My furry name evolved over time, so here's how different parts of it came into play.
-When I first decided to get into the fandom, around autumn of 2003, it took me awhile to come up with a name I liked. I wanted it to be furry-related, and descriptive of me, but not overly long or contrived. I was really into motorcycles at the time (still kinda am, but I haven't ridden in many years), so "Softail" was the first thing that came to mind because of my relatively gentle personality. I hadn't discovered the more adult side of the fandom yet (I was such an innocent pup), but I knew enough about the world to know that would probably send the wrong message. So, on a whim, "Softpaw" came to mind, and I was like "omg yay!".
-Some extensive searching revealed that there was one other person using "Softpaw" (and, at the time,
only one), an artist named Kiffin Softpaw. I still liked the name, though, and I had already used it to sign up on a few websites, so I decided to do what she did: Put another name in front of Softpaw. I already had a pen name at the time, because I was very political and wanted to remain somewhat anonymous to protect my career. So, I simply stuck that name with Softpaw and had my furry name.
-Several years later, the aforementioned artist launched a magazine with "Softpaw" in the title, and suddenly there were a bajillion stupid n00b furries using it all over the place. What's worse is that a couple of them tried to retroactively claim they were the "original". So, I started a project to reclaim the name Softpaw for myself, including using it on my con reg badges, registering it on every website I can, and harnessing my SEO skillz to conquer Google results for that search term.
-Shortly after, I finally stopped repressing my gender identity, and had to choose a new first name. I'm a big fan of the Russian language and culture, so I wanted it to be a Russian name, but still something that Americans would be able to pronounce without butchering it too badly. And, since I planned to use the name beyond just a furry character, something not-so-ethnic would be preferable for someone who doesn't actually know the Russian language yet. Thus, I became Natasha Softpaw, as well as frequently using just the name Softpaw.
-Most recently, I developed an alternate character using the species that very nearly became my original fursona species back in 2003, a collie. And she needed a name. I tried to be true to the breed's English roots and choose a traditional English name, but those are harder to pronounce than bloody Sanskrit (or they were common American names), and none of them were as elegant as I wanted. So, I decided to say "screw geographic continuity", stole a name from a completely unrelated character in a story I've yet to finish, and invented a backstory that explained how an English dog was natively Russian. And so, Svetlana Solovyov was born
