning escapes me. It didn't take long, however, for the definition to shift, as I adopted it as my go-to alias for almost all online accounts. What was an old joke now simply means me. A change might be nice, but I've grown so accustomed to the handle that I doubt anything else would look right.

What's the story behind your PSN username? Will you be changing it when the option is added? Explain your alias in the comments section below.