Sep 26, 2013 / Beginner

Choosing the Perfect Blog Name: Bring Me the Head of David Dixon

David Dixon, the cartoonist behind Bring Me the Head of David Dixon, talks about his unique blog name.

Behold the head. (Photo courtesy of <a href="http://bringmetheheadofdaviddixon.com/">Daivd Dixon</a>.

Coming up with just the right title for your blog can be nerve-wracking — we often decide what sites to visit (or skip) based simply on a title. Do you go clever? Punny? Long and descriptive, or short and cryptically punchy? Should it include your name? Does it offer enough context?

Scared? Don’t be! To help, we’ve been talking to bloggers about how and why they landed on their great names, so we can share the wisdom. Up today: cartoonist David Dixon, the pen behind Bring Me the Head of David Dixon on how his name, a favorite film, Carl Jung, and a bit of serendipity created something just right.

On Bring Me the Head of David Dixon, David publishes mixed-media comics: old photos, with a smattering of speech bubbles and one person’s head replaced with a caricature of his own. It’s nostalgic, so dry it’s practically brittle, and very, very funny.

david dixon

Where did the concept for the blog come from?

I wanted to express something imperfect and rough, and create most of the material by hand with only a scanner in the middle. I started in with a Tumblr in 2009, posting pencil scribbles and handwritten short stories. These were things directly out of my head, with no effort to make them smooth or slick. The warm, imperfect, shaggy dog-aesthetics of the analog era (something I love) seemed to be vanishing and I wanted to bring some of that to what I was doing.

This led to me playing with a caricature I had drawn of myself. I had some old photographs — some of my family, some just found — and after toying with them for a while, I felt like I had something solid and, weirdly, something that fit perfectly with the name I had chosen for the blog. Around that time, I moved the blog over to WordPress.com, which turned out to be a better fit for what I do.

How did you decide on Bring Me the Head of David Dixon?

It’s an alteration of the title of a Sam Peckinpah film, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, but wasn’t intended to reference the content of that particular movie — although the star, Warren Oates, embodies the unconventional authenticity of a certain period of the 20th Century that I am deeply fond of.

These were just things that I was originally pouring out of my head with no alteration. I had no idea that the title would eventually fit an entirely different concept and that I would keep up with a webcomic.

The titular head relaxes in the garden. (Photo courtesy of David Dixon.)

The titular head relaxes in the garden. (Photo courtesy of David Dixon.)

Your tagline — “Fulfilling the peculiarity of my nature, one comic strip at a time” — is intriguing. Can you tell us more about it?

The tagline references Carl Jung’s definition of “individuation,” a subject of great interest to me, along with all his writings on psychology. Individuation is a process of growth that often takes place in adulthood, whereby a person becomes wholly themselves. (It’s a bit more complicated than that, but that’s the basic idea.)

Here is where the quote comes from:

Individuation, therefore, can only mean a process of psychological development that fulfills the individual qualities given; in other words, it is a process by which a man becomes the definite, unique being he in fact is.  In so doing he does not become “selfish” in the ordinary sense of the word, but is merely fulfilling the peculiarity of his nature, and this, as we have said, is vastly different from egotism or individualism.

C.G. Jung, in “Two Essays in Analytical Psychology”

The webcomic expresses something that I, either correctly or incorrectly, deem to have grown uniquely out of my personal experience. A part of me, something that happened naturally.

Do you use BMTHODD on other social networks?

Yes. I still maintain a presence on Tumblr, where I post single frame links to my WordPress.com site. I am also on Twitter.

When and why did you decide to buy a custom domain name?

I acquired the domain name in the summer of 2010, just wanting to establish my authorship. If that’s important to you, I think it’s a terrific idea.

Are you still happy with the name? Are there names that you considered but rejected?

I’m happy with the name, but I don’t know if anyone would know it if it weren’t for a couple of people who generously shared my page with their followers.

Somehow this was the only name that I came up with, so I’m glad it’s so fitting!

Thanks for taking the time to chat, David!

Other posts in the series:

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  1. It took me about ten minutes to come up with my name, but that’s because im stubborn. I figured people would like straightforward commentary from a member of the “vain” generation. I have a tendency to put myself out there however.lol

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  2. I picked Laidig’s Broadway because 1) I liked it, and 2) it combines my last name with an ultimate aim of mine: to have my work on Broadway. And in a roundabout way 3) it’s an allusion to theatre, which is the field I work in.

    For me the layout is a bigger concern. I don’t have the money spare to customise and buy a domain name, so until I do I have to work with the templates and get the audiences in. As my blog grows, I might reconsider.

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  4. I blogged as shoppaholicstraveldiary.wordpress.com and moved on to travelandfoodworldwide.wordpress.com cos I thought food and travel is all I want to write about and hope oneday I get a good response from my readers.

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  5. BMTHoDD is pretty phenomenal. Bravo to him for getting it right, because it ain’t easy.

    I find this extraordinarily difficult. I am working on an anonymous rebrand, but can’t think of anything as fitting as the current name, “the Book of Alice.” I want to cut The Kidling’s real name from the title, but can’t quite get that irreverently reverent feel. I worship my kid (Get it? Like, the Book of Matthew, or the Book of Mormon?), but can’t find another way to express the absurdity of the kid-worship that happens on TBOA’s pages.

    So… thanks, Michelle, for posting this series. It always helps get my juices flowing.

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  13. Love that name! Ugh, I remember I stressing so much over the title for my blog. When I finally chose peter-panning.com, I actually panicked because there was no turning back; now I just have to own and do my best to follow through.

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  16. I am so eager to write on so many different fronts that I change my tag line almost every week. The blog name is kind of static but definitely not “it”.

    How do you combine, humour, odd news, uncharted thoughts and sales advice without making it either too casual or too serious. :0

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  17. Great question and discussion. I continually think and rethink the name. I chose mine quickly, just because I wanted to force myself to start a blog…that day… and I needed something to type in before I backed out! So have just run with it. I wonder often whether I have pigeon-holed myself w/focus or not…will check out your links, thanks!

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  20. Thank you for sharing and I will look for you too follow. I am new at this and welcome you to come check my blog out I am open to helpful tips to improve upon what I am attempting too do. While I have not yet bought the domain I am considering it.
    Please come visit me and tell me what you think. Im into brutal honesty so let me hear what you think and feel free to share..
    I want to make it better and better..
    Thank you again for your time and efforts.
    Robin
    Can be found as (onebirdsview) on WordPress
    See you there hopefully
    🙂

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  23. you make $27h…good for you! I make up to $85h working from home. My story is that I quit working at shoprite to work online and with a little effort I easily bring in around $45h to $85h…heres a good example of what I’m doing,… .W­W­W.wo­r­k­3­5.ℂ­O­ℳ

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  27. I chose “Sweat, Tears and Digital Ink” as a play on “Blood, Sweat and Tears”. About a year ago when I changed the name, it was to create a more professional-looking blog as I struck out to make my career as a freelance writer. The “Digital Ink” part referred to web writing: copy writing and self-publishing.

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