“What’s with mrnugget?”

There’s no big story behind the name mrnugget.

I’ve used it as my name online since around 2002. Back then I spent a lot of time in IRC channels, especially on QuakeNet, where people called themselves MrBlack or MrPink, like the characters in Reservoir Dogs. Or SirThis and SirThat. It was a common pattern: MrThis and SirThat.

One day I wanted a new nickname, something that wasn’t taken, and came up with MrNugget. I thought it sounded funny (Chicken Nuggets sounds funny, gold nuggets sounds funny -— probably the only two types of nuggets I knew at the time) and then stuck with it. That’s it. (Nearly 25 years later I can tell you it’s not that unique, there are other mrnuggets out there!)

At first I capitalized it like that — MrNugget — but these days it’s all lowercase: mrnugget. It’s still my primary email address, my GitHub username, and my name on probably around 78 other platforms.

Fun fact #1: I have a beer glass with Mr. Nugget engraved on it, capital M and capital N. My parents gave it to me when I was 16 or 17.

Fun fact #2: when my wife and I got married, we went to town hall for the official part. The guy asked us for our email addresses. My wife gave hers: first name, last name, at something. Then it was my turn. “Well, it’s mrnugget at…” Pretty awkward.