Saturday, December 20, 2008

What's in a Blog Name?

I chose to call myself an Indian Home Maker, because that's what I am. Now does the Quirky Indian believe that blog, the blogger or the Indian is quirky :)

The Angry Indian is angry.
India Uncut?
The State of India is not as pathetic as we claim.
Indyana Diaries are just that.
India:Thoughts from an ordinary guy are not very ordinary at all :)
A Wide Angle View of India is truly a wide view.
The Naive Indian believes the Indian citizen is really naive?
An Academic view of India is an academic view.
... any other Blogs with INDIA in the name?

What makes us call our blogs what we call them? Some Blog Names are really interesting, some are very matter of fact, and some others are a little (a little?!) insane :)

As a new blogger I remember noticing and reading blogs with interesting names like Three Drinks Ahead, Thirty Six and Counting, Bohemian Rhapsody, Churning the Word Mill, Known Turf and Opinionated.

I once read a comment from someone called Contentious! Devil Incarnate is also most interesting :) Itching to Write, Jottings and Musings, Tears and Dreams, Gopinath's Artickles are self explanatory.

Random, My, Thoughts, Life, Ramblings are the five most common of words in blog names.

We have Blogs names with LIFE called
Life Rules,
Life
goes on,
Life
books, movies, books etc,
The Life and Times of an Indian Homemaker,
Life
or Something Like That,
Simple Life,
Life and other thoughts
Pinku-Enchanted Life
Life of our Darling Prince

In my blog roll, there are four blogs called Random Thoughts. Two are just plain Random Thoughts, then there are Random Thoughts of a Demented mind and Random thoughts of a Rambunctious mind :) We sure love to blog about Random Thoughts! And then there is Random Ruminations.

Nearly all Mommy bloggers name their blogs after their brats, so you have The Brat, the Bean and the Bedlam, Imp's Mom, Mommy of lil CubbyR, Life of our darling Prince ...

Some blog names are really long, one is mine, other long names I know are
What we obtain too cheap, We esteem too lightly
(she believes that)
A load of crap from an Idle Mind
(there's nothing crappy about this blog!)

I know Bloggers called D and N, but I wonder what's the smallest Blog name!

A blogging friend was wondering if a reader would visit a blog just because the name was interesting. I know I did.
But an interesting name for one reader could be a boring name for another. A second or third visit to a blog would depend on the reader's interest and the blog of course.

What would bore you on a blog, despite an interesting name?

Too many links are boring another blogging friend says. How often are the links we provide really clicked on? I know I only read a link either if the implication is that the poor author of the link has been very irreverent (like Arundhati Roy of late) and I wish to find out for myself or if ... or hardly ever otherwise.

I guess not finding what the name suggested can be disappointing? If somebody comes to an Indian Homemaker's blog they can't be blamed for expecting house keeping tips.

59 comments:

D said...

I think a blog or blogger name speaks volumes about who the person is. And yes, there are times when a blogger's display name makes you want to go check out his or her blog.

As for me, since my blog is about being 'me', 'D' - the shortest nick I've been given by friends - was the best choice for me.

D said...

And btw, I have an award for you too!

Indian Home Maker said...

@D I agree, I also think a name says a lot about us ... if nothing else it might say we were just not able to choose a good name :) (my case)

Award for me! Thank You :) Just coming over to collect it ....

hitch writer said...

The name in a way does tell me what to expect from the post... but really its not too important or is it ??

Guess so... the names actually make me click them... never thought before but you bring it to notice...

Some one has said whats in a name... a rose is and will be a rose...

But than there is much more to it when it comes to blogs !!!!!! Cheers

aneri_masi said...

The shortest blog name I saw was "."
I dont remember who it was because they have changed the name since then :)

aShyCarnalKid said...

Interesting post . I named my blog after my favourite colour . :)

Indian Home Maker said...

@hitchwriter LOL Yes, a blog by other name will not smell the same :)

Indian Home Maker said...

aneri_ masi - Welcome to my blog :)
LOL ! No blog name could be shorter than that!

Indian Home Maker said...

@Kislay I also like Orange colour :) And I saw you have an Orange background also to match :)
In your case the blog name does no give any clue as to what to expect there.

Anonymous said...

I have seen three other blogs with infinity in their names. When we are registering the name of our first blog, I think we don't put in much efforts at that time. But as we go on, we wish we had named our blogs slightly differently! Can we change the name of a blog?

Destination Infinity

Joe Pinto said...

Hi Indian home maker,

Here's my three bits: Against the Tide.
The link: http://sangatizuzay.blogspot.com/

A blog dedicated to my students, to help them resist the temptations of mass media, especially due to corporate influence; to encourage them to nurture and sustain their own consciences; to learn how to keep listening to their inner voice.

Eventually, to build a network of journalists who think for themselves and will not, therefore, sell themselves as the "stenographers of corporate power" in the pursuit of "manufacturing consent" or fabricating public opinion.

OG said...

LOL good one....
Your comment:
"India:Thoughts from an ordinary guy are not very ordinary at all"....
Thanks!!! I'm honored........
I believe that the name that you give your blog represents your frame of mind..............
All of us behave differently to different situations but we are most probably single minded (or our true self comes out) when it comes to the net and blogs....

Your Tag which took eons to complete is finally done..... and is in tune with my blog title :) LOL.......

Anonymous said...

Hmmm interesting. I totally identify with the phoenix - when I was staring at THE END, I somehow managed to survive for another innings. And I do weave tales ....

Indian Home Maker said...

@Destination Infinity But this is a lovely name!! I wouldn't want to change it at all!!! But I think if you do change the blog name your url will not match with the name!
What are the other blog names with 'infinity' that you know of?

aShyCarnalKid said...

@IHM
I want the visitors to intrigued . :)

Anonymous said...

heh...thanks for mentioning my blog too. I used that title for my blog for some reason more than 4 years ago. And it has stuck.

Reason for blogging has changed since i started but never has the enthusiasm faded. So, i will write till i can.

Indian Home Maker said...

@ Mr Joe Pinto -Your Blog title definitely matches with your blog goals :) I think it is a very nice name.

@ Kislay LOL yes :)

@ Ajit Yes I think you are right when you say, 'we are most probably single minded (or our true self comes out) when it comes to the net and blogs....'. I know it\s true in my case.
Your post is brilliant.

OG said...

Thanks!!

Indian Home Maker said...

@Ritu And what lovely webs you weave, I also look forward to reading your book :) Yes, I read about why you identify with the phoenix :) Proud of you lady! Hat's off to you.

@Philip Four years of blogging!!! WOW!
And by the way, the Blog name now sounds like it has been chosen intentionally to show exactly the opposite :)

Balvinder Balli said...

So insightfull description about blog names. Frankly speaking, i changed quite a few names of my blog before settling at the present one( which hopefully is going to stay) Initially i started with "Ballispeak" (as my nick name is Balli). Then i found that i was writing all the uforgettable incidents of my life (if you read the earlier posts) so i named it "Unforgettable". Next I changed the name to "Matter of Fact" and then coined a few more titles. But then i realised that all that i was writing was a frank speak about my life or my thoughts so I have named it "Frankly Speaking". And similarly my second blog "Kalpana Ki Udaan" which means 'flight of fancy' in English had a different name "Different Shades" to start with.

Indian Home Maker said...

@Balvinder Singh Frankly Speaking is a nice name for a blog :) I like Different Shades too, it makes one think of a blog with different shades, or different moods ... but your choice of Kalpana Ki Udan is really nice. When you changed the blog names, did you change the Blog also? If yo wish to change the blog's name then what about the URL?
Destination Infinity above wanted to know how to change a blog name, I too would like to know. Can we change the name of a blog while the content etc remains the same?

Anonymous said...

My turn... my turn... :D

/// The Naive Indian believes the Indian citizen is really naive?

Nay, not every Indian citizen, just me. Apparently, there is plenty I still need to learn. So, the name sort of suits me, don't you think?

Anonymous said...

Nice one! My first post was on this topic - you might enjoy clicking on the link given in my post. :D

http://jottingsnmusings.wordpress.com/2007/07/31/hello-world/

J P Joshi said...

This is an interesting post.

Coming to the name of my blog.. I had heard about blogging, but had no clue about it until the day I tentatively sat infront of my computer and started one on 17 Nov 2007. I found it simple to start a blog and took the suggestion 'open page' from the blog site itself and appended my initials 'jpj' ahead of that. After surfing for a few months, I realised that 'jpjopenpage' did not reflect the contents of my blog and so changed the name to 'randomthoughts', which I thought was more appropriate. However, the URL remains http://jpjopenpage.blogspot.com even now, because I have no clue how to change the URL.

Can any one help????

Pixie said...

Interesting post. My blog name was on the spur moment name-when I couldn't think of anything else!! and my blog name is a pet name a friend calls me!!

Anonymous said...

haha...atleast I'm glad that my blog name indicates precisely what it is...!

Smitha said...

Lol! Yes, IHM, very interesting post. Now I have to change my blog's name:) - I had been thinking of it - I chose it coz I could not think of anything else - and not knowing then that so so so many blogs have similar names:( But your blog's name is very good - if you ask me.

OG said...

@JP Joshi,
To change your url for your blog, navigate to Customize==> Settings==> publishing...

there you can change the url of the blog....

Mandira said...

u know before i was on wordpress i had a blog on tumblr...like the hundereds of other "random" blogs it was called random rambling..then i moved to WP coz tumblr dint allow ppl to leave comments... i had my entire name as the blog name..then a fellow friend (and blogger) scared the day lights out of me when she said "she dint want her client to hunt her down after reading her blog" thats when i realised the need to maintain some amount of privacy on the blog...so i moved to a new blog name-this time it was churningthewordmill..that in a nut shell is the story of my blog name!
btw, i nvr expected to find house keeping tips on ur blog...donno why, but just never did!
mandira

Anonymous said...

Hi,

Interesting post. Naming blog ;)
Nice idea to choose a good name.

:-)
Insurance Agent

Anonymous said...

Well my blog URL myheadtrip is because it is my "head trip" which is supposedly a slang word for a mentally exhilarating or productive experience, as one in which a person's intellect or imagination seems to expand.
The title though is "Random Ruminations" - pretty self explanatory that!

As for what attracts me to a blog? Sometimes the title,sometimes the way the author writes - the language, the expression(lately been hooked on to a blog and reading all the archives written long long ago!!), sometimes it is the matter written. Do I expect anything from the title as such...more of than not - No! I don't! :D That is me :)

Yeah, many would trivialise a home maker to write about tips etc.., but not me. Have been one and kinda know what a home maker could be. I am not one to stereotype anyone :) A lesson well learnt ;)

Anonymous said...

You have been awarded! Yes, again!!! :D

Anonymous said...

LOL! Interesting post. I am just a week old and someone already commented that he stopped because of the name. My blog name is well! insane. lol

Unique names interest me too and in your case I love the header too. Nice theme!

Aneela Z said...

My blog was named Living Room (to correspond with the website addy "golkamra"-- where gol kamra is what was the "parlour" for my grandparents generation--probably it was circular and most rooms led from it) realized after a while it gave the impression of "shoes off and no one gets their messy finger prints on the sofa" hence no one (including me) was visiting the blog...when I became a trifle more earnest about the blogging experience I realized that my "posts" were virtual "post-its" of my mood for the day and how life was treating me and mine...hence "Life Or something Like That"...realized a good month later that I had "borrowed" an angelina jolie flick title...oh well!!

Anonymous said...

:)

My friend had been blogging since college days and I alawys thought of it as a complicated hi-fi stuff.. I had no idea as to what is a blog..I thought that blogger is a great person who writes so well..Ahem,so one fine mornng I started to know for myself what this whole deal is all about ..Then,in a rush,I had a gut feeling to name my blog as 'Nimmy's experiment with blogging',though later i felt odd for resemblence with 'My experiments with truth',but didn't bother to change :)

Regading nimis540,lool..its just my emailid i made years back..Everybody asks me,whatz this 40 all about..Though i tell them "Its a secret',in fact,its just a random number,again a gut feeling..Nothing secret about it..

I like your blog name a lot ..There are many many names that are interesting and it is fun and interesting to observe the diversity and creativity..but mine is just a random name :)

Gopinath Mavinkurve said...

Hi, IHM. Yes, good subject. At first I wanted to call my blog "Whatnonsanz!", I even registered my blog as http://whatnonsanz.blogspot.com/, but later changed my mind, because all kinds of people in blogosphere claimed to be writing nonsense. So I coined the term "artickles", where my articles were meant to tickle the reader!
Thanks for mentioning my blogname!

Later

Spontaneous Mini said...

My blog name reflects the person I am. I view myself who has quick reflexes and I react to each situation twice. Once immediately, second, after I have given some time and thought to it. More than often the two reactions are very different in shades. Hence the name.. hehehe....

DeeplyDip said...

true...i always like clicking on blogs with interesting names...and of course, what brings us back is the content...if we like what we read, we return for more...
Clicking the links is a tricky issue - just adding a link doesn't work. The reader needs to be enticed with enough speculation and curiosity to actually click the link...
enjoyed reading this post :)

Anonymous said...

That was a very interesting write up on blog names. I do click on interesting looking names. But ultimately the content is what matters however catchy the name maybe. And another thing, I also prefer clutter free pages with a good font in readable colors. I do move around a lot blog-hopping, and take the trouble to read more than one post of any blogger, mostly from their archives.

Balvinder Balli said...

There are two things, one is the blog title like in your case it is "Life and Times of an Indian Home Maker". The second is blog URL. Both can be changed any number of times without affecting the text, template and other contents of a blog. The only difference between the two is that while you can choose the blog name (title) of your choice without any hazle , the new URL has to be approved by the blogger on the basis of availability of the same, as it was done in the begning.

Now to change blog name go to Settings -- go to Basic and put new title in the box against Title (second item from top)and save settings.

For changing the URL again go to Settings -- go to Publishing and put new URL in the box against Blog*Spot Address and if availablity is approved, save settings.

The only care has to be taken in case of URL change that if you or someone have linked some of your or their posts, pictures or text to your present URL you will have to link them again with new URL otherwise the link will not open.

I hope i have been able to explain correctly.

manju said...

Nice subject for a post.:)

Interesting post and just as interesting comments!

Indian Home Maker said...

@ Krishna Aradhi The blog name is very interesting. I guess, all of us are naive here :)

@ Jottingnmusings That's a perfect first post, mine just started randomly, on one bad day at the gym and a wish to rant.

@ Mr J P Joshi - My blog started the same way, not very clear about how it worked and all, but I am glad I started, and I am glad you did too :)
Ajit and Mr Balwinder Singh have explained how URL can be changed, I hope you are able to use the information.

@Pixie But this is a cute easy to remember name, and I think, goes with a cheerful young personality :)

@Indyana Yes, your name is totally appropriate!

@ Smitha that shows how we all start, randomly!! My first post is simply about a bad day at the gym ... no planning, one impulsive start :) In fact I deleted many of my earlier posts!

@ Ajit Thank You, this is going to help many of us :)

@ Mandira I landed on your blog because I liked the name, then you had a very nice header and then of course it turned out to be such a nice place to visit :)
Ya I think privacy on the net is something one needs to keep in mind.

J P Joshi said...

Thank you Ajit and Balvinder. No luck though, the name is not available. So, I guess I will just let things be....in any case i don't have a clue as to what is linked where.

Indian Home Maker said...

@Bendz LOL, I guess yes, it's a nice idea :)

@Myheadtrip My head trip is a cool, cool name, and Random Ruminations, is exactly that :) My blog is also about random ruminations I guess ...
I am glad you did not expect house hold tips here!!!!!! I had it in mind that the blog would have whatever touches my life, but sometimes I am not sure about the name!

Mampi said...

I know I know...
I can see myself at two or three places here in this post.
It is an interesting post you've done. Thanks. Cos that way you have analyzed the market trends of the blog world too.

Indian Home Maker said...

@ mesoliloquy Yes name does matter, but after that it has to be the content. I'm glad you like the header:)

@ AneelaZ LOL @ the choosing an Angelina Jolie flick, but what does it matter? (and that's a blog name too!) I like Living Room too, but I guess "life or something like that' is what the blog is actually about :)

@ NImmy LOL@ Blogger is a person who writes, that was so, so sweet!! Imagine that :) I like your blog name, never noticed it sounded like Gandhi's experiments with truth ... it sounds nice and fresh, you expect a new blogger bursting with enthusiasm to experiment!

@ Gopinath's Artickles Yes, Art+tickles conveys exactly what the blog is about :) I had noticed how the url was so different from the blog name ... now I know why! I had no idea one could change a blog name!

@Spontaneous Mini I had wondered what your Blog name meant! I also sometimes have two reactions, the fist one is spontaneous, but it's an interesting idea to name a blog on a striking feature in the blogger's personality ... this will show on the blog too!

@ Deeply Dip 'just adding a link doesn't work. The reader needs to be enticed with enough speculation and curiosity to actually click the link...' yes I have noticed this, in myself. Need some enticement to click on a link :) Nice observation, I wholly agree.

Anonymous said...

LOL. That was one innovative post !!! What have you got to say about my blog name ?? My blog name and my blog address are different, though. I wanted to make a replica of the phrase, fools paradise and thats how I ended up with vimalsparadise, I dont think anyone knew this before...Psst..psst, keep it to yourself...and V lokam, stood for We and our world, but since Im obsessed with the letter 'v', i made it that way !

Anonymous said...

i think i misspelled made in malaysia. egad!

Anonymous said...

Good one, IHM! :-)

As for the question, I would like to think the answer is 'yes' to all three.

Cheers,

Quirky Indian

Anonymous said...

Nice post! :)
Yeah, blog names do attract but that is only temporary! About links, that's an interesting point. Hardly anyone clicks on the links, but they are there to lend authenticity. Earlier on I did not give links (so time-consuming!) but then I used to get comments questioning what I wrote. All that has stopped now. :)
I personally visit a blog for these reasons (and this includes blogs I read but don't comment on):
1) clarity of writing, and it doesn't matter if I agree or not.
2) I like the person behind the blog.

So on what basis do I like bloggers? Just instinct!

Gauri Gharpure said...

extremely interesting post.. do u know, there's a blog called 'Murighonto' and the guy calls himself Phish.. his is one of the most original blog names i have come across.

Anonymous said...

IMH, What did Shakespeare say??? :D ya,
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

Ha ha ha I am in search of the sweetness, though.

Anonymous said...

I feel a blog name some hw represents wt u feel or think or the way u r... like i put DI, coz i am bit devilish in nature... same goes for u........
:) dnt u think these names made others atleast to hav a look at our blogs, though the future of the blog does depends on wts written inside...i hav come across lot of different nd amasing blog names..... nd sme r really thought provoking... i guess nw its a part of our identity nw........... completely agreeing to wt u say

Smitha said...

By the way, IHM, your post finally 'propelled' me to change my blog's name:) I had been thinking about it for sometime - but finally did it today - thanks to your post.

Out Of My Shell said...

The blog name creates the first impression about the blog on the reader. The profile description and a quick view of the recent posts pretty much usually tells what the blog is all about. The name, profile and blog posts are all related most of the time. And yes, interesting, different, intriguing, funny blog names drag readers to the blogs initially, but to visit often, the content has to interest readers. But I have found that it's also possible that really good blogs go unnoticed by many due to lack of good & attractive names.
I am discovering a good blog that interests me at a rate of 1 per week and I attribute that slow rate to not-so-specific names.

Indian Home Maker said...

@Shail I read archives too!! Some blogs interest us so much it's a pleasure to read a lot of their old posts :) And I agree with clutter free pages, readability matters.

@Mr Balvinder Singh Thanks for this really useful information. It will benefit many of us :)

@Mampi LOL @ noticing you've been mentioned three four times... :)

@Vimal I understood V-lokam and really liked it. Vimal's paradise being derived from Fool's paradise' ... psst ...LOL that's funny :)

@Maidinmalasia LOL egad ... but the name sounds like it's maid for blogging :)

@Quirky Indian LOL .. The three yes as answers go well with the blogger that always has me laughing hysterically :)

@Nita I agree with you about links, providing links is a necessity and I also do the same. This blogger's objection was to posts which only direct you to certain links ...
Found your reasons for visiting blogs very true for me also.
Sometimes I like some bloggers because they seem to share my values.

@Gauri Gharpure Thank You! LOL I googled Phish and found his blog, he is a Piscean (like me) one of the reasons for calling himself Phish!

@Chirag So that is that why you don't hesitate to change blog names and headers?
'A blog by any other name would err sme... read as good' :)

@manju I like your blog very much also! And I remember reading a comment on the very interesting name.

@Devil Incarnate I thought so! (@choosing DI 'cos you are a little devilish in nature)
Do drop a comment here if you come across any really interesting names.

@Smitha Love your new name!!! And Any excuse to write is exactly why most of us bloggers are here:)

@Out of my shell Very well analyzed. Couldn't agree with you more. And we can also find some really interesting names leading to blogs that are totally unrelated and might not interest us!

Varun said...

I have been thinking of renaming my blog for quite some time now but then whenever I start thinking about it, I feel the name I have given to it is quite apt. What do you have to say?
And as you have rightly pointed out, it is the content we post that brings back readers and not the name.

Usha Pisharody said...

:) What's in a name, indeed!

A wealth of stuff, isn't it? Even if it be a blog name? I guess for a lot of us, our blogs are precious spaces, akin to our babies often.. :) Lol! Also, one has to take into account the visibility factor of that name.. how appealing it might be to another, who views it on some blogroll, perhaps?

And so it goes that the zanier the name, the more interesting it appears to be. I know I spent quite a while before I chose the name for the first blog i had... to be meaningful to me, really, more than anything else :)

Got lots more catching up to do here.. :)

Anonymous said...

Nice post. Also there are some bloggers who name it with numbers, like Mine 18,000RPM and Gauri's 42 - http://litterateuse.wordpress.com , I will vote for 42 any day as the best ever title for a blog. Cryptic, yet universal!