Friday, December 19, 2008

What is in a name?

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."  How about a lotus?  It has other names: Nymphaea and Water Lily.  Here's one from Monet's garden in Giverny.  

They're amazing and beautiful and symbolic.  I love them, and I identify with them.  Part of it is that as a child a family friend called me Lotus Blossom.  I always loved that.  It made me feel like I was beautiful and special like a lotus blossom.  With a given name like Lois, people were constantly giving me nicknames.  That was fine by me.  I thought my name was old fashioned and lame.  It stuck out wherever I went.  Spelling it was a problem. Pronouncing it was a problem.  I've been called Louis and Louise more times than I can count.  Even my mother, who I was named after, didn't go by Lois.  It was even old fashioned in her generation.

I have made peace with my name over the years, and now I like it.  If someone comes into a room and calls for me.  I know it's for me.  There are not 10 people named Lois in any given room ever.  (Maybe at a Lois convention, but otherwise...)  There have been a few times in my life when there have been 2, but you get my drift.  It's unique, and that works for me now.

I was chatting with a friend yesterday about the name of my blog, my username, a possible pen name, and my real name.  As an author, what do we do with our names?  We want people to be able to remember them.  We want it to pop up with us first on the list of google searches.  We want our blogs accessible and welcoming.  What to do?

When I first set up my blog, I wasn't really thinking about all that.  I was looking more to being incognito.  I like my privacy and was concerned about putting myself out there on the world wide web.  Now I'm thinking I should have done things differently.  I'm thinking that before I do much more with this blog that maybe I should set up one with a more accessible name.  No one, as yet, has been able to get "domus muscida" on the first go round, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th either for that matter.  What?  You're not all Latin scholars?  

And Lotusloq as a username may have to go too.  It's short for Lotusloquax which is what I use on Livejournal.  It means "speaking lotus."  

I think I would like to keep the Lotus part.  It has depth, meaning, and beauty like the flower, and I think using Nymphaea is fraught with double entendre that I don't want.  Haha!  

Do you have any ideas out there?  What do you think?  Should I change?  Should I make everyone bend to my geeky ways?  Any name ideas?

Maybe I should go with just the English:  Speaking Lotus or Lotus speaking?  or Lotus Blossom Moss?  haha!  Can you see I'm floundering?  Help!  Please!


15 comments:

Rebecca Ramsey said...

Hmmm, let me stew a little on this one. I love the name Lois--and Lotus too.
I'll be thinking...

PJ Hoover said...

Beautiful picture!
How about just Lotus as a username? I love that it has special meaning to you!

Kristen, spinning said...

I love just 'lotus,' it's what I call you in my head since I could never wrap around the lotusq business. It's so soft, without the q in there....and Lois is so pretty, the two really go together.

Bowman said...

I'm up for Lois or Lotus. I like simple.

lotusgirl said...

Thanks for weighing in everybody. It sounds like simple is better.

GWG--the flower through the mud thing is part of the whole reason I think the lotus is so cool.

I'll have to go see if it's already taken.

lotusgirl said...

okay, lotus is not available.

lolotus is
lotusme is

I'll have to continue seeing what's available when I have more time.

Michelle D. Argyle said...

I like lotus, as well. But it looks like you'll have to be pretty creative now that we know lotus is taken. Darn it.

I think switching over to another blog is a good idea to be more accessible.

You could always go with "lotusflower" - kind of like my "innocentflower" thing I have going on...

Bowman said...

If you like the "the flower through the mud thing," then maybe you should try "Rising Lotus."

It has a special meaning for you (overcoming adversity), and I think it sounds cool. For some reason it reminds me of a phoenix.

lotusgirl said...

I like that Justus!

rising lotus or lotus rising could be good.

I also like the lotusflower thing too, glam.

I checked lotusgirl and it was already taken too.

apparently the lotus is very popular.

lotusgirl said...

risinglotus and lotusrising are taken and so is lotusflower.

thelotusrising isn't
alotusrising isn't

I'm going to keep trying different variations--who knows?

Unknown said...

Domus is house, right... but Muscida? Not sure about that one.

This may not work for you, but this is the way I approached it. When I decided to have a writing blog, I knew I wanted something specifically that I could mention in query letters and that I would want an agent/editor to look at in a professional way. Therefore, I very rarely write about anything other than writing (other than an occasional meme or dog pic, most stuff is at least linked to writing, even the book reviews), and I wanted to make my real name prominent so that, should an agent/editor google me, that would be the first thing that came up. In fact, I regularly check google to make sure that my name and the blog come up. It's unlikely, but really, the biggest reason for my blog is to market myself, so I focused everything on that angle. Given that, I chose to use my real name and (eventually) my real picture. I did title the blog, but in hindsight, I'm not sure if even that was necessary. And even though I titled the blog, the address is my name.

But that's just me! My real answer to you is: do whatever you want. In the end, this whole thing is about having fun. And while I'm using my blog for an ulterior motive, I also wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it.

lotusgirl said...

domus is the word for house or home
muscida is one of the words for Moss.

Lois Moss=me

Moss Home--get it?

yes, but very Latin geeky I know. I thought about using french words too, but in the end...

Unknown said...

Ah! I almost thought Muscida was moss, but it's been SOOOOO long since I took Latin that I was embarassed to put it up there unless I was wrong :)

Bowman said...

"And even though I titled the blog, the address is my name."

Same for me. I've slowly been changing all my e-mail addresses and so forth to my name. More publicity for my inevitable greatness!! ;)

lotusgirl said...

inevitable it is!