I've never really liked my birthname, especially my surname. My first name is even pretty, but I never felt like it was me. Given an opportunity to name myself, I leapt at it.

Creating a name for AOL involved putting something together that none of its million-something other subscribers already had. It made things a bit tougher and forced me to go for something obscure.

I got "Viridian" from one of my favorite novels, Fool's Run by Patricia A. McKillip. To my knowledge it's the only science fiction novel she ever wrote; most of her work is fantasy. Fool's Run has the same lyrical, fever dream atmosphere as her other work. One Viridian is a musician, while her twin sister is
a seer and mass murderer. I figured they reflected some of the disparate sides of myself. "Viridian" is also a blue-green, a color I like.

So I submitted "Viridian" for consideration, but one subscriber already had it. I tried "Viridian9," but someone else had that one too. Ditto for "Viridian3." "Viridian5" went through.

The name, with number, became ironic once I got involved in my "Tangled String" clone stories. I've had people tell me the number gives my name a clone ambience....

See Michael Whelan's cover art, featuring the Viridians, for Fool's Run
http://www.glassonion.com/gallery/archive/qtoz/queenh.jpg