Sunday, February 8, 2015

discussion post: how did you come up with your blog name?

source: found via google!

This is something I always think of whenever I find a new blog. I've seen so many that take the term 'bookish,' 'bookworm,' 'biblio-,' etc... and some of them are quite clever! It's not surprising to find so many variations with the word 'book' since we're a community of readers but I think it's cool whenever I come across a blogger who's managed to think of another name to go by. Or they incorporate books/reading into it in a fun way. Some of my favorites just off the top of my head: Supernatural Snark, Tales of Whimsy, Inkcrush, Chachic's Book Nook, The Book Smugglers. (I've linked them all if you're interested in checking them out--they're all awesome.) 

I've been asked by more than one person about my blog name but honestly it's not an exciting story. When I was still brainstorming about creating a blog and wondering what to name it, I had considered 'book mouse' or 'book faerie' but again, I wanted a name that stood out. Also, I wanted a cute name. That same day my mom came home and, knowing her only daughter loves toys, surprised me with a stuffed penguin (this was around the holidays btw). It was an adorable medium-sized penguin wearing earmuffs. EARMUFFS. I was enchanted. Then I swear to you, I looked at it and thought, "Penguin...what would sound nice with penguin?" 

"Pirate," my brain quickly supplied. 

"Pirate Penguin!" 

Then I tagged on "Reads" and viola, "Pirate Penguin's Reads" was born. I liked the sound of it, the alliteration. And it was cutesy (or so I think). The name felt right, and so I went with it. Sometimes I wonder now if it's too restrictive but I'm so used to it and it takes more work to reinvent oneself with a new blog name and a new blog. So Pirate Penguin's Reads is here to stay for the long haul :) 

Not all that interesting right? xD So I'm curious to know how you decided on your blog's name. Did you have a set plan when you decided on a name or did you just go with it as I did? Let me know in the comments.

Since my name stuck, I've also become more of a fan of penguins (I liked penguins before but I never thought about them until my blog name--funny how things work!) and I have a little penguin collection happening. Here are all my toy penguins as of now: 


The penguin that sparked the idea behind my blog name...along with his blue companions xD 


The trio of blue penguins ;D The one in the middle is actually a hand cream container! (Bought by my mom as well--she's da bestest ♥) 

I have other penguin-y things (earrings, watch, clip-on bookmarks...) but the little guys hang out on my bookshelf while the big guy sits on top of another bookshelf. I've actually taken the blue penguin on the far right to BEA with me!

Note: both photos shown here are mine. I doubt anyone would take them but whatever. Precautions. ;P 

10 comments:

  1. That's a great story! I admit to being very curious where you'd come up with it. Makes perfect sense to me. :)

    As for mine? It's pretty well self-explanatory and boring. A friend had been encouraging me to start a blog just a few days prior and so that thought was on my mind. Then when I happened upon the quote "If the path set before her feet was to be narrow, she knew that flowers of quiet happiness would bloom along it." by L.M. Montgomery, something about the phrase "flowers of quiet happiness" just struck me. Not really sure why, it just did. I liked it and while studying it, all of a sudden I had the thought that it would be a great blog name. And voila! It's a quote by a favorite author of mine, which just seemed to go along with writing book reviews. But it also left me open to blogging about a few other things as well. Which I appreciated. Anyway! I still like it a lot today, which is good. :)

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    1. I really liked your blog name once I saw it. Flowers of quiet happiness is so peaceful and lovely. That's great that the name is flexible enough so that you can blog about anything but it will be distinctive to any L.M. fans. I've never read L.M. Montgomery but I will eventually. Thank you for sharing :)

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  2. I named my blog very quickly, just a spur-of-the-moment idea, and only took enough time to Google it to make sure no one else had the name. I love it, but I still kind of wish I would chosen something that doesn't exclude all of the other genres that I love to read (like middle, adult, NA). YA is my main focus, but I love other genres too. Still, I do enjoy being YA royalty, even if it's only in my mind. ;)

    I adore your blog name! So awesome (Pirate penguins? YES), intriguing, and bookish! I also love the blogs you listed too. Juju + Jenny's blog names are especially fabulous!

    Fabulous post! :D

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    1. Hehe you're a rockstar Lea!!! That spur-of-the-moment idea turned out to be a good one :)

      YES Jenny and Juju have such cool names and their blogs are sensational (imo). Aww thanks ^_^ once the name popped into my head, I just went with it; I'm glad I followed that impulse.

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  3. This is such a great topic! I've always wondered where you got the name for your blog. I just assumed you like pirates and penguins. :P Thanks for mentioning my blog and linking to it, even though I don't think I was very creative with coming up with a blog name because I've seen other book nooks around. I signed up with the username "chachic" with WordPress so I had to incorporate that into my blog's name and I wanted it to be book-related as well. That's where Chachic's Book Nook came about. If I thought about it before signing up, I would have probably chosen Throwing Inkpots as my blog name - that phrase is a reference to Megan Whalen Turner's Queen's Thief series. It sounds unique and is related to reading/writing.

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    1. I was about to say!!! I absolutely love your tumblr name. :D

      Hah, I actually haven't encountered any other blogs with 'book nook' other than yours. But anyway yours is twice as special because it's a great blog and it's the first that I've seen with 'book nook'

      Ironically I never thought about pirates or penguins much until my blog name XD

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  4. I love your blog name and it was actually one of the reasons I started following your blog (such a long time ago!) ~ that is, because it sounded unique and original and not at all generic.

    I can't really remember the thought process that went into my blog name but i actually came up woth some earlier ideas but the blogger URLs were taken. I did know I didnt want my blog to be limited in the name to just books, but to also incorporate writing (so ink, rather than using the word book or reading). I also liked the idea of one word (well, a homophone, haha) so it was short and easy (meaning I am lazy!)

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    1. That's so sweet! Thank you :D

      Lol easy is always preferable!!! Your idea behind the name and making it flexible enough so that it could incorporate reading and writing is genius!

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  5. I love your blog name :) I never could have guessed how you came up with it. And who doesn't love penguins? And pirates for that matter :D Looking back at how I came up with my blog name, I guess I was just thinking what defines my reading history and tastes? Harry Potter was everything to me and I was still so upset that the series was over and struggling to find something else to read that meant as much to me. It just seemed obvious what name to use at that point!

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    1. Recovering Potter Addict is a good name! I always meet people who say Harry Potter was their everything back then and I wish I had had that same passion. I enjoyed HP and was excited when each book came out but I was never CRAZY obsessed/into it like so many others (and I say crazy obsessed in a good way lol). I'm finding that I'm enjoying it more as an adult than I did when I was a child.

      Penguins are epic and pirates are just as cool :D

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