Although I am now a JDate pro, I have to admit one thing – a couple months ago I wasn’t completely sold on the idea of becoming a member of the JDate community. Before I joined I had many friends who had enjoyed the experience and encouraged me to create a profile. During their pitches they would inevitably recount past dating successes and failures to illustrate the wide-range of people and personalities you can meet online compared to a crowded bar on a Saturday night. After hearing so many of their stories I began to see a pattern emerge in how each of them referred to the people they met and went out on dates with; it was never Jenny or Tanya or Michelle… they all used nicknames.

When I asked my sister, an experienced JDater®, about this phenomenon she informed me that the only way to keep all her dates straight was to take a characteristic or personality trait that was unique to them and give them a nickname based on that trait. So, for instance, the guy who studied biology would become “Bioboy,” the guy who went to Harvard would be “Harvard Boy,” and so on. Unless of course you had the mind of an elephant, she said, there was no way she could avoid confusing all of her dates.
 
When I eventually joined, I came out of the gates a little shaky but quickly gained momentum as I built up a rapport with “Med-School Girl,” “The Artistic Chick” and “Unemployed Nanny” before going out on a date with “Tap Dancing Woman” and then dating “The Runner” for a couple of months; and I’ve got to say that coming up with nicknames helped me develop a keener eye for noticing those little special quirks about the people I was getting to know.

My sister and I used to laugh about all of her dates, and the funny nicknames she gave them, but the truth is that she had the opportunity to meet so many different people on JDate that she otherwise would have never met. Ultimately, it is the members of JDate and their individuality that gave she, and I, that exciting opportunity. So, if you look beyond the funny names, and get to know the people behind them, you may meet someone on JDate who you can truly be happy with.