Naming Blogs and Bands

In my spare time, I like to think of names for blogs and bands.  I think it is fun and it keeps my mind busy.

My first blog was named 87 Murphy Squirrels.  I had this name in my back pocket for about 10 years before starting the blog.  In fact, it was what I wanted to name the first garage band I was in during high school.  I came up with the name because my jersey number in football was 87, my bandmate Brad's nickname was Murphy, and the other band member Jonah's nickname was Squirrel.  I thought it was a great combination of sounds and was fun to say.  In the end, we went with the name "Feedback," played a couple of "concerts" for our family, and then disbanded when Jonah graduated.

But the name always stuck with me.  I even tried to reuse the name with my second garage band.  This band consisted of my two college golf teammates Dave and Tyson.  We were a little more successful than my first band as we played two concerts in front of paying customers in two different venues on two separate occasions.   But naming this band was fairly difficult.  Should we try to tie in golf?  (Which I wish we would have done because "Birdies Before Noon", "9-iron Punch Shot", and/or "Bunker" would all be great names). Should we use our location?  Should we use our names? 

Ultimately we went with the name "TED" (a combo of our first initials) which isn't that great of a name, yet, had we become a successful band, we would have had the greatest merch.  We would have had our band name stitched onto bowling, mechanics, and/or janitor's shirts, so it would look like the person wearing it was named TED.  My wife even had a mechanics shirt made for me.  Sadly, this band also disbanded. 

Yet, my love for naming bands and blogs continues.  When naming this blog, I wanted a name that was slightly "inside baseball" and used some of the hobby lingo.  Surprisingly, the first name that I thought up was the one I decided to use, but I still came up with a few others that I thought might work and ran them past my wife.

My second favorite name would have been "eBay One-of-One" or some variation on that theme, but I didn't think the fine folks at eBay would approve (even though it may well have been perfectly legal and appropriate considering its satirical nature). 

Some others that may have worked (with a little tweaking) were:

• "White Whale Watching" --I'm a big fan of alliteration, but the WWW abbreviation may have been confusing.
• "The Trading Card Cubicle" -- because I work in a cubicle all day.  More descriptive than creative.
• "A _______ a day keeps the doctor away" -- this one had multiple problems, including I couldn't decide how to fill in the blank.

When it came time to make my decision, I really wanted the word "Manupatches" in the title.  I may be one of the few collectors who enjoys manufactured patches.  I think they are fun and I like using them to spell out names that are important to me (so far I've spelled out the Wife's name, my dog's name, my name, and I'm one "Y" away from finishing my last name.  If you've got one, email me and lets work out a trade!)

Obviously patches and scratches rhyme and I remembered that chrome cards can get scratched, and the rest is history.

In closing, as you can clearly see, I'm a wordsmith when it comes to naming blogs and bands. 

(Still need a bit more convincing, here are three more blog/band names off the top of my head: "Chaulk-Full", "Blyleven and the Twelfth One is Free", "Staple Gun Picnic".)

If you know of anyone who might need my serves, feel free to have them contact me.