So I was sitting here all bored and stuff when I started thinking about blog names. Actually I was reading this piece about Choosing Domain Names and that made me wonder how all the bloggers I know came up with their names for themselves/their blogs.
It’s tough naming your blog. Tougher than naming your kid, I imagine. With a blog it has to be catchy enough to attract readers and something that you can live with. And it helps if it has something to do with the topic of your blog.
Anyway, so I asked some friends/L.A. bloggers how they got their names and here are their interesting answers in case you’ve always wondered, too.
Ask Fashion Kitty: Stylish Westsider (of ThisNext) who is the go-to girl for all your fashion-related questions.
I guess it’s pretty simple. I wanted to be the Dear Abby of the fashion world…so that’s where we got the Ask. FashionKitty was just this dumb name that I came up with while I was sitting around drinking beer and watching football (the Steelers) with boyfriend at the time. I said “I’m gonna call myself FashionKitty.” He said “No, you’re not.” So since I was challenged, I clearly had to do it.
Dig Lounge: Blogger Matt covers Los Angeles events, reviews, etc. Yes, it’s just one guy doing all that!
My blog name is pretty simple. It was a place for all my friends to go and see what new places (or old) I had gone to and really liked. I generally only post about things that I dig. Well, and lounge because digmag, digonline, and dig.com were all taken already!
estarLA: Esther’s site is the thoughtful insights of a cool, snowboarding, arty Angeleno.
The “LA” part is obvious, I think — I live in Los Angeles and the characteristics of the city are infused into almost every blog post I write. It could be about an event, a restaurant or even just musings about the city itself. My daily interactions with the people of L.A., too, are a constant source of inspiration and frustration. I was named after the Biblical Queen Esther… I used to be embarrassed of my dad’s accent…so my domain name is an embrace and acceptance of a recollection of this time where I had a hard time appreciating my ancestral culture. The way my dad pronounces my name is “e-star.” I like it now.
More stories, including mine, after the jump….
fauxLAhipster: Newbie blogger Shelley’s site is about stuff to do in L.A.
I wanted a name that would be evocative of something local so “LA” had to be in there somewhere. I also wanted to differentiate myself from food blogs since I’d be writing about other things as well such as clubs, events, and nightlife things. I thought about naming the blog “LAUrbanNights” but Caroline said it made me sound like a douche-y black guy. I thought it might be fun to write about my wannabe hipster lifestyle and all the “exciting adventures” I undertake for that. Though I was a bit disappointed to find a wouldbehipster also based out of L.A., I think my blog is way more fun and interesting to read.
Happy Go Marni: Marni’s (of Goldstar) site on baking fun and yumminess.
The source of this name is kind of ridiculous. The golden retriever my family had as a pet during most of my childhood was named “Happy Go Lucky” on his birth certificate. We called him Lucky for short. The blog name is…just inspired by his name. Beyond that, Happy Go Marni seemed to fit who I am. I’m a happy person and I also believe that attitude is everything. If I put “happy” in the title of my blog, I am destined to live it. Plus, it would guide everything I blog about. And by everything, I mean baked goods.
L.A. & O.C. Foodventures: Food blogger extraordinaire H.C.’s site is about eating everywhere from L.A. to the O.C. and in between.
Heh, mine’s pretty straightforward — I eat around LA & OC and, compared to my non-foodie friends, my palate’s pretty adventurous, and I am always game to discover new places, hidden gems and obscure dives around town. (Did I mention my tendency to portmanteau words like nobody’s biznitch?)
The Liquid Muse: Cocktail blogger/guru/author Natalie Bovis-Nelsen’s site.
Well, the name “The Liquid Muse” came about while my husband and I were sitting around trying to think of a good name for my cocktail blog. At first, I thought of calling it “The Cocktail Blog” and I am SO glad I didn’t! The Liquid Muse better encompasses all the aspects of what I do now, three years later!
netzoo: Crazy Andy’s site about his thoughts and rants.
I purchased netzoo.net in 1999. I thought maybe I’d be bought out to be the first online zoo. Perhaps once you could smell the monkey cage through the Internet. Well neither turned out to be. Over the years I switched back and forth between netzoo, musicaladventure.com and everythingbetween.com before finally settling on netzoo.net in 2006. Because it’s easy to remember and it sounds kind of cool as a brand — if I ever wanted it to be one. Sure I’ve got andysternberg.com — but even that will take you to the Zoo. As far as netZooOnCrack.com — well, that could be a fun mashup one of these days.
RumDood: Matt Robold is an L.A. blogger who, despite his pseudonym, specializes in writing about all types of spirits.
Well, the name behind my site may seem a little obvious, but there is some backstory. The name “Dood” is actually my online handle from computer games. I originally started my blog as a personal blog “tehdood.com” and just fell into writing about rum. After about a month, the name change seemed necessary. I had considered getting “RumDude.com” but it wasn’t available at the time (I’ve acquired it since then), so fate — it seemed — had conspired to make sure that RumDood.com become the home of my rummy ramblings.
When Tara Met Blog: Tara’s personal lifestyle blog and she happens to be one of the Top 10 Los Angeles bloggers.
My blog name is a tribute to my favorite film When Harry Met Sally, because when I started my blog four and a half years ago I was single in New York City like Sally and a journalist like her too and was blogging for the first time so — When Tara Met Blog. Although, I was this close to naming it Tiki Tara, because I thought it sounded fun thank goodness I didn’t go with that one though, ick.
Caroline on Crack: My blog!
Of course my blog name doesn’t have anything to do with Los Angeles. But it has history. I got it when I used to write a review section for an e-zine that I did with my brother and sister — back in 1997! It was supposed to be a take on that whole “on crack” thing. You know, when you call someone crazy. It turned out that the name afforded me a certain amount of freedom. I could say whatever the hell I wanted cuz I was on crack! Of course the review section was short-lived; only four reviews. But when it came time to name this blog, that’s what I wanted, and now that’s become my pseudonym! Ta-da!
If you have a blog, what’s your story?
I used the wayback machine for when my site was originally mattyshack.com (mattyshack is another story!)
I was an advocate of the metro back in 2001 and I still am now!
http://web.archive.org/web/20011214121908/www.mattyshack.com/culture/10_09_01.html
And one of my first restaurant write ups! The Sake house is still one of my favorite sushi places in town… http://web.archive.org/web/20011004013910/mattyshack.com/food/08_16_01.html
Thanks for spurring the memories Caroline.
Matt,
Wow! Your old site looks cool! You were pretty handy with the site building even back then.
Lol, mine’s fairly simple – I live and record concerts in Los Angeles; henceforth, Recording LA.
It’s so fun to hear about what goes on behind everyone’s names. :) Thanks for researching and compiling, Caroline!!
After living in other parts of the world for many years I’ve adopted a tourist state of mind with a focus on good food. I’m the person my friends call for restaurant and other going out info,hence Alli (my name) 411 (for information).
How funny…I’ve been following your blog for awhile at the recommendation of my coworker (your former neighbor) and today you posted about my friend Esther’s blog. Hi Esther!
My blog started with some scathing reviews of The Hills and went on to posts about LA after I moved from the bay area and my friends up there wanted me to update them on life down here. The term “SimplyShannyn” started years ago and stuck…I like simplicity, so it works for me. =)
I always liked the street Pico. So we went with Pico & The Man which was sort of a play on words referring to the 70′s sitcom based in Los Angeles called Chico & The Man.
I saw the show years later on nick at night or something and it stuck. Good show.
Caroline, that’s funny that we have different memories of the origin of “Caroline on Crack.”
From what I could remember, it started out as a placeholder. If you just wrote about film, it would have been “Caroline on Films.” If you just wrote about music, it would have been “Caroline on Music.” Since you had planned to write about everything and we didn’t have a name for your column, we used “Caroline on Crack” as a placeholder and were too lazy to think of anything else when it came time to publish.
Jennifer,
OR it could be both. Man, come to think of it, having an everchanging section name would have sucked.
I always wanted to get a blog named “New Kids on the Blog” or something where I would just check out new restaurants and write unbiased reviews-
but then i started working a million hours and it never worked out. sigh…someday!
not to mention most openings everything is hectic/lousy/not the final product, i like to give it at least two -three months now
I have a video blog called Girl Films Hollywood. We cover events and odd things in Los Angeles. I started it because with mu other web show Tomboys in Fishnets I find it harder to get the girls together to shoot a sketch. It’s much more complicated finding locations etc. With GFH all I do is grab a camera and go. It keeps me productive and allows me to keep developing shooting and editing skills.
Thanks for asking! I love your blog. I’ve been subscribed to it for a while.
My blog’s name is Californiawriter. I started it after becoming inspired by a California Studies Association conference. I guess I felt as an historian of Los Angeles and knowing a lot about Los Angeles literature, I wanted a challenge, so since California is bigger, being California writer was more of a challenge than Los Angeles writer. Also, i like the rest of the step a lot, and particularly love Berkeley where I was an undergraduate and Burney Valley in the very Northeast of California where my brother was living in 2003 when i started my blog.
I was chatting in an Internet forum with some friends about wanting to start a food & travel blog. I am a huge lover of quotes…but all my favorite quotes about joie de vivre and whatnot were too wordy. I almost went with “food, she wrote”, but someone suggested “thought” instead and here I am, 2 years later. Still, a relative newb.
I originally called my blog, “You’ve had Worse Things in Your Mouth”. Then I discovered there was a cookbook written by a drag queen with the same name, and it did make me feel kind of dirty.
I started the blog with the intent to recommend favorite restaurants and recipes, something to give to my friends in the same way that I stuff food into their mouths, hence, “Here! Eat This!” I have since discovered that the phrase is also used in a newspaper somewhere in the midwest.
But it seems my nom de blog was a million times catchier and easier to say than my blog name because no one has ever referred to it by its proper name and instead everyone calls it “Kiki Maraschino”.
Hint: if anyone is picking your blog url, make it supershort.