Naming blogs

Most of the blogs I read are technical, and their names and descriptions seem to have a couple of themes. Commonly, the blog name comprises the name of the author followed by either the word "blog" or the word "weblog".

• Eric J. Smith's Weblog
• Mike Taulty's Weblog

There's also the "code" theme: the name (or description) of the blog is chosen and written to look like source code. Some examples:

• Eric.Weblog()
• Tobler.SoftwareArchitecture()
• /* Rambling comments... */
• ISerializable
• Brain.Save()
• 0xDECAFBAD
• STEFANO DEMILIANI WeBlog SELECT * FROM [stefano].[thoughts]

Then there's the "self-effacing" theme. Not wishing to appear proud or arrogant, the writer swings the other way in the name or description:

• Jerry Dennany's Occasional Clue
• raving lunacy
• idunno.org rated by teachers as "must try harder".

And occasionally even both:

• writerus drivelus What in heavens name am I doing?

I find this a little irritating, as I'd like to have some idea about the content of the blog before having to read it.

There are a few that are very clever or funny, but these are rare:

• Halley's Comment
• OK, so I can't think of another one at the mo. Please comment if you can.
  

However, my blog name and description is hardly inspirational (mine are so poor they don't appear on the site, just in the feed).

The problem is similar to the one musicians face when starting a band. I've been in several bands, and it's a lot easier to write a few songs and get them sounding good than to think of a band name, which explains why I was in a band called Bod and the Cherry Trees (which narrowly avoid being called Thomas the Spank Engine!).

The problem is worse with blogging. During the installation / registration of the blogging software / service, a name and description must be chosen before writing posts. At least with a band there's a few rehearsals before a name must be chosen in time for the first gig.

When faced with the empty blog name and description boxes, it's easy to fill in the first nonsense that comes to mind. When a few people start signing up, it becomes harder to change the title, as the subscribers will wonder where it's gone, and hey, what's this new one - I don't remember subscribing to this.

So I'm stuck with "Simon's Software Stuff". I'm not thrilled about it, but it's got my name in it, and there's a clue as to what it's about, and the "Stuff" is just a little self-effacing.