Thursday 30 November 2017

What's in a Name?

Some people take their time to consider their options taking a measured approach, but me? I dive straight in, make a decision and go with it. I hate waiting, biding my time. So when I decided to start a blog I spent a quick half hour looking at the different blogging platforms, decided against the couple that I would have to pay for just in case I didn't stick with it and opted for Blogger. Then I had to pick a name for my blog. A couple of my favoured options were already in use (including my name) so I took the name of one of my favourite pieces of work "Fan My Flame"

It is still one of my favourite pieces made from silk paper that I dyed and made myself and decorated with free machine embroidery. The name Fan My Flame however did not remain popular with me for very long. Almost straight away I started to read it as Fanny Flame... which of course sounds more like a porn star than a textile artist!


I'm not entirely sure in what order things evolved but as part of my degree we did a Professional Practise module which was all about branding and having a portfolio... all very grown up! So in an attempt to be a grown up I threw off my Fanny Flame image and became Gina Ferrari, Textile Artist and opened up my Facebook page under the same name. However when I tried to open a Twitter account under my own name again I found it already taken so I resorted back to old Fanny! It doesn't really matter because I don't find Twitter something I really engage with... I still don't understand how to keep track of conversations and not being someone who is on my phone all the time I seem to miss half the action in the Twittersphere. But I digress.


Then of course there was my Etsy shop. I really couldn't bear the idea of my shop being called Fanny. As it happens I had just embroidered the fairy above for my blogging friend Mrs Moog (now there's a name!) who doesn't really blog anymore but is now active on Instagram. She always referred to her daughter as Minx and the fairy was based on one of Minx's drawings. Although I'm not entirely sure how any of that is relevent anymore my Etsy name became a combination of Gina and Minx and became Ginxie, which now of course is now meaningless! I think maybe I was going to fill my shop with embroideries of Minx's drawings!


Now roll forward several years to the launch of my baking business and another name was required. Ignoring all suggestions that contained the name Tart by my dear friend Gill I actually took my time until I finally happened upon "Apricot & Fig"... one of those early hours of the morning inspirations. And despite numerous people telling me they think that everything I make contains apricots and figs I've been quite pleased with the name. I even called my Instagram account apricot_and_fig


But now of course, I'm giving all that up and want to ditch the Apricot and Fig image and so I'm thinking I should consolidate everything under a single name as I concentrate more on my textiles and painting... Gina Ferrari Textile Art... or just Gina Ferrari, Artist? It won't matter of course because now you will all just think of me as Fanny Flame forever more!

How and why did you choose your blog name? 

You know that impulsive side to my personality I was talking about at the beginning... I impulsively decided to do my advent count down to Christmas again. Starting tomorrow a short post every day until the 24th because I really have nothing else to do... will you join me?

19 comments:

  1. It is strange the thought processes we go through to achieve an aim. My Coastal Ripples was easy. I lived by the sea and Ripples just went together. Curiously Attic 24 named one of her wonderful blankets Coastal Ripples soon after:). I love thinking about blog names. Some are obviously chosen like mine about where they live. Others are a curious mix and I will look forward to seeing other people’s comments. Love the title of yours and I’ve never given it a Fanny moment! B x

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    1. I think that Coastal Ripples sounds lovely. It's fascinating why we choose the names we do.

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  2. I think of you as "oh lovely, it's Gina!" which I realise is no help at all, I hadn't ever thought of you as Fanny! As long as I can still find you on IG I don't worry about what you are called! Do let us know if you change your name though so that we can still hunt you down - in a nice way, not the scary way that sounded!!!

    As for my name, I can't remember! I originally blogged about home stuff and meant for my blog to be more about homemaking and cooking etc so that is where it came out of.

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  3. Fanny Flame - never thought of that one but it made me giggle (I am childish). Like Amy, I think of you as Gina. I love that name, Gina. It is the name of a soulful, warm and vibrant woman, perfect for you.

    My own blog name was the first thing that popped into my head when I started my blog - at the spur of a moment and with no concept of what a blog name might tell people about me. xx

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  4. I never thought of Fanny Flame either, but then people accuse me from time to time of being naive in things like that :D

    My blog started as we carried on our journey towards Latvia. I told people in the US when we were living there that was where we were heading and so it was no surprise to them when we set off two years later. The only request was to blog about our time and so "The Journey" seemed to be the perfect title and that is how it all began, the blog that is, not the journey, that started much earlier :D

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  5. hahaha...I love Fanny Flame the porn star!!
    Mine is simple...favourite colour, favourite animal!
    I think changing your name on IG is simple, if you continue to use your existing account you'll just come up in our feeds under your new name.

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  6. My blog name is my first and second name initials.Barbara Joan.I added the busy because I am always on the go mainly crafting but lots of other things as well.Fanny Flame made me chuckle!!

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    1. That is really interesting Barbara... I thought abut bees and birds... not initials!

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  7. You've done it now Gina as none of us seem to have thought of Fanny - until you mentioned it! As Christina says you are Gina, a multi talented, enthusiastic, entertaining, warm hearted lady. It's months since I touched my blog but my family are known as the O'B's including mum who is Nana O'B so it seemed like an obvious choice.

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  8. My blog name was a bit of a quick decision. It's turned out to be quite apt as I'm often mooching about above the river. Your name is absolutely fantastic, lucky you. Mine is so generic, there are literally hundreds of me, there used to be 3 at the local doctor's surgery alone. I am so common. CJ xx

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  9. I shall certainly be reading your Advent posts and maybe in the New Year I might even start posting again myself.
    As for my blog name, like you everything I thought of had already been taken, so in sheer desperation I chose Ragged Old Blogger because I used to make rag rugs and am old!

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  10. This is so interesting! Just a week ago, I had a flash of inspiration about my blog name. Originally I chose threadnoodle by writing big lists of my favourite things, then combining them. Custard featured a lot, as did beads, but I liked threadnoodle best. Then I did a "rebrand" too, and changed to my name. I have both domains (threadnoodle and my name.co.uk) and the website used to be at threadnoodle and my name redirected there. Then I swapped with my rebrand. Now I’ve been thinking of doing my online courses, and using a new domain - and I’ve come back to threadnoodle. I wrote out a whole rationale for it, too! It’s quite surreal how even though it was a random choice, it now has a deeper meaning, I used to think it was silly, but now I like it again.

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  11. not a Fanny in sight!

    My blog was named first for the elephant's head mountain in our borrowed scenery , then I added False Bay to the Elephant's Eye when we moved. And there is a cave in our mountains here called Elephant's Eye.

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  12. Gina Ferrari Artist, or Gina Ferrari Creative (I like the latter) If you use the word ‘textile’ you limit yourself again, and you know you’re not a woman to be bound by limitations!
    When I named my blog I first thought of hat I liked, ‘I like lightbulbs’ sounded too cute, so I went with what I don’t like instead!

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  13. I'm never without a digital camera, 365 days a year!

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  14. Lovely post Fanny, oops Gina. Look forward to your daily post. Rocking Dog came about as a result of my love of a wonderful gift- a vintage Rocking Dog. In a previous life I had a catering business called Heaven's Cake and it was always a particularly loved name by the funeral fraternity. I always believed that every funeral deserved truly delicious food with brass knobs and bells on! My only spot of difficulty was once having to return a cheque to a client who had made it out to Kevin's Cakes! Hmmm, I didn't see that one coming in my choice of business name. Much love and stay cosy Gina. Liz aka Rocking Dog x PS hope you are cherishing yourself

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  15. Oh Gina! I loved 'Fan my Flame' but now you have pointed out the possible connotations...

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  16. May I suggest Fanny Ferrari? Ok, maybe still a porn star, but at least a racy Italian porn star x

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