My real-life name is Dagny. Many well-read people ask me if I was named after the Ayn Rand character in
Atlas Shrugged... but no. In fact, my parents & I didn't even learn of the book until I was in high school. Dagny is actually a traditional Norwegian name that translates literally to "New Day". My mom really wanted me to have a Norwegian name (both my parents are Norwegian, whether by birth or by heritage), so my dad made a list for her before I was born. As soon as my mom saw "Dagny" on the list, she knew that was the one. My middle name is Pernille, after my dad's sister.
I'm glad I'm a girl, though... I would have been Halvor had I been a boy, after my mom's father. I'm sure it was a fine name for Depression-era North Dakota, but I'm certain it would have been good for nothing but schoolyard poundings when I was growing up. I mean, "Dagny" was hard enough during the 80s Valley Girl thing. "Gag me with a spoon" morphed into "Dagny with a spoon", plus I had the redhead stigma. Ah, the crosses we bear.
As for Fiberbabe, I initially chose it based on my sewing background, plus the "Cyberbabe" wordplay thing. Naturally, given this crowd, many have opted to ignore that and ascribe a dietary context to it... So fine, I've decided to embrace that. Capfka embraced it too, and calls me Junior Wheatgerm. That finally explains his periodic "JW" references for the non-old-timers!
