Vlad(an)
My real first name is Vladan. Not Vlado, Vladek, Vlada, Vladimir, Vladislav or any of the other common variants. Back in the old country many people called me Vlada and I didn't like it very much, although I gave up trying to correct them.
When I signed up at the first BBS (Bulletin Board System - pre-Windows, text-only version of what we have here) back in the eighties I wanted my handle to be Vladan, of course.
Unfortunately, Vladan was already taken and I didn't want to take Vlada, even if it was available. So I shortened it by one more letter and got Vlad. Incidentally that was also the name of the infamous medieval Romanian Count that lived just a couple of hundred kilometers to the East... So the name stuck and came to Canada with yours truly.
The name Vladan, BTW, is an old Slavic name. It's root is in the word “vladati” that means "to rule". Two kings of the oldest Serbian dynasty on the Balkan from the sixth century, Svevladović, were named Vladan. Names Vlada, Vladana, Vladanka, Vlade, Vladeta, Vladko and Vlado are derived from that name.