"a_bear_irl" is a better name.  It makes me chuckle every time I see it.  Every.  Time.
You see, I picture other people seeing his name, and saying "oh, he's named like he's a bear, heh."  But then I imagine a_bear_irl sitting at his computer...a real grizzly bear.  Somehow he's managed to get his big bear paws and claws to manipulate the human-sized keyboard and mouse.  A big, brown beast, sitting in a computer chair, with a headset on, hacking away at the contols.  He's not just playing crpg, but he is frustratingly trying to express to us: 
guys, I'm really a bear.  I've been trying to tell you all this time!  I bet you've never played with a real bear before!This image comes to mind every time I see his name, and I smile. "No, sir," I say to myself, "I have 
not played with a real bear before...not until now..."  

Somehow the new name doens't have the same ring.