What's in a name?

You might notice that I’ve had a bit of a re-branding for Gaskella.

When I started blogging over four years ago, I tried to think of an imaginative name for this blog.  I enjoy a good pun, but couldn’t think of anything bookish that I liked that hadn’t already been used; there are some crackers out there, just look at any blogger’s blogroll.  So, I just used my usual email handle – my married surname with my initial tagged on.  It has a certain ring to it, and of course the name Gaskell has a great literary pedigree, (although I have no claim to it).

However I’m now single again. Although I am not planning to revert to my maiden name as my daughter remains a Gaskell, with no disrespect intended to my Ex or his family, I think that a little distance from the name in some areas may help me move forward in this new stage in my new life.

So after much deliberation, not being able to think of a pun, and asking a few friends for their opinions, I’ve chosen a solid new name with which to rechristen my blog… Annabel’s House of Books – which does after all reflect the state of my abode!

The http address remains the same – it’s only the name on the page that is different, so all links and bookmarks etc will work without changing (unless you want to that is). I am keeping my current theme as I love its clean design with lots of white space, but have upgraded so that I can choose different fonts which are more ‘me’ – I’m the original extrovert introvert – love the chunky new headline and scribbled titles. My book-geeky Latin motto stays too: Noli domo egredi, nisi librum habes – Never leave home without a book. I’ve also set up a new email address specifically for the blog (although you can still get me on any of my many others).

As we’ve broken up from school, the school magazine (of which I’m the new Editor) has gone to the printers, all end of term carol services are done, Christmas tree and decorations are up, cards sent – I’m finally left with time to unwind. So I think I’m going to get on with writing some book reviews from my backlog. 😀

0 thoughts on “What's in a name?

  1. FleurFisher says:

    I love the new name, and the redecoration is lovely.

    I’ve wished recently that I’d chosen a different blog name, as sometimes being Jane and sometimes being Fleur is a touch confusing, but my alter ego is established in so many places that I’m not sure its worth the trouble or the confusion of changing.

  2. david73277 says:

    Annabel’s House of Books. Good name. I suspect it will last longer than Royal Mail’s ill-fated “Consignia” rebrand a few years back.

  3. kimbofo says:

    Lovely rebrand, Annabel!

    And good luck with getting through the piles. I have two weeks off over Christmas and hope to make a (slight) dent in my TBR, too.

    Merry Christmas to you and your daughter!

  4. gaskella says:

    Thank you everyone for your kind comments. They are much appreciated. Seasons greetings to you all, and I hope your preparations for Christmas are going well.

  5. Margaret @ BooksPlease says:

    I do like your new blog name!

    I’ve toyed with the idea of changing my blog name too as I write just as much about other things now as I do books, so ‘BooksPlease’ doesn’t really reflect the content of my blog – but then it never did, because almost from the start I was writing posts about places I’ve visited and so on. Maybe I will change it next year.

    Here’s wishing you and your daughter all the best for Christmas.

  6. Simon T says:

    I love the new name, and the scribbly font is good fun 🙂
    I always love hearing about people’s thought process behind their blog names – I really wanted mine to begin with the same letter as my name, for some reason.

Leave a Reply to gaskellaCancel reply