11 Ideas When You have No Idea what to Name your Blog

Are you losing sleep trying to come up with ideas about how to name your blog?

Congratulations on making the decision to start a blog!

You have a new journey in front of you that is going to be exciting, challenging, rewarding, and sometimes frustrating.

Now that you have made the decision, you have to pick your blog name. Knowing the importance of this first step, do you feel frozen in your tracks wondering where to start?

Coming up with the perfect blog name is one of the most important steps in starting a blog.

The name will stay with you, it will represent the brand you build and represent, and it will be how people come to know you as a reader, potential customer, and client.

If you already have a blog name in mind and you haven’t started building your website yet, be sure to read the post on getting the details right with it, otherwise, this article will get you started and you will have your blog name chosen in no time and be ready to start building your blog foundation!

Let’s dive in!

1 | CREATE A PORTMANTEAU

A portmanteau is one word that blends the sound and meaning of two other words.

EXAMPLES

• ‘brunch’ comes from the words ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’
• ‘sitcom’ comes from the words ‘situation’ and ‘comedy’
• ‘infomercial’ comes from the words ‘information’ and ‘commercial’
• ‘podcast’ comes from the words ‘iPod’ and ‘broadcast’

For your blog name, you could combine two words that convey what your blog is going to be about or what you want your brand to portray.

When you start ‘wordsmithing’ to choose a blog name, think it through carefully. You need to be sure it makes sense and your readers will be able to relate to it when they visit your website.

Ask yourself these questions:

1. Does it make sense to the audience visiting my website for my niche?
2. Does it represent the overall tone I want to portray to my readers?
3. Is it representative of the brand I will be building?

2 | USE AN ABBREVIATION

Shorter domain names have a smaller chance of being misspelled, and they are also easier to remember.

The perfect option: an abbreviation for your blog name.

Using an abbreviation is a great way to keep your blog name short and to the point.

EXAMPLES

• AT&T – from ‘American Telegraph & Telephone’
• BMW – ‘Bayerische Motoren Werkein’ in German, or ‘Bavarian Motor Works’ in English
• IKEA – this one is a bit more complex in how the initials were put together – the founder’s name was Ingvar Kamprad’s, and his initials were joined with the first initial of the farm where Kamprad grew up, Elmtaryd, and the parish he calls home, Agunnaryd  (source)

3 | USE ALLITERATION

Alliteration is using the same first letter for several words in a row. It provides a nice jingle that is easy to remember and flows word to word.

EXAMPLES

BusyBlogger.com
BleacherBoy.com
ShootingStarSoccerSchool.com

If your initial name is taken, pull out your thesaurus and use it to find a blog name using alliteration!

4 | CONSIDER A DIFFERENT LANGUAGE

Considering using the blog name you want that fits your niche in a different language can go your way because it likely will not be taken, or at least it gives you some flexibility for more availability.

You can also put together a mix of your language and a foreign language to create a memorable name that gives meaning to your brand.

5 | CREATE ONE WORD OUT OF TWO CONCEPTS

Putting two words together is a creative way to create a blog name your audience will remember.

The first thing that comes to my mind with this concept is PIYO, the fitness workout created by Chalene Johnson that is a combination of fitness moves from pilates and yoga.

EXAMPLES

• WPBeginner (WordPress + beginner)
• Copyblogger (copywriting + blogger)
• Problogger (pro + blogger)

6 | BE DESCRIPTIVE

Describing your niche, your blog name simply tells what you do.

EXAMPLES

7 | CHECK OUT A BLOG NAME GENERATOR

There are numerous blog name generators available.

While this is an option, you probably will not get your exact domain from one that is randomly generated, but it is a great place to start. It can trigger ideas for you so you can come up with your own perfect name by yourself!

Some blog name generators include:

NAMEMESH

PANABEE

WORDOID

8 | GET IDEAS FROM BOOK TITLES

Visit Amazon or Books A Million or any online bookstore and do a search of your niche category.

Get ideas from the titles of the books that you can use for your blog name, and then use some of the other ideas in this post to hone in on your actual domain.

9 | CHECK OUT SIMILAR NICHE BLOG NAMES

When you are looking at competitors’ domain names, view it as a way to get inspiration and ideas to help you decide on your own blog name.

EXAMPLES

If your niche is on outdoor fitness, what are some of the blog names of other outdoor fitness websites?

Is there a common word you see that triggers people to relate to this niche you should try to use?

10 | GRAB A THESAURUS

As a blogger and writer, a thesaurus is one of the tools I use almost daily. It can be used for so many things, including getting ideas for words and inspiration when you are searching for blog name ideas.

A thesaurus provides words that are synonymns, meaning they have the same or a similar meaning (you probably already new this, but as a prior teacher I just had to mention it!) 🙂

EXAMPLE

If your keyword is magic, you would get a list of potential words to use that mean the same or similar:

PRO TIP

One of my favorite word finder tools is Word Hippo.

It will give you synonyms, words that rhyme with one another, translations for languages around the world, and so much more.

Here is an example if I want to translate a word from English to Filipino:

Or if I am looking for a 5-letter word that starts with the letter ‘a’, I would enter this:

The results would give me hundreds of ideas to use (I only copied a small portion of the words that were generated):

11 | USE YOUR OWN NAME

Using your name as your blog domain has advantages and disadvantages.

ADVANTAGES

• If you change the topic or direction of your blog, you don’t have to change to a new domain name (as long as the audience is similar or the same.)
• You have several options, which is good especially if you have a common name:
  • First name only
  • First and last name
  • First initial, last name
  • First name, last initial

For example, one of my domain names is drtawnaschmidt.com, and another is drtschmidt.com – I purchased both in the event I needed to focus on one to get all the other places I use my domain name to fit (like social media accounts. For example, my twitter name is drtawnaschmidt because ‘itstartedwithablog’ was too long.)

DISADVANTAGES

• Until readers get to know you, they have no idea what your blog niche is based on your blog name.
• You cannot include a keyword in the blog domain.

BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER

When the name you want for your blog is taken, find another name and keep moving forward!

Or if you aren’t sure where to start with choosing a blog name, use these 11 ideas to decide on a name so you are ready to jump to the next step of starting your blog. Don’t get hung up here, but do take the time to get the name right because it is going to stay with you for the life of your blog.

Just jump in, follow these steps, and you will be well on your way in the blog journey you are starting! And if you would like a few more ideas, check out the post 10 Top Tips To Choose The Best Domain Name!

If you are ready to dive into setting up your blog, the perfect next step for you is to hop over to the post How To Set Up Your Domain, Hosting & WordPress!

You got this!