Why I Changed My Blog Name

Way back when I started blogging in August 0f 2006, I did so anonymously. I wanted a space to write and an audience to write for, but I was also a bit wary of this big thing called the Internet. I picked the Koala Bear Writer as my blog name, as I was already using it for an email account. It suited me at the time: I had a Koala Bear for a mascot (and used his picture as my profile pic for years) and I was a writer.

I happily blogged for the next several years. After a few years, I added my own name to my blog (deciding that ownership was important to me), but continued to refer to anyone else on my blog by titles or nicknames. In 2012, I bought my own domain name. A year and a half ago, I switched from Blogger to WordPress and last year I finally had a custom blog design done.

My husband, for several years, has hinted that maybe I should change my blog name. Maybe the Koala Bear Writer was no longer relevant to who I was and what I was writing about. I knew that my blog had changed since 2006 (back then, I was engaged to him, working full-time, and hadn’t had any kids yet!), but I didn’t want to change my name. I’d put a lot of work into the Koala Bear Writer. All my social media sites reflected that name. All the posts I’d written for other blogs linked back there.

However, a few months ago, I began to feel that he was right. The Koala Bear Writer was too anonymous. It says little about what my blog is about or even who I am (other than a writer). “Writer” could be male or female. And of course, there were all the folks who commented to me that “koalas aren’t bears.” I tried to solve that with the tagline “koalas aren’t bears and other conundrums in the life of a mom,” because I didn’t want to change my name. I couldn’t think of another name that fit me.

Then the Koala Mom popped into my head. It was short. It kept some of my old name but also identified me more clearly as a mom blogger. And as a mom, I feel like I have a lot in common with koalas.

Koalas are the original babywearers. I love pictures of koalas with their joeys either peeking out of their pouches or hanging out on mom’s back. (I wonder if they ever get a sore back from the youngsters hanging around?) And I’m a bit jealous of how easy labour is for koala moms. They deliver their joeys at a few weeks old, though that joey then has to crawl up through mom’s fur to the pouch.

And so, after a bit more deliberation, I decided to make the leap and change my blog name. And URL. And new logo (thankfully my friend who had done my logo for me was happy with simply altering it a bit to reflect my new name). After a few tense weeks of waiting on Google and my blog host and Facebook, I had everything changed over.

Overall, I’m happy with my new name. I feel like it better reflects who I am as a blogger, but also who my readers are. We’re moms. I hope the koala stirs up images of attachment parenting and closeness between mom and baby—or at least that it’s cute enough you remember it to come back again. 🙂

If you’re a blogger, how did you choose your blog name? Are you happy with it? If you’re a blog reader, what do you notice about the names of the blogs you read? Is the blog name more important or the blogger’s name?