What's the story behind your character's name?

[Yrusama]

Yay! I can have this archived somewhere, and link it in case someone asks again! (which they will) No, it is not pronounced "Why Are You?", and yes I get this a lot. I've often described it as "yiRU" or "yuRU". The reason behind this pronunciation, rather than "Iru", should be clear after reading this. It is also not spoken with a Japanese rolled R, a common misconception. I overlook many of these mistakes as long as I am not addressed as "Y.R.U." or "Why Are You".

My name comes loosely from Yura, a non-summonable plot-related Esper in Final Fantasy VI. This name was one of the randomly selected names for the Warrior class in remakes of the original Final Fantasy, but I deemed the name too feminine because of the A at the end, and switched it around to Yaru. This later became my avatar of a few months in Final Fantasy XI.

I am a big lover of the Dragonriders of Pern novels, wherein any male character chosen by a hatchling to become a Dragonrider earns an honorific contraction of his name. Thus Yaru became Y'ru when I remade my character on another server, fully intending to become a Dragoon. But FFXI doesn't allow apostrophes, so it became Yru and I became a lifelong White Mage due to DRG's "lol" status and a loss of obligation without the apostrophe.

In other instances where I used the name, I continued to include the apostrophe for years until eventually settling into Yru as my alias in all media. While I may be nothing special, the name is short and strange enough that people tend to remember and contact me first if disconnected from a party.

As for my surname, Ejk (pronounced either Edgk or Ejshk), these are my real initials. (You'd have to do some stalker-level digging to find my true name). I chose this route because I wanted a name that was three letters long and difficult to pronounce, like Yru before it. I am seriously considering changing this name if given the option, as it is a bit too difficult to pronounce, even for me. Any future surname can't be much easier to pronounce than Yru lest strangers opt not to address me as desired.

In short: Yura > Yaru > Y'ru > Yru > Yru Ejk

Further Details/Hypotheses on Pernese Naming Conventions
In the Pern series, Dragonriders' names are contracted to include only the first letter and a portion of the last part of their name (e.g.: Famanoran = F'nor, Coltov = C'tov). I don't remember if the reason behind this is ever fully stated, but the manner of contraction is established by the hatchling dragon at birth (dragons are telepathic). I figure it's because in thoughts words aren't as clear and tangible as when spoken aloud. The only parts left after the truncation are the more prominent sounds (the first sound and the strongest syllable or, if the name is only two syllables long, the end of the name). The baby dragon, either too lazy or not cognitively developed enough, passes over the least interesting parts of the name, much like how "Mother" becomes "MaMa" when first spoken by a human baby.

The honorific contraction is reverted to the name's original state (e.g.: L'tol reverted to Lytol) in the event that the rider's dragon dies, leaving the rider behind. Such "Dragonless Men" suffer from endless grieving of their lost partner, as Dragon and Rider share a telepathic bond.

The majority of Dragonriders' birth names are never provided in the books, and many (particularly the aforementioned Famanoran) aren't given until much later in the canon.

edit: I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the various strangers with whom I've crossed paths in my 8 years as Yru for not calling a GM on me for my name. I know it looks like scrambled letters at a glance, but as shown above, there have been very complex reasons behind the otherwise simple transition from Yura to Yru.

I would also like to note that while there is no relation to Y'da nor Y'shtola, I was thoroughly pleased to find so similar a name in a prominent NPC, let alone a bubbly female Hyur and eloquent Miqo'te.