DISQUS

How To Split An Atom: How To Make Your Name Web 2.0 Ready

  • Heidi · 2 years ago
    Ah! Is it wrong that this is one of the reasons for my decision not to change my last name when I got married last October? You see, my husband's last name is Page. When were dating we had that "we're getting kind of serious, what would we name our kids" conversation over Guinness (most of our important conversations involve Guinness), and he suggested Webster. After initially protesting on the grounds of "Ew, dorky!", I realized it was a joke. Poor little Web Page would never have a significant personal web presence. It's practically child abuse.
  • Steve · 2 years ago
    I think I almost laughed until I cried there. We can only hope that Mr. Page would someday become a dot com mogul. Then he'd thank you.
  • Heidi · 2 years ago
    Did I mention that his first name is Bob? Doesn't get more generic than that. When we first started dating I totally tried to google him. Uh yeah, not so much.
  • Katie Lips · 2 years ago
    Yeah, years ago a Dorothy Com was on TV, talking about how she was about how she was in the middle of a 'boom', or something.

    This is a subject close to my heart. I am quite lucky, both in terms of having a relatively unique name, and that I 'Google well'. But it took work. Imagine googling 'katie lips' or other 'girlyname lips' if you haven't already been a blogger, flickr addict, & social media 'tart'. What you get is a lot of filth. Many bloggers use handles, alter egos, or their 'interesting blog' name rather than their real name. Not me, I had to use my real name to make sure that when anyone googled my real name (and it is my real name, by the way!) that they didn't get faced with too many naughty stories.

    And once you have claimed your actual or chosen name online you might also want to claim variations of your name. Googling "Katie Lips" used to return results containing "Katie's Lips" so just make sure you get your friends to tag flickr pictures with for example katieslips rather than katielips.

    Having a silly name can be a burden, but also a blessing in these times...
  • Steve · 2 years ago
    Ha, that's fantastic. Way to go on the successful SEO Katie!