The origin of "HN"


I've read that HN is used as an abbreviation (略) of "Handle Name". Why was
Handle Name abbreviated in Japanese instead of the much more common, at least
in English, "User Name" or even the good old "Screen Name"? Or does this
abbreviation predate the internet era?




Thanks to jogloran's suggestion, I did some research on if "Handle Name" is a
和製英語 word. To summarize from [these](http://gogen-
allguide.com/ha/hundle_name.html) [sources](http://www.cam.hi-
ho.ne.jp/mendoxi/bug/handle-name.html):

  1. ["Handle Name"]{ハンドルネーム} is thought by many Japanese to be derived from ["Handle"]{ハンドル}. However, since the word "Handle" is so commonly used in Japan to refer to the steering wheel of a vehicle, the word "Name" was also attached to prevent confusion. This confusion doesn't really exist in English.

  2. Many people think that ハンドルネーム is a 和製英語 word. But there is some evidence of the word being utilized the same way in English.

  3. Handle was once used to refer to one's titles in English. [Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8F%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%AB%E3%83%8D%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0) gives as an 1870 [example](https://books.google.com/books?id=-QYUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA222&lpg=PA222&dq=I%20would%20rather%20be%20called%20%E2%80%98Big-Foot%20Wallace%E2%80%99%20than%20%E2%80%98Lying%20Wallace%E2%80%99.%E2%80%A5%20Such%20handles%20to%20my%20name%20would%20not%20be%20agreeable#v=onepage&q=I%20would%20rather%20be%20called%20%E2%80%98Big-Foot%20Wallace%E2%80%99%20than%20%E2%80%98Lying%20Wallace%E2%80%99.%E2%80%A5%20Such%20handles%20to%20my%20name%20would%20not%20be%20agreeable&f=false): 

> I would rather be called "Big-Foot Wallace" than "Lying Wallace," or
> "Thieving Wallace." Such **handles** to my name would not be agreeable 1890

  4. From that meaning, handle transitioned in English to being [used](http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html#handle) as slang to describe the nicknames of amateur radio operators (CB Radio). To quote from [Yahoo answers](https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061231221047AA0Igd2): 

> A CB Radio is a Ciitizen Band like a walkie talkie that goes for miles,
> truckers used them to communicate between each other, and then people in
> cars used it.... People would talk LIKE Breaker breaker good buddy over and
> out------stuff like that people had their own **Handle name** Not Screen
> Name Or E-Mail address but similar.

  5. At some point, this terminology transferred over to the early Japanese Internet. 

  6. It's possible that AOL first coined the word "screen name", which only appeared in the mid-1990s ([source](http://www.eps.mcgill.ca/jargon/jargon.html#screen%20name)). I'm not sure as to how popular they were in Japan, but apparently the term "screen name" didn't quite catch on. 

  7. User name is probably more popular than HN, but I think maybe UN would be too similar to an actual japanese word and possibly cause confusion with the abbreviation.

