Tuesday 6 August 2013

What's In A Name





I have never liked the name of my blog. I have been thinking of changing the name. But therein lies the difficulty. What to? Something garden-related? Family-related? Living by the sea-related? All of the above and then some? I don't have a cute nick name. I am not the sort of person that would suit something fey and ethereal. I wonder whether it should just be an abstract title?

 My blog is such  personal being. It has evolved from humble beginnings, and has become a place to share and celebrate. Or whinge and moan. Or lay myself bare sometimes. It's an incredibly important place for me. It is an archive of images of my life, and all that goes into it.

'Today's Stuff' sounds trivial to me now.





















These photos sum me up better, I think!

What do you think? How did you come up with the name of your blog? Does it really matter anyway? I'd love to read your thoughts, and maybe why you chose the name you did.

Leanne xx

12 comments:

  1. Now that is an interesting one. The name of your blog, to me has become a greater sum of its parts. It does not matter what it is called because,believe it or not (and you might not) I just am happy to see you post. Your blog has become Lianne,you,your life,your family etc etc.

    Now mine on the other hand has nothing to do with me really. My husband of nearly 40 years decided on the name of mine. Mainly because I could not think of one . And, anyway was it important really as I was probably only going to post once!!!
    He met me at Teachers Trainer College in Weymouth and I became a teacher in 1975, chalkboards in those days ... Hence Chalky 75.
    No help to you really but "what's in a name!"

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  2. It's an interesting question. I think a blog name should have meaning to the blogger first and foremost, even if the readers don't understand it. In my case, my blog is named for the collective unit of me and my husband, which later extended to our kids. Let me explain...he has always called me Thistle. It's even engraved inside my wedding ring. His family nickname is Bear, or the Bear. We gave our kids the nicknames of Little Bear and Girl Bear (we actually do call them that, it's not just something I did for my blog). In 2001, we had a little wedding website that we called Thistlebear and I always liked how it sounded so I stole it for my own blog. :)

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    1. Oh lovely! I didn't know this but always wondered how you came up with "Thistlebear" :-)

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  3. Hi Leanne, some lovely photos here on your blog.
    I came up with my blog name before I had even started the blog.I was looking through some photos one day and saw the picture of marmalade our cat sat among the catmint. She adores the plant and I thought it was perfect.I have to say I agree with Jennifer that it should mean something to you first and foremost.

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  4. I spent quite a while trying to think of a name for my blog. I could have carried on thinking for months! In the end I just went with what I had - Above the River. Chosen because of the River Severn that we can see from here, and which you can see from a lot of places that we visit. It is hard to come up with a name though I think!

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  5. My blog name just sort of happened. I recently wrote about it on the About Me section of my blog. I really like Today's Stuff - it shows that can be about anything in your life at that moment in time. You don't need to feel that your stuck writing about one particular thing.

    Love the pictures. The Mark Owen one really made me smile and chuckle. I met him once and held his shoes. It was just the 4 of us: me, him, my Dad and his manager. I was only 14 but I still remember it like it was yesterday. I don't remember how big his hands were though! x

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  6. I think a blogname is something that should have meaning to you and you only. I LOVE today's stuff becos that's exactly what your blog is. Stuff about everyday life, good, bad, happy, sad and one of the many reasons I love this little space of yours. If you're not happy with it, then change it, but it's not going to change your blog for me anyways. My name was a bit of a challenge becos I wanted something I could use as a label for my stuff as well as my blog. I love cosmos flowers and it just worked with cotton, something I work with every day in some shape or form. If it makes uou feel better I'm so ready to change the face of my blog as I've never liked it, but somehow. On my list of things to do and soon. Xoxo

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  7. Hi agree with the others that it needs to mean something to you, so if you are not happy with it change it. I don't have a blog, but do have an etsy shop, I struggled as many of the sewing sites generally had used up names I liked, and I am a bit of butterfly and like to paint as well, so my partner came up with When Art Met Cloth which grew on me, as all I do is art or fabric related and did not feel too constricting. A blog name can be more whimsical or practical, or anything you want, or you can change it more than once. Really enjoying your posts.

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  8. Just been having a lovely read of your blog and am in envy because I adore Cornwall but we can't even afford camping there this year (boo!) We love in an old police house hence the name of the blog, it worked as it kind of covers everything - family, crafting etc but it is really hard - maybe even harder than kids names? Nice to meet you xx

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  9. Just catching up here and I realised I'd missed this post.

    I feel your pain. I am struggling with my blog's name just now even though I love it. To me it says my blog is all about knitting when in fact it isn't any more, if it ever was. And although it's good for me to have knitting as a focus, because I'm not likely to start blogging about family life per se, I do basically blog pretty eclectically and I'd like the name to reflect that. The thing is, your name does describe your blog, far better than knitsofacto describes mine, so just as my readers tell me to change nothing I'm going to say the same to you ... I love the name Today's Stuff ... it's more different than you think (how many more variations on blog names with 'cottage' in them can there be?!), it's not remotely pretentious as so many blog names sadly are, it sounds down to earth and oh so slightly irreverent and like you are the kind of person who is totally capable of laughing at herself. Mind you, Coffee Waffles Milk Shake would be a brilliant blog name too ;)

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  10. Oh I've been through this too. I'm sure most bloggers have at one point or another. We are now going through the same process thinking of names for our Farm development. I like "Today's Stuff"! As the other's have said, it's such a down to earth name, unpretentious and perfectly describes what you write about...while still allowing growth down the track if your blog changes. There are many blogs with names like "a boy and a bird" or "house on a hill" that would be weird if another child came into the picture or the bird died or they move away from the house on the hill into a flat in the city. What names were you thinking of changing to? Of course you can change it though, and I guess the sooner the better if you were going to. I chose my name in about 5 seconds flat the night I started my blog. I sometimes wish I put more thought into it and think it's a bit boring and doesn't really reflect me as a person but at the same time it's also meaningful to me - we live in the Coal Valley and my blog is my view of things around here and when I started my blog we were living in Sydney and we were on a mission to get back here - it was going to document out journey moving back to Tasmania although that all happened much sooner than expected. Now I just rattle on about everything....x

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  11. So interesting reading everyone's comments above!

    I love the name of your blog because I associate it with you and your posts, both of which I really like. It has a freedom about is as you aren't tied to any one area and it's gloriously unpretentious and down to earth, as I imagine you are.

    I don't like my blog name at all and have constantly thought about changing it but don't because I can't think of a better alternative, to be honest! xx

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