Coming up with blog name ideas can be tough. I get emails from people asking for help on how to come up with a blog name. The first thing I ask them is to tell me a little about themselves, and what kind of blog they want to start. Once I can get them to focus their blog onto a specific topic, that is when we are able to come up with a great, memorable, and meaningful name that they love.
The biggest mistake I see people make when starting a blog, is to try and create a blog with a lot of different topics. When you focus your blog onto a specific topic, you are able to build momentum faster, get a following faster – and it helps in creating a memorable name.
So the first step in coming up with a blog name is to really define what your blog is going to be about. If you were to name a baby, you would want to know if it were a boy or girl. The same goes with your blog. In my blogging tip sheet, I go over how to define what your blog is really about.
Here are some stories of people going through the process of defining and naming their blog.
Joelle Wants to Help College Students
- Joelle: “I am basically going to be writing a blog about being a college student, in my 20’s that loves to travel & tries to be healthy.”
- Me: “What is the reason for you wanting to start a blog. Do you want to help people, if so who and with what? Or do you want to chronicle your life – if so what makes you different, and who do you want reading your blog?”
- Joelle: “I would want females around my age high school/college/post-college to be reading my blog. I want to chronicle my life with topics like traveling and fashion. On the other hand, I would also like to help others through advice with college.
The articles I have started writing are about some of the trips I have been on and tips for college freshmen.
One thing I do want to help others with is being an advocate for community college. So many of my peers are going into massive debt by going straight to private universities and I am glad I chose to go to a community college. I will be a college sophomore in the fall and I feel that its important to share this with others. “
- Me: “I like the idea of being an advocate for community college. Like you said it gives you more freedom, as you don’t go into debt. This freedom can mean being able to travel more, take trips – learn from the world. This freedom can mean having more money to spend on hobbies and interests, like fashion – learn by doing. I guess your blog could be about learning from the real world – not just paying for it. That way you can tie all of the subjects you are interested in into the site in a nice way. That would mean all of your articles would need this theme tied into them somehow.
What do you think of that?
Some name ideas from the top of my head based on that theme include:
– Wunderlust Society
– Strawberry Society [Strawberry because Joelle mentioned her “strawberry blonde hair and a giving heart”]
Allison is Leaving Kansas
- Allison: “I just accepted a teaching position in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and figured a blog would be the best way to keep everyone back home (Kansas) informed of what I’m doing. I’ve lived in Kansas my entire life, I love to travel and am looking forward to this adventure.
- Me: “The first names that came to mind from your story were: Not in Kansas or Not in Kansas Anymore
Let’s see…some other name suggestions include:
– To Kansas With Love
– Left My Heart In Kansas
- Allison: “I really like Not in Kansas Anymore/Not in Kansas ideas because the meaning behind it fits me so well. Unfortunately both of those are taken.”
- Me: “How about a blog name along the lines of your heart being in KS:
– My Heart’s In Kansas/KS
– Kansas Heart/ Kansas at Heart
– Dreaming of Kansas
– Leaving Kansas
– Postcards to Kansas (I like this one)”
Naming a Section on Home Tree Atlas
Recently I created a new page here on Home Tree Atlas. There are so many home decor shops out there, it can take people a lot of time to find awesome decor pieces. So I handpicked the best ones (starting with vintage decor) I found on different sites and put them in one place.
Getting specific: What is the page about? A place where people can look at home decor items, kind of like window shopping.
Coming up with name ideas: Once I knew specifically what it was about I starting coming up with ideas, putting words like “window” “display” “shop” “collection” into the thesaurus. What I got back were creative words like:
Anthology | Trunk show | Shine | Deli | Market | Bazaar
I ended up choosing the name “The Deli”. Because for me it sounds memorable, and brandable which I talk about later. You can check out the The Deli page here.
The Steps for Coming Up With a Blog Name
Get Specific: What is your blog really about? Ask yourself why do you want a blog about that?
This is the easiest way to come up with good blog names. It is the method I use all the time. Ask yourself what do you want your blog to really be about.
Say you want to start a food blog. Ask yourself why do you want to start a food blog? Is it to share healthy recipes, quick and simple recipes, chocolate recipes, desserts, keep a family happy?
It becomes a lot easier to come up with name ideas once you know why you want to start a blog. You can then start putting those words (quick, family, healthy) into the thesaurus:
Here would be some name ideas for a food blog about quick to cook recipes: Dash Kitchen | Turbo Chef | Lightning Fusion | Chop Chop Bing!
Here are some examples of ideas for a food blog about keeping a family happy: Around the Table | Kitchen Soul | Mmm Zzzz
Start Mixing and Matching
In the quick to cook recipes blog example above, I used the thesaurus to come up with a list of words meaning “fast”. Using the thesaurus again, I then found words about general cooking and food like “chef” and “kitchen”. I then merged the “fast” words with the “kitchen/food” words to find name ideas like: Dash Kitchen and Chop Chop Bing!
How about someone who is starting a fashion blog. Say you want to help people create DIY fashion. So to come up with blog name ideas you start by A) listing words about DIY/making. Put “make” into the thesaurus and you get: “compose” “brew” “cook” “forge” “hatch” “whip” “homemade”. Put “build” in the thesaurus and you get: “cast” “sculpture” “cut” “sew”.
Then B) move onto your general topic. Think and list out words based on fashion/style/design/fabric and put them in the thesaurus: “look” “chic” “vogue” “mannequin” “mirror” “palette” “runway” “wear”.
If you mix the words together you get some creative blog names like: Made in the Mirror | Homemade Mannequin | Compose Runway | Cut Sew Chic
How to Name Your Blog: The Steps 1, 2, 3, 4
To sum up how to come up with blog name ideas:
- Focus: Write out a little about yourself, and what you want your blog to really be about (just like how Joelle and Allison did in the stories above). Get as specific as you can.
- Specific Words: Come up with ideas and a list of words describing the specific part of your blog, and put them in the thesaurus. Example: for a “quick” recipes blog – put “fast” “quick” “simple” “hurry” and “instant” into the thesaurus.
- Topic Words: Then use the thesaurus to create a list of words that describe the general topic of your blog: “food” “cooking” “kitchen” “chef” “ingredients”.
- Mix and Match: Mix and match the specific and general words together for ideas.
Tips If You Get Stuck
If you ever get stuck, just keep asking yourself questions (who? what? when? how? where? why?).
Here are some examples if you were starting a food blog:
What is in the kitchen? A hob, stove, dining table, pots and pans, forks and spoons, sugar, spice, and plates. All these words can be used for part of the blog name, or put them in the thesaurus for more word ideas.
Why do people cook? Why do I cook? It’s fun, it’s creative, it’s delicious, or it’s necessary.
How do i cook? In a hurry, always experimenting, to make my family happy.
Keep asking questions.
Making Sure You Have The Right Name
Branding
The name of your blog will be the first thing people see. If you have a good name, it can make people curious and want to learn more about what you write about.
You will want to pick a good name that is brandable. This means having a name that evokes something visual. “My Travels” doesn’t say much, it is way to generic. But “Wanderlust Backpacker” or “My Bohemian Passport” are way more memorable travel blog name ideas, and they create images in your head.
Say you are starting a fashion blog. A very generic and unbrandable blog name would be something like “Fashion Styles”, or “My Fashion Designs”. There are no pictures that come to mind when you say those names, nothing memorable anyway. More brandable fashion blog names would include: “Hatch Fashion” (use egg shells in your logo/header, a baby chicken, a quill, wings, a sunrise) or how about something like “Homemade Mannequin” (your logo/header could be a picture of you dressed up as a mannequin, the letters of your blog name sewn in fabric, a mannequin head).
Use a name that is memorable and different.
Checking Availability
You are going to want to check if your new blog name is available as a .com. In my tip sheet post I go over the different types of blogs you can create (hosted vs. free, WordPress vs Blogger), explain what that is all about, and what you need to do to set one up.
This is how I check to see if a domain name is available. I go to Name.com and type in the name I want. You’ll be able to see if the domain name is available as a .com.
When you are brainstorming blog name ideas, don’t keep checking to see if a name is available. Just keep going – keep making word lists, and come up with a lot of ideas. You will hurt your brainstorming if you keep checking. Don’t settle by picking your first name idea. For me, the best blog names come closer to the end of the brainstorm. So I don’t check until I’m all done coming up with ideas.
If your favorite name is unavailable, there are three things you can do:
- Go back and come up with a new name
- Add another word to the end of the name
- Switch out a word in the name for something similar. Say Homemade Mannequin is not available, then try Homemade Runway or DIY Mannequin.
Once you’ve come up with your memorable blog name, the next step is to set up your blog. You can find the steps for doing that here >>
