Is there a function similar to Nice User Info, to insert the user's name in the site?

Hi all, I'm wondering if this is possible natively with ES:

I'd like to have a module that says, "Hello {user first name}, we're glad you're here." Or something like that.

There is a plugin called Nice User Info that does this, but it only works for the user's **full** name as stored in the _users table.

There's also the standard $user = JFactory::getUser();, but putting php into modules is tricky.

Does ES have a similar type of plugin, OR a JFactory type of snippet that I can add to the template, the somehow call in modules?

Thanks!