Why 'Darkwing'?

Over 20 years ago, my favorite show was Darkwing Duck. I didn't set out to emulate him, however. My friends tagged me with that name.

After my then-girlfriend broke up with me, I decided to use my middle name instead of my first name, as part of re-inventing myself. When my friends came over for a game that night, I told them. We then watched the latest episode of my favorite show before starting the game.


A few minutes after the game started, one of the players had a question for me, and half a heartbeat after he asked it, he add "DW". Nobody had thought to put my initials together until then, and everybody broke up. I was "Darkwing" thereafter.

So no, I'm not obsessed with a certain animated avian. I had a friend nicknamed 'Indy', and didn't want to accept other friends naming me 'Junior' after The Last Crusade just because I have a similar chin scar. That'd be disrespectful of 'Indy'. Other nicknames over the years haven't stuck as long. So "DW" is my handle.

It could be worse: friends have been nicknamed "Mushroom" (ok, that one was my fault), "Klingon", "Tellarite", "Shrek/Ogre", "Donkey", and "Bruce Almighty/Robert the Bruce". What's your nickname and the story behind it?