In Eastern European culture, a name is basically a form of ID given by your parents, or whoever the flip end up signing the documents. Sometimes you get a nickname by your friends, usually based on your surname, sometimes mixed with your first name. Not everyone is lucky enough to get something catchy and unique, and I was definitely in the unlucky group.

Since I can remember, I had access to the internet in some form. It wasn’t fast, it wasn’t stable — but it was there. At first I was too young to care much, mostly just wanting to play games, including online ones. Usually to use some services or create a character in video game you need an account with unique name – so I came up with fantasy-sounding ‘cool’ names on the spot. None of that stuck with me until the middle school.

A friend and I decided to play the MMORPG Tibia together. We had the idea to make our characters’ names match — same surname as the core and first name one being an anagram of the other. That’s how Nerash and Sharen were born. We played for some time and sadly I didn’t like my class very much, so I made a new character and named him Esharon, keeping it close to the old one. And that stuck with me for the next few years.

I got addicted to YouTube and the idea that people were posting playthroughs, doing what they loved, and even earning money for it. Sign me in! Unfortunately, my PC couldn’t handle it. The dream stayed in the dreamzone until later in high school. I got my first part-time job by reference and with one holidays spent on working I’ve managed to save up for my very own PC.

When the time of choosing the channel name came up naturally I wanted to use Esharon as my channel name. But it was taken from me. YouTube offered me a list of alternatives. Most were awful – Esharon69’s and other random numbers tacked on. But one stood out: Esharify.

I was doubtful at first, but I chose it anyway and over the time I started to like it. It felt like a natural evolution of my old name, but with a twist that made it unique. I used it for the channel, and over time it became my online identity everywhere else too. So if you see “Esharify” somewhere it is probably me… or not and they yoinked it from me… again.

And that’s how “Esharify” was born. Given by YouTube. Just like my real name, which some random doctor slapped on me at birth… wait, what?

Cheers!