I know it’s supposed to be Fundraising Friday, but with all the changes going around about the name of this blog, I had to write about it. I will return to some fundraising info next Friday. I promise!
Now back to names AGAIN.
I have always loved my name. It’s Shann, pronounced Shhhhhh…..Ann. Like Shannon without the O-N. Even when people mispronounce it, or ask me if it’s short for something, I still love it. I even had a teacher in high school ask if it was my real name. Um. Yes.
There’s nothing you can really shorten it too (which is part of the reason my parents named me,) and it’s unique without being too weird. At least I think so. I never had to worry about another person in my class at school with the same name.
I would sometimes get bummed out when I couldn’t find my name on a key chain or mug in a store, but when I would get something personalized it made it super special.
As for the Eva part, well, that’s my middle name. I’m named after my Great Grandma. It’s a little more common than Shann, but I still like it. Especially together.
Which is why I had such a big emotional break down yesterday. It took me a long time to come up with the name for this blog, and I thought it was unique. My brother-in-law had posted the saying on my Facebook wall:
Boy, n. 1. A noise with dirt on it
After sharing the post with my husband, who also thought it was perfect, my blog name was born. The .com URL wasn’t available, but at the time there were no other blogs out there that I could find with the name. I figured it must be a business or something. Plus, at the time, I was writing as therapy, and family and friends were just reading.
To find out that someone else had the same name blog was just crushing to me.
Now, I know in the big scheme of things, it’s not that big of a deal. I’m not changing MY name. But still, it’s something I’ve been working hard at for a while now, so it knocked the wind out of me.
So, next step. What was I going to do.
I brainstormed. My husband brainstormed. My Mom and Dad brainstormed. Nothing seemed quite right. Then, a friend of mine told me that her blog name and her site URL are not the same. She suggested that I just use my own name as my URL, then I could take my time and re-name my blog when I came up with something I really felt good about.
I LOVED it!!!!!!!!!!! www.shanneva.com feels right.
It may not be as catchy as “Dirt and Noise,” but it’s mine. All mine. My name….so don’t wear it out. 🙂
Girl, I feel you with the unique name. Chanity always got pronounced Charity, Chasity, Chantilly.. anything but CHANITY. The uniqueness that I sometimes hated growing up, was perfect when it came to naming my blog 😉
I love it! Beautiful!
There does seem to be a growing trend with people having just their name as the blog url and it does give you huge flexibility to change things up as you go along. Did you change all your social media titles as well? Good luck
I’m still in the process. All are pretty easy except Facebook.
I love people embracing their names! I grew up Georgina but went by Gina to try to “fit in” but as I grew more confident also began embracing my full name 🙂
Happy Friday! xo
Awesome!
omg what a headache to deal with! I’ve actually heard of this happening afew times to bloggers! Glad you got it straightened out and have your new name 🙂
Thanks Courtney!
I think you picked a great blog name. I think that it is musical. You can really turn it into exactly the blog that you want.
Thanks Shelah! You rock!
I was following this discussion on Facebook the other day, so I’m so happy to hear that you found a solution. And it’s a great one! Also, I had no idea that’s how you pronounce your name–so cool and unique!
Thank you! I appreciate that!
As crushing as that experience was, it sounds like you ended up with a perfect solution! Plus, using your name allows you to grow and expand your blog however you like. It may have been meant to be 🙂
Thank you so much for your support!
Neat post! My two oldest children have a little bit of that disappointment when they go to the store and look for things with their names on it. They are named Madelyn and Noelle. The names are not that completely uncommon but enough that they usually can’t find their name. It was something we never really thought about when naming our kids. We liked the names and wanted them!
I think they will appreciate them as they get older…I know I do! 🙂
I have to say this would be crushing to me if I found that someone else had my blog name and I had to change it. Kuddos to you for keeping your head up and moving forward! And I love your name and it is great you can use it for your URL!
Thank you Amy!
I’m SO happy you found a solution to this, Shann! My version of unique name isn’t so unique now, but when I was a kid I could never find anything with the correct spelling of my name on it. My name is Trisha, but everyone else was Tricia. When people would ask for the spelling of my name and I told them they’d say.. no, the one on your birth certificate T.R.I.C.I.A, right? NO! It’s good to be different and I like your name 🙂
Thank you Trisha! 🙂
Its perfect! I’m sorry you’ve had such a rough week, I can’t imagine the emotions you’ve gone through! But your name is perfect!!
Thank you Tarynn! …and for the support 🙂
Shanneva.com! I love it. It’s perfect. Dirt & noise was cool too but I like the idea of using your name because it is unique. I’m not sure why I didn’t use mine…I can totally empathize with your domain name angst. Every blogger understands the importance of a domain name. It can make or break, but I gotta say- you nail the content sister! I love stopping by.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that Heather. 🙂
I love your name.. and I am sorry you had to give up your original blog name 🙁
Thank you Lauren!
So sorry you have to hangs your blog name. I like both
I’m so sorry this happened! It really got me thinking about how I can prevent that from happening as well! Eek! I think you’ve taken the high road here! Good work!
Thank you so much!
Love the name change! Makes knowing who is behind the blog easy too!
Thank you!
How frustrating! I’m glad you got something figured out, though. I LOVE your name, btw.
xo, Caitlin
And Possibly Dinosaurs
Thank you so much Caitlin!