One day my brother and I were starting a Dragon Quest game, and I wanted a good androgenous name for a red haired elf I was creating ... I was running on mental empty ... and then I recalled a name from a Zelazny book. At the time Lintra was mentioned only once (the hellmaiden who cost Benedict his arm). I thought, oh good, a nice obscure name.
Played the Lintra character through 100's of years of his life ... and a good 9 months of my life ... he had some fantastic adventures ... before he had to be retired to NPC status - as there reaches a point in an RPG characters life where they are just too powerful. He was a healer, beast master (long story there), ranger, courtier, air mage and fencer. One of his 50+ year adventures resulted in the aquisition/creation of "Cats Paw" and "Mouse Whisker" (again feeling unimaginative and fell back on Fritz Lieber for inspiration) - a rapier and main gouche (sp?) that rank amoung the most powerful artifacts in a magic item poor world. Both where created by a master swords smith that Lintra had rescued (more than once) and were just warm ups for his ultimate creation. Both are interesting in that they had the same critical failure during the creation process and look like worthless lumps of soft iron - a major plus in Lintra's eyes!!
Some of the silliness exhibited with Pinnen has it's roots in Lintra's gaming experience ... he did actually manage to use a mop head as a wig and pull it off (okay there was a hood involved, but it *did* generate a good picture, and a good laugh, and hid his bright red hair). He had a very complex and full character ... a bit of Rincewind crossed with a young Elrond (try role playing *that* someday).
So, a decade later as the proto internet was forming and coalesing I choose that as my nick (handle?) and have stuck with it ever since. Despite the appearance of the original Lintra in later books it still remains a name I can usually use ('cept in Hyjal realm of WoW. Gotta find the owner and ask them to kill the character if they aren't using it).
There. You asked for it.