Why RRR?

Rasta Robert took RR

Why do I use RRR on the internet? Way back, in the early days of the academic, pre-commercial internet, in 1994, I had to choose a loginname for De Digitale Stad. The first freenet and more or less also the first public-access ISP in the Netherlands. I was a few months late because I was using my university account before, so I could not have rr@dds.nl. The goldrush for good names apparently was ahead of me or it was just tough luck but rr was already taken by "Rasta Robert".

no rain please

I tried rainder@dds.nl for a short while but didn't really like it (reinder@dds.nl was also already taken!). I don't want to be associated with rain all the time. Then I switched to rrr@dds.nl because I like it a lot to have an extremely short e-mail address. Especially in the beginning I would receive e-mail from newbies because it's the only address they knew by heart.

ReindeR

The third R is not just because my first name ends with it. Already since 1985 I write my name like that. Teachers and the likes would always change my name in something not ending with R. To rub in that my name ends with an R I would capitalise it. I did so ever since without giving it much thought.

ahr-ahr-ahr...

The triple R has an added value over more than just two firstname-lastname initials. Three is the magic number. Americans pronounce it even like some seal sound. And Greenpeace tought us they are cute and should be done no harm.

rrr.dds.nl

Then came the time to register your own name as a domain. Again, I was too late. Both rrr.com and rrr.nl were already registered. Then I realised I wouldn't like it that much either. I prefer to be associated with dds.nl because it is more distinguishing. You can tell more about the domain rrr.dds.nl than from just rrr.nl if you are familiar with the Dutch internet scene. I have been a fan of this DDS freenet for long now. Although it is technically not always of top-quality, the idea behind it is great. At least you won't find any advertising here.

RRR Media

The next step is to use this name, my internet alter ego or identity, for my business. Whatever I am going to do precisely, an internet startup, media consultancy, internet journalism, webmastership of any combination of these, the name RRR Media is always appropriate.

ReindeR, what's in a name?

And finally for those of you who wonder what the name ReindeR means. For as far as I know it has no special meaning. In a book about names I was browsing through on a birthday party a while ago, I read that the name Reinder as it is solely used up north, stems from Reinaert. And that is linked to Reinaert the fox, remember the tale? Which has a significance as guide (raadsheer) or something. Fits nicely with my personality, job and behaviour on USENET.

Genealogy

I do know for sure that I got my name because it was in the family of my father's side and because it has a nice alliteration with all those R's. He has his roots in Groningen, up north. I have two uncles with the name Reinder. One died in 1998 and was a farmer all of his life. The brother of my grandmother. When I was young I could never understand a word of what he was saying because of his dialect. It was more like shouting when he spoke since he was used to talk across a few acres. As a city kid I was afraid of him mostly. When I was staying over at my grandparents once, he brought a hare to eat. He got it from the traps he set out in his fields. Rabbit tastes much better I found out years later in France. The other uncle, the youngest brother of my father, is a carpenter in Baflo. Everyone with the name Rustema is related to me in some way.