Written by The Embarrassment I Can Never Forget
Okay, let’s be honest—who really knew what they were doing when they created their first password? I sure didn’t. It was the early 2000s, and I was sitting at my family’s old desktop, proudly about to sign up for my very first email account. Everything felt new and exciting, but then, suddenly, I hit the dreaded “Password” field. And that’s when I blanked.
I mean, I had no idea what to type! The instructions were no help either. “Must be at least 8 characters,” they said. “Use a combination of letters and numbers.” Uh… okay? What combination was I supposed to pick?
Naturally, like the genius I was at 14, my mind immediately went to the most obvious thing: my crush. Let’s call him “Chris.” Yep, I went ahead and typed in Chris123 with all the confidence in the world. I hit enter, smiling to myself, thinking it was cute and clever—my little secret crush was now also my digital key. It felt like a love letter hidden behind a lock only I had the key to.
That password stuck around for years. I didn’t just use it for my email—I used it for EVERYTHING. My first Facebook account? Chris123. My MySpace? Chris123. I’m pretty sure I even used it for my school login at one point. The password might as well have been tattooed on my forehead.
But then, life happened. Chris moved on (to someone else, ugh), and I grew up. Except… I still had his name as my password. Yup, for years. Imagine my horror when, during college orientation, a friend sitting next to me joked, “Bet your password is something dumb like ‘Ilovepizza123’ or your crush’s name.” I died a little inside, but kept a straight face. “Haha, totally not,” I lied, while immediately making a mental note to change it ASAP.
Eventually, I let go of Chris123. I switched to something “mature,” like “PurpleOctopus98!”—because that’s so much better, right? But still, I can’t help but look back on that first password with a cringe and a smile. It’s like a digital time capsule of my younger, crush-obsessed self.
Final Words:
Let’s be real, your first password is like a little window into who you were back then. Whether it was your first crush, your favorite pet, or something ridiculously cringe, there’s always a story behind it. And even though we’ve all switched to things like “CoffeeLover!” or “SecureAF123” now, those first passwords? They’ll always hold a special, embarrassing place in our hearts.
OMG, my first password was literally my dog’s name! “Rover2001”—I thought I was being so clever. I used it for everything, even when I no longer had Rover. Nostalgia is real.
Omg, SAME! My first password was my ex’s name too. We dated for three months, broke up, but I kept using “Jason123” for YEARS. It was pure torture every time I logged in anywhere.
LMAO. Mine was “EmoTears23” because I was a full-on goth kid. It was so cringey, but at the time, I thought it was THE coolest password.
Okay, confession time: I used “password” as my actual password. No joke. I thought, “No one would guess something so obvious, right?” Turns out everyone guessed it.
LOL, I used my childhood phone number for years as my password. Imagine forgetting your own phone number when you switch phones. That was a disaster.
As someone who worked in IT support, I once saw someone with the password “Ihatework123.” Honestly, I felt that deep down.
I was OBSESSED with dragons when I was younger, so my first password was “DragonSlayer99.” To this day, my password still has “dragon” in it somewhere.
My first password was my locker combination from middle school. I thought it was foolproof… until I forgot what my locker combo was.
Anyone else remember when every website was like, “You must have an uppercase letter, a symbol, and a number”? That’s when I lost all creativity. Welcome to my life, “Superman!1.”
Used my ex’s name for my password for AGES, and the worst part? He once asked me for help resetting his Netflix account… and I realized I was STILL using his name as my password for mine. It was a sign to move on, lol.