Comments on: Should I Change the Name of My Blog?

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Wed, 18 May 2016 23:17:43 +0000

In reply to Beril. My goodness. I'd forgotten all about this post, and that I ever questioned the name of my blog. I must have written this 6 or 7 years ago when I first started blogging. Happy Hooligans has become such a household name now, no-one even questions it. And I'm guessing the majority of folks don't have much of a problem with it, as I have over a million and a half followers on various social networks. Hee hee. Thanks for taking the time to drop a comment! So glad you found me. :)

By: Beril

Beril — Wed, 18 May 2016 18:48:24 +0000

My way of thinking is like this. Hooligans are not a positive word to encorouge a child. hooligans=not nice, violent etc people. So you can not compare with word hooligans which addresses to a violent behavier etc. to “the pests ” “pickle bums” etc.

I honestly don’t want anyone calling my kids hooligans. And parents I know would not like it either.

By: Sarrina

Sarrina — Fri, 04 Oct 2013 10:24:12 +0000

I have read your concerns and the above responses and I wanted to gently suggest not to over think yourself into a box. You wanted to start a blog and the name just popped into your head for many reasons the main one being because it was supposed to be called this. The decision was easy because you let your head, heart, and fate all come together without fighting your subconscious with what if’s. I think the name is pretty perfect and when the universe (or God) pops something into your head.. you should just go with it.

By: Dyan

Dyan — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 13:37:46 +0000

Even after months of following your blog, I have never once thought of hooligans in a negative light. I love your blog name and I think it’s perfect. And to be honest, it’s better than Ants in My Pants.

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:26:08 +0000

In reply to Clark Shores. Thanks for taking the time to comment! I think you're absolutely correct, Clark Shores! A very seasonsed and well respected blogger said something similar to me. If someone is offended by the name of your blog, after checking out the blog, and seeing what it's all about, then perhaps it's better if they move on. Is that someone that you really need or want as a follower? So your advice to your wife was bang-on in my books. I love your last line. So true!

By: Clark Shores

Clark Shores — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:41:33 +0000

My wife has her own embroidery business. She named it Bratty Kids Klothing after our two children. We use the term “Bratty” as a term of endearment with our kiddos. She came to me about two weeks after we launched the Etsy store and asked me the same question you pose in the title. My response to her was “If someone is offended by the name, they should go shop at another location!” Business is great, and she has not had ONE SINGLE complaint about the name! And keep in mind you’re doing this blog for YOU….other people just happen to get a lot of neat ideas from it!

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:36:30 +0000

In reply to katepickle. Thank you so much for your advice, and sharing your story with me. It's ironic (and so great) that you commented because I found your site recently, and thought that your name was so cute! I'm glad you decided to keep your name too! You're an inspiration to the rest of us by being true to yourself!

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:33:26 +0000

In reply to The "Teacher Tom" You Actually Know. Thank you for your honest and inspiring post, Tom. How fortunate am I have have TWO "Teacher Toms" in my world? Actually, 3 if you count my own personal Teacher Tom, who goes by the name Peter Bolton (Keri will have heard of him). Your advice is solid and I truly appreciate it. Your girls and your students are so fortunate to have you as their role model. And I can see why you've mentored many a budding writer over the years! Your words read like a well written song. :)

By: happyhooligans

happyhooligans — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:53:17 +0000

Wow!!

A big heart-felt thanks to all of you for taking the time to respond with such sound and genuine advice.

The common messages echoing throughout this thread are: “be true to yourself”, and “have faith in who you are and what you do”. Thank you! Sometimes, even when you do believe in yourself, it’s empowering to hear those words from others, and to know that what you’re doing is perceived in the way that you intended it to be.

I can’t tell you how happy I am that, for many of us, our name conjures up the same innocent images: happy children without a care in the world, running free, having the time of their lives.

I realize that there will always be criticism as “you can’t please ’em all”, but thank you for pointing out that it’s the content of the blog that matters more than the title. And as many of you have suggested, if someone raises an eyebrow when they see our name, they can either check us out, and hopefully like what they see, or they can move on. Does it matter if it’s the latter? Nope! I’m not out to advertise my daycare, or acquire new clients with my blog, so if people choose to move on, that is totally ok. My intent is for “Happy Hooligans” to be a place of sharing and inspiration, as many of your blogs have been for me.

Thank you for reminding me of what’s important, and for taking the time to have a look at what we get up to and into here. The fact that many of you “love” the name, and like what you’ve seen puts a big smile on my face, and lets me know that I’m doing this for all the right reasons!

THANK YOU!! I already know that I’m going to love being a part of this community!

LONG LIVE HAPPY HOOLIGANS!! 🙂

By: The "Teacher Tom" You Actually Know

The "Teacher Tom" You Actually Know — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 04:17:01 +0000

Over the course of a lengthy teaching career, I’ve had the opportunity to mentor a smattering of students who truly thought that they might wish to pursue a career in writing. To each one of them, I offered my number one piece of advice which was to actually believe that your skills are worthy enough that people will
Want to read what you write. For regardless of the talent that each student possessed, there would surely be somebody, somewhere who would have something to say about some aspect of their craft. To endure criticism yet, remain faithful to your “voice” is what allows the great writes to become great. With you, Jackie, the advice remains as true as it does for my students. You have to have faith in the choices you make and not allow self-doubt to creep into your psyche. You have chosen a wonderful path for your life and have made outstanding choices so far. There is no reason to start doubting yourself now. I realize that it isn’t easy to put yourself out in the public eye and risk potentially negative reactions from your readers to what you write but, when your subject matter chronicles how much you care about something so precious as young children then, my dear Jackie, you have nothing to fear. Be proud of yourself for who you are and for what you are doing to make a positive difference in the lives of our children. Have faith in your own decisions……like the rest of us do, too.

By: Countryfun

Countryfun — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 03:00:10 +0000

Yes, your name is important. It is that initial impression. I like it. However, I am one that calls my kids by all kinds of terms from that special place in my heart for each of them with a smile and a sparkle in my voice. I totally understand your name choice. Maybe you should look at it that those that do not, will either venture into your blog and find value or will go on. Does it really matter if they go on? Before you change your name, may I suggest you think about the purpose of your blog. If it’s all about number of visitors than politically correct is probably important. If it’s about sharing, communicating with parents and other like minded educators ~ stay “Happy”.

By: Tasha

Tasha — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:45:47 +0000

I love the blog, but i have to say, the name did jar slightly -only for a second, but i did have an involuntary flinch. I think it�s because there was a discrepancy between the way I view children and what the title conjured up for me, personally, based on my own interpretation of the word. I recovered quickly and enjoyed the rest of the blog.

By: Tasha

Tasha — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:44:39 +0000

I love the blog, but i have to say, the name did jar slightly -only for a second, but i did have an involuntary flinch. I think it’s because there was a discrepancy between the way I view children and what the title conjured up for me, personally, based on my own interpretation of the word. I recovered quickly and enjoyed the rest of the blog.

By: Deborah Stewart

Deborah Stewart — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 02:44:23 +0000

I think it is important for folks to have a sense of humor and your blog name lets us know that you have a sense of humor, that you love your kids, and that it isn’t a perfect world. For this, I was attracted to your blog. If it raises an eyebrow – then perhaps you are better off letting those folks move onto where they want the unreal world of young children rather than the real.

By: Terri

Terri — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:45:50 +0000

I like the name myself and really don’t see any negative connotation with it. In fact, it brings to mind my childhood with kids running through the neighborhood and having great fun (and definitely not being trouble makers). I think of mud, sticks, jumping in puddle, climbing trees… all very delightful things!

By: amy

amy — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:32:20 +0000

I popped over from a link on Twitter, so as someone who has never been here before, I can tell you that I didn’t think anything negative when I saw “hooligan.”

I cannot stand the term “rugrat” though–it has always sounded condescending to me. And I abhor ants, so I don’t like that one at all. I don’t think you will ever please everybody, so please yourself first. 😉

By: Alex aka Whoa Mumma

Alex aka Whoa Mumma — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:18:43 +0000

I love Happy Hooligans! It’s playful and makes me think of little pirates for some reason.

But if it’s bothering you, change it. Don’t get caught up in the name, the content of your blog is more important.

By: katepickle

katepickle — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 01:17:50 +0000

my blog name is ‘picklebums’…. it’s a made up word that we call our kids when they are silly, or cranky, or funny, or happy. Before I started blogging ‘for real’, when I was just doing it for my it didn’t matter what my blog was called… but later on when I started to grow my blog a little and take on some paid advertisers etc I did think about my name and if it was a problem considering it has the word ‘bum’ in it and it doesn’t really make any sense.

In the long run I made the decision to keep the name and I’m glad I did… but I do think it is really worth looking at.

The words ‘happy hooligans’ has very positive connotations for me… but if it is worrying you, if it is niggling away at the back of your mind… then maybe it is worth changing it. Changing it in the early days of blogging is much better than even a few months down the track.

But most importantly.. if you did change it, what would you change it to? If you are thinking about growing your blog or monetising your blog you need to look at whether a matching domain name is available for the blog name you choose (and probably buy it) as that could be important to you down the track.

Hope that helps

By: ChildLedChaos

ChildLedChaos — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:02:20 +0000

I call my girls ‘my monsters’ and ‘the pests’ and don’t love them any less for it 🙂 Connotations of words vary by country and regions within countries (limiting myself to English-speaking world of course). I’m on the “not really sure about hooligan” bench even though I’d have no problem with Scallywag or Rugrat but I also don’t see a need to change your name – I didn’t actually think about it until you asked 🙂