Best Blog Names – 19 Great Ways To Name Your Blog

The best blog names all seem to be taken – that’s the challenge that every blogger faces when they start out.

Choosing a blog name is not easy. And once you’ve decided, you have to live with it. So, you need to get it right. This article gives you 19 great formulas for choosing a blog name you won’t regret.

But before we dive in, here are 5 five key characteristics of good blog names.

Five Attributes of Good Blog Names

The best blog names:

no more than four syllables and preferably 2 or 3
make it pronounceable
it should instantly tell the reader what the blog is about
it must pass the ‘phone test’ (if you told someone the name of the blog over the phone, they could write it down without you having to spell it for them)
it should provoke a reaction in the reader

19 Formulas For Best Blog Names

To research this article I analysed the blog names of 75 successful and well-known blogs. They all had blog names that were either witty, attention-grabbing, or memorable.I wanted to know how the best blog names are created.

This is what I found.

#1. Use Alliteration

Alliteration is a device used in many of the best blog names.

Alliteration is the repetition of the same sound or letter at the beginning of each word. You often see it in newspaper headlines (e.g. “Romney In A Rout”, “Bustin Bieber”).

Alliteration is fun and grabs attention – that’s why it’s used in headlines.

Here are some examples of blog names that use alliteration:

Savouring Simplicity (Lifestyle)
Katie In Kansas (Lifestyle)
Words of Williams (Personal Finance)
Making Sense of Cents (Personal Finance)
Cats Who Code (Web Developer)
Pilates for the People (Exercise)

#2. Use or Adapt a Popular Saying

This is another technique that the best blog names often use. Take a popular saying, such as ‘Life in the fast lane’ and swap out one of the words for your keyword.

These kinds of blog names cause people to pause, even just for a second, as they try to recall the adage or the maxim that your blog name is based on.

It’s another way of getting attention and making something stick in the reader’s mind.

Here are some examples:

Beside The Point (Finance)
Heart Via Stomach (Recipes)
Life in the Bike Lane (Fitness)
Two Peas & Their Pod (Recipes)
My Goodness Me (Diet & Recipes)

#3. Use a Pun

Some of the best best blog names contain a pun.

A pun is a play on words that exploits the different possible meanings of a word or the fact that there are words which sound alike but have different meanings.

Again, the reader pauses for a fraction of a second while they figure out what the word should have been. It’s another way to be memorable.

Here are some examples:

Turnip Your Life (Health & Fitness)
Fit-Bottomed Girls (Health & Fitness)
Economies of Kale (Living on a Budget)
Peas in a Blog (Recipes)
All Groan Up (Career Advice)
Gin n Sardonic (Lifestyle)
Second Star on the Wright (Lifestyle)
Tainted Canvas (Painting)
Budget Bytes (Living on a Budget and Recipes)
Good Financial Cents (Personal Finance)
My Darling Lemon Thyme (Recipes)
Planet of the Grapes (Wine)

#4. Combine Two Concepts in One Word

The best blog names often combine two ideas or concepts in one word.

Take two words that sum up what your blog is about and put them together to make one word:

Frugalwoods (Living on a Budget)
Listverse (Top 10 Lists)
WPBeginner (Blogging and WordPress)
Blogilates (Health & Fitness)
Copyblogger (Blogging)
Problogger (Blogging)
BarefootBlonde (Lifestyle & Travel)
Yoga In Heels (Fitness & Fashion)
Zen Habits (Self Improvement & Productivity)

#5. Keyword +Hacks

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a hack as a “simple and clever tip or technique for accomplishing some familiar task more easily and efficiently”.

So a good blog name formula is ‘hack’ plus your keyword:

Mind Hacks (Psychology)
StudyHacks (Study Habits)
The Wallet Hacks Blog (Personal Finance)
The Travel Hack (Travel)
Life Hacks and Tips (Life Hacking)

#6. Be Purely Descriptive

Some of the best blog names are simply descriptive, without any attempt at humour or double entendre:

Digital Photography School (Photography)
Wholesome Cook (Recipes)
Ramblings of a Confused 20Something (Lifestyle)
bloggingbasics101 (Blogging)
startbloggingonline (Blogging)
bloggertipstricks (Blogging)
Fluent In 3 Months (Learn a Language)

MORE ARTICLES ABOUT BLOGGING

#7. Use Some Slang

Putting some slang in your blog name will give your blog some ‘street cred’ and a dash of humor:

Iwannabeablogger (Blogging)
Gimme Some Oven (Recipes)

#8. Keyword +Wizard

If your blog is about helping people to do something, ‘wizard’ is a good word to have in your blog name:

Bloggingwizard (Blogging)
Lifestyle Wizard (Lifestyle)
Swimming Wizard (Swimming)
Wizard of Odds (Gambling)

#9. Be Humorous

Humor is an easy way to make a connection with people, so if you can make your blog name humorous you’re off to a good start:

Will Run For Margaritas (Health & Fitness)
I Can Has Cheez Burger? (Cat Memes)
Multiple Momstrosity (Parenting)
Olga, The Traveling Bra (Travel)
Sad and Useless (Humor)
Generation Meh (Personal Development)

#10. Keyword + Type of Person

I recently had to put my grandfather’s antique collection in storage, in a place called ‘Storage King’. It reminded me of a mattress company called ‘Captain Snooze’.

Keyword +type or rank of person is a well-used branding technique in the business world and it’ll work for your blog as well (nerd, geek, tyrant, boss, diva):

Blogtyrant (Blogging)
Financial Samurai (Personal Finance)
WPMayor (WordPress Plugins)
Yoga Dork (Health & Fitness)
GeekDad (Parenting & Technology)
MoneyGeek (Investing)

Formula 10 - Keyword plus type of person

#11. Drop a Vowel

We’re all familiar with brands such as Flickr, Tumblr, Scribd, and Grindr. Dropping a vowel is a way to brand your blog as hip and cool:

Kitchn (Recipes)
Gardn Tips (Gardening)
Fashn Fever (Fashion)

#12. Eat, Pray, Love (the Rule of Three)

Elizabeth Gilbert’s autobiography was a runaway best-seller and whether you enjoyed the book or not, you have to admit it had a catchy title.

Things that come in threes are known to be catchy (as in Julius Caesar’s ‘I Came, I Saw, I Conquered’, the French motto “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité”, or the oath used in courts of law “The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”).

Move Nourish Believe (Lifestyle)
Eat, Lift and Be Happy (Lifestyle)
Eat Run Write (Lifestyle)
Seek Dare Love (Lifestyle)
Body Love Wellness (Health & Fitness)
You Me Naturally (Fashion & Beauty)
Read Travel Become (Travel)
Living, Learning, Eating (Lifestyle)
Spoon Fork Bacon (Recipes)
Think Save Retire (Personal Finance)
Eat, Sleep, Draw [Drawing]

Formula #12 - Eat, Pray, Love (the Rule of Three)

#13. Niche Term +Keyword

A lot of the best blog names simply add a word to your keyword that narrows down your audience to a subset of the main niche.

One of the keys to succeeding in online business is to ‘niche down’ (e.g. instead of SEO, try SEO for real estate agents).

In the first two examples below, the blogs are targeting (1) fitness for geeks or non-sporty types and (2) exercise regimes for mums:

Nerd Fitness (Health & Fitness)
Workout Mommy (Health & Fitness)
Money Saving Mom (Living on a Budget)
Stilettos and Green Juice – (Wellness)
The Blonde Salad (Fashion)

#14. Use The Element of Surprise

If all else fails you can always grab people’s attention using surprise or even shock. This blog is about a famous Premier League football club in England:

Arseblog [Sport – Arsenal Soccer]
Dumb Little Man (Tips for Life)

#15. Keyword + Republic

Some of the best blog names add the word ‘republic’ to the keyword.

‘Republic’ implies that you have a very specific audience who see themselves as distinct from the rest of the world.

It’s a good way to identify with followers in a particular niche:

Cook Republic (Recipes)
Blogger Republic (Blogging)
The Blonde Republic (Fashion & Beauty)
Data Republic (IT)
Nutrition Republic (Nutrition)
Travel Republic (Travel)
Front Porch Republic (Politics)

#16. Simply +Keyword

Adding ‘Simply” to your keyword is another tried and tested naming technique:

Simply Recipes (Recipes)
Live Simply (Lifestyle)
Simply a Blog (Lifestyle & Recipes)
Simply Cycling (Outdoors & Fitness)

#17. Modifier +Keyword

The best blog names often take the keyword and then add a modifier.

If you’re a baker, what kind of baker? What kind of fashionista, vegan, or gardener?

The Lazy Baker (Recipes)
Minimalist Baker (Recipes)
ProBlogger (Blogging)
Smartblogger (Blogging)
Lazy Girl Running (Fitness)

#18. Use Your Own Name

Some people advise against using your name in the title of your blog because you’re losing an opportunity to tell people what your blog is about.

And that’s a valid point.

But here’s an advantage of naming your blog after yourself.

Blogs evolve.

A year down the track you may decide you want to change your focus slightly or even the entire topic.

That’s fine if your if your blog name is simply your name. But not so easy if you chose a very specific and descriptive name.

Here are some successful blogs named after their owners:

Jeff Bullas (Marketing)
Michael D Pollock (Life Coaching)
Robbie Richards (SEO)
Scott H. Young (Productivity & Self Improvement)
James Clear (Productivity & Self Improvement)
Michael Hyatt (Leadership)
Matthew Woodward (SEO)

#19. Add Your Name to the Mix

Of course, some of the best blog names include the best of both worlds: they contain the blogger’s name and they tell people what the blog is about, all in one title:

Deliciously Ella (Recipes)
A Little Bit of Lisa (Parenting)
Joanna Muses (Faith & Life)
Miranda Writes (Writing & Publishing)
Cookie and Kate (Recipes)
Sally’s Baking Addiction (Baking)

Conclusion

Coming up with a great blog name is not that difficult. Just use one of these 19 formulas:

Use Alliteration (e.g. Words of Williams)
Use or Adapt a Popular Saying (e.g. Life in the Bike Lane)
Use a Pun (e.g. Economies of Kale)
Combine Two Concepts in One Word (e.g. Blogilates)
Keyword +Hacks (e.g. The Wallet Hacks Blog)
Be Purely Descriptive (e.g. Digital Photography School)
Use Some Slang (e.g. Gimme Some Oven)
Keyword +Wizard (e.g. Blogging Wizard)
Be Humorous (e.g. Will Run For Margaritas)
Keyword + Type of Person (e.g. Yoga Dork)
Drop a Vowel (e.g. Fashn Fever)
The Rule of Three (e.g. Eat Run Write)
Niche Term +Keyword (e.g. Nerd Fitness)
Use Shock Value (e.g. Dumb Little Man)
Keyword + Republic (e.g. Cook Republic)
Simply +Keyword (e.g. Simply Recipes)
Modifier +Keyword (e.g. The Lazy Baker)
Use Your Own Name (e.g. Jeff Bullas)
Add Your Name to the Mix (e.g. A Little Bit of Lisa)

Have fun with it and don’t stress out!