Howefitz Blog

What’s In A Name?

Published by justin on February 16th, 2010 in blogging, Daddy Blogs.

Saturday, we went to the Denver area to see what this People to People thing is all about. If you’ve missed it in previous posts, Kat received a nomination to a People to People delegation to Australia. The mailings we’ve received say things like ‘cuddle with a koala!’ and ‘swim a corral reef!’ so we were certainly curious. The informational meeting certainly peeked my interest. Kat will not only be given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but also will come back with 120 hours of elective social studies credits, which looks great on a college resume.

So to bring this discussion back around to me, (isn’t that what blogging’s all about? ) my wife and I have thought long and hard about changing the name of this blog. No one really knows what a ‘Howefitz’ is, much less a ‘Howefitz Blog’. Incidentally, ‘Howefitz’ is an amalgamation of my last name, ‘Howe’, and my wife’s maiden name, ‘Fitzgibbons’. We talk about opening a toy/comic store all the time, and a long time ago when discussing a name, one of us (neither one of us remembers who) suggested ‘Howefitz Toys and Comics’. The store still has yet to exist, but the name Howefitz has become my online handle far and wide across the internet.

When I started this blog, I had no idea what I was going to write about on a regular basis. I had to find a niche, and it really didn’t take all that long. So my wife and I have been discussing a new name that reflects the niche that I’ve settled in to: Daddy Blogging. As I walked around this meeting of hopeful, Australia-bound teenagers and their parents, I realized that none of the other parents had babies on their shoulders. Kids Calli’s age were even non-existant in this ballroom meeting place filled with the parents of teenagers.

It must have sunk in to my wife as well, because on the drive back up the mountain, she suggested calling the blog ‘Diplomas and Diapers’. Before that she had suggested ‘College and Diapers’, but college is still a couple of years yet. The reason we’re both leaning toward a name that reflects the ages of our kids is that we feel this situation is somewhat unique. We are experiencing a broad range of parenting situations simultaneously because of the gap in our children’s ages.

Now, when I think of names for characters for my fiction, or blog names, I do some research through the Google. A quick search this morning netted not a lot that matches ‘Diplomas and Diapers’, but I did find articles and even a day care called ‘Diapers and Diplomas’, which are sources for teen pregnancy and the day care is for the children of teens that are going to school. Hmmm… I also found a Mommy Blog called ‘Diapers to Diplomas‘, which is a stay at home mom’s effort to catalog ideas to use in every stage of parenting.

So ‘Diplomas and Diapers’ is close to an existing blog’s name, and could make people think of teen pregnancy, something for which, thank goodness, I have yet to have any experience with. Am I overanalyzing? What would you call a Daddy Blog from a dad that has a teenager and babies in the house? Maybe I should have some kind of contest…