Nov 13, 2012 / Beginner

Choosing the Perfect Blog Name: Two WordPressers Share Their Secrets

The bloggers at Raising My Rainbow and Where’s My Toothbrush? talk about how they chose their blog names.

We discover different types of blogs in our community, from travel to food to parenting, with memorable and clever names. You may notice that a number of blogs on WordPress.com have unique web addresses, or custom domains: instead of mysite.wordpress.com, their address is mysite.com. Bloggers get custom domains for different reasons, but ultimately, it’s a great way to build and solidify your presence across the Internet. You can register a new domain through WordPress.com; you can also use a domain you already own with your WordPress.com site, which is called domain mapping.

Looking to find your own custom domain name? Whether your site is personal, professional, or somewhere in between, you can find a WordPress.com plan that’s right for you — and all our paid plans come with a free domain.

A crucial step before purchasing a custom domain is deciding on the right name for your blog. Since selecting a name that best reflects your content is so important, we wanted to share insights from two writers on WordPress.com — Lori and Sarah — on how they ended up with names they were happy with.

Raising My Rainbow

Lori is the writer at Raising My Rainbow, a blog about raising C.J., her gender-nonconforming son. The name fits the content and the colorful, carefree design. The alliteration in the name (the repetition of the letter R) is also effective and makes it easy to recall.

raising my rainbow homepage

How did your domain name come about? If you had alternatives, why did you choose this one?

I liked the word rainbow because of its association with the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) community and because the image is cheery, happy, and hopeful — just like my son. I initially wanted to name my blog Raising A Rainbow, but the domain name was taken. I settled on Raising My Rainbow, which I didn’t like as much, but now I love it and wouldn’t change a thing.

Do you use this name on other sites or for other purposes?

Absolutely! That’s why it was so important to own the domain name, which feels like it gives some legitimacy to my blog, my writing, and me as a mom who hopes to make a difference. I use the blog name everywhere: my email address, all social media, business cards, as the name associated with my P.O. Box, and wherever and whenever I talk about being a blogger.

After blogging for a while, are you still happy with your blog name? How has it proved successful (or not)?

I love it. I’m glad things worked out the way they did and that the domain for my original blog name was taken. I think my blog name is catchy, easy to remember, and accurately reflects the content and tone of my blog. And, from what I hear, other people like it, too.

Got advice for bloggers choosing a domain name?

Before you make a move: research, research, research. Research and decide on a name that is unique. Then, check if the domain name is available. It is inexpensive to buy the domain name, and WordPress makes it easy to connect it to your WordPress-hosted blog.

Make sure your name is available across social media platforms you intend to use. I think the urge is to just jump right in, but if you aren’t strategic about it, you could pick a name, get going, and then not be able to use the name on Facebook or Twitter. Take the time to research . . . then pounce.

Where’s My Toothbrush?

Sarah, a world traveler who has left toothbrushes in many countries, previously documented her adventures at Where’s My Toothbrush? We love how this blog name not only complemented her writing style and revealed her personality, but personified a toothbrush!

How did this blog name come about?

I was staying in a hostel in Beijing, China, and the walls were covered with graffiti. One quotation struck me:

I continue to collect things for an apartment I don’t have, while my toothbrush rests in bathroom cupboards on three different continents.

It got to me: Something about these societal obligations to have certain things, or the assumption that at a certain age one must have a fixed address. Plus, I forget my toothbrush everywhere. I remember claiming at the hostel bar, “One day, I’m going to start a blog named after that.”

When I left China, I did.

Did you use this name on other sites or for other purposes?

To some degree, yes. I used the Twitter handle @wheresmytbrush and the name “Sarah’s Toothbrush.” When I commented on other blogs, I used this “name.” It makes things consistent within the blogging community to the point that other travel bloggers probably roll their eyes and say something like, “Oh right, that toothbrush lady . . .”

After blogging for a while, was this blog name successful (or not)?

It proved successful, as people smiled when I talked about the title. It wasn’t so successful for those on search engines who were genuinely concerned about their toothbrush’s whereabouts.

Got advice for bloggers choosing a domain name?

I encourage bloggers to go with their gut, but also to think about the name logistically: Use it in a sentence. Reference it to friends. Write it without spaces to see how it would look as an email address, on Twitter, etc. Your blog’s name will be the first things readers will see. You want to attract them with originality but not mislead them with the content.

For more, read our resource on personalizing your online home with a custom domain.

 

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  1. Choosing the right blog name is very crucial to how you want readers to pronounce it. If they can talk about it as they talk anything in their daily routine, they will not only remember it but love to speak about it. I really like the name “Where is my toothbrush”, since its very straightforward storytelling to not remember but you can easily type in browser to get to it.

    While I was creating my first blog (since I want all things to be designed with best usability) it was difficult for me to chose the correct name that says it all. Specially when I use apps, I judge these from their icon to its UI and then mainly “User Experience”, and I come to conclusion to use it or not in just first few minutes.

    I hope the name I chosen for my blog “30 Minute Usability Review” says everything about it.

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  3. The blog name sure is important.

    Mine is Rusty Doodle as my blog contains my doodles. Unfortunately, I pretty much screwed cause number 1 in google search is “Rusty Doodle the Dog”.

    This reminds me, I need to draw some dog cartoons to cater to those who drop by my blog expecting cute dogs. 😦

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  6. Love the toothbrush blog name.
    I’m happy with my name. I played with a few longer ones when my url was wordpress.com but this one felt right, and I bought the Domain.
    My blog is PrettyFat, which I think sums up my blog quite well. I’m either discussing issues about pretty or fat things, or discussing my overweightness.

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  7. I didn’t follow any of the advice. I didn’t do any of the research, or think about whether the name would translate well into an email address or other social media site. But I’m pretty pleased with it.

    My blog name pretty much just popped into my head, and I liked it, so I went with it. I liked that it’s alliterative, and figured it was pretty unlikely that anyone else would have anything like it.

    My only gripe is that I wish it fitted better as a twitter handle.

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  10. Nice post. I gave tons of thought to my blog name — not only if it conveyed the meaning of my blog and if it was available on all the social media, but I also considered it’s length, for example, some twitter handles are so long it is hard for others to retweet your tweets. I also wanted to make sure people would understand the words when they were all strung together without any spaces. So far, I’m still happy with it.

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  11. I chose my domain name because I intended my blog to chronicle my journey towards creating baby number two. I realised quite quickly that there are only so many ways I can entertain people with stirrup stories so I branched out. Had I known that this was going to be the case I may have chosen a different name. But… I have built up quite a blogging community. I love them all. They know me and what I’m about and I have affectionately been nicknamed Storkie by some of them. I did change my tagline. It used to be “personal journey to motherhood 2.0” and it is now “personal journey to motherhood 2.0 and other stories.” This makes people aware that there’s more to my blog than a baby obsession.

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  12. Originally I was going to call my blog City Girl Gone Country. But came up with a better one. How to Tame a Hillbilly. My hubby is a self proclaimed hillbilly and I am a classy city girl trying to tame him! :o)

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  13. I was inspired to name my photo journal about Chicago “Celia: Her City.” The name has many of the advantages you enumerate: it’s brief, memorable, alliterative, lends itself to a Twitter handle; the domain name–nice and brief–was available, too. I also like the fact that the name can be abbreviated into a monogram-like acronym and that it creates an identity between my subject and me. With the subtitle “One Woman’s Chicago,” my blogname empowers me to be subjective and yet claim a sort of “command” when it comes to how I depict my town.

    I found it helpful to keep a written list of possible names and to consider them while writing a welcome message or “about” page. Which name could be incorporated into my chosen description most easily? Which one was the best shorthand for what I wanted to do? Did the name make the purpose of the blog obvious? If you can’t write a good justification of the name, don’t use it–and keep looking until you find something that no one else has come up with–it’s preferable to have a url that’s identical with your blog.

    Good idea to supply WordPress users with this kind of advice!
    Visit me–
    Celia Her City

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  14. With a nod to Dr. Seuss, my husband and I searched for a variation on the book title Oh, the Places You’ll Go for our travel blog. After searching , we settled on one that was best for us: Oh, the Places We See. We’re having fun sharing restaurants, festivals, shops, and just about anything we’re enjoying in our retirement years! It may not be the best title for a blog, but it’s us!

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  17. A ‘Blog name’ should first embody your: interests, viewpoint or topic on any given subject you would like to convey information to and from. I would recommend something near and dear to your heart, a subject or topic you are most familiar with… one you have more experience with or a hobby you might like to try your hand at- taken from interest in to the next level (a professional level where you might make a living from it). I do hope this simple little suggestion gives rise to an ambition of your heart… to lift the cobwebs of sheer concern to thoughts of and for your renewed purpose to blog in the first place (be it a writer thing or an artistic venture you have your hopes set on). Nike © had it right… ‘Just do it ®.’

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  18. Love those names! “Where’s my toothbrush?” says so much in so few words. It’s brilliant. Your post here inspired me to finally write about my blog name, inspired by an adjective that changed my life. Unfortunately, the domain name “Butterfly Mind” is on auction for $1600, so I don’t think I’ll be buying that any time soon 😛

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  19. This post is very timely for my. I like blog name: myfemalepersuasion, because I blog about all things feminine and many topics fall under that umbrella – love, relationships, sexuality, parenting, personal stories, etc. But my twitter handle is totally different (Twinklestarr_19), and my Facebook name is my full given name. I’m writing a memoir and trying to build and audience. Any ideas on how I can make my social profile more cohesive for branding?

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  21. I’ve changed my blog name several times, and I;m still not satisfied, even though I have shortened it several times. I have written one blog since joining Worldpress I am amazed at the talented bloggers on Worlpress.This blogging thing is a new path for me now I am retired. Coming up with a topic is a difficult task and writing has never been one of my favorite past times.. Still, I am going to give it another try.

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  22. Bah! I’ve had to choose so many domain names over time, it’s easily the most frustrating part of setting up a new blog. But when it clicks, it really clicks!

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