What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet;
Yes, a quote from Romeo and Juliet by that most most esteemed of playwrights, Shakespeare. You have to hand it to him really, his views and philosophies concerning the human condition ware rather brilliant, even now som four hundred year later. But, does a name really matter? Yes.
I have a weird name. Taraz. My last name isn't any less strange to most people. At least, where I grew up and also, where I now live. Having a strange name has pros and cons to it. The Pros centre around the idea that being unique and standing out of the crowd has its advantages, the Cons are that being unique and standing out of the crowd has its disadvantages. But, we are not here to talk about my name, we are here to talk about yours. Maybe.
Steem or Steemit in the name? About 65 million others. Same with Whale and Crypto. Sure, some of the first signups were pretty excited about the concept and may have even been part of the dev team, but now?Do you know the account @steemit? Sure you do, it has 65 million STEEM in it. Do you know how many other accounts have
@
steemawesomeness, steemalicious, steemking, steemmeupscotty, whalesteem, supercrypto, steemwhalecryptoking45, wha1esteemitsteemysteem, steemi7whalelord, cryptowhalelambo, steemitcryptotrader756, cryptosteemtraderwhale, steemit-tradercrypto, cryptocoin-whalesteem, whalesfromthecrypto ........
I don't think they are real but, you get the idea (that last one is awesome and available btw). My point is, that when it comes to standing out of the crowd, these names just don't cut it. Yes, I know, I know @teamsteem does well but, he is also account number 9,265. He has been here a while and works hard in the community. It is the new signups that should think through it more.
The reason is that there are only about 500,000 accounts registered so far but, that is expected to rise quickly. You may think that it is great to get a Steemit, Crypto or Whale name now but, unless you are going to make that name big, it is going to blend in with all of the others out there now and those to come.
Nearly every time I click on one of these types of names, I can almost be guaranteed that they are a Duster with 15.003 STEEM POWER. There is nothing wrong with that and it is great to be optimistic, but calling yourself steemwhalekingofthenorth is going to look silly if a year down the track your account is 15.428 STEEM. Sure, it may make you feel awesome to have such a powerful name but, this is the blockchain.
With so few accounts on the platform, you can have almost any name you could possible want. This is a ground floor opportunity really and, even if you don't want to use it now, perhaps you might want to reserve your real name for the future. Especially if it something like Bob Smith as if this really does take off, you might want to go legit because bobbybigdick-69 might not be suitable for marketing to clients looking to get your expert advice on blockchain technologies.
At some point, the hope is that getting a name here is like getting a google email address, all taken. So, for those joined and creating alts or, those onboarding people, think through your naming practices and advice you give a little. I am not saying you have to use your real name with social security number and it might not mean much now but perhaps in the future, you will think differently.
This goes for the app developers too, especially those that are looking to build SMT projects. Hopefully, some of your projects will absolutely boom but, think about the naming of them now as it is terrible for you and confusing for users if you must rebrand later because the name was poorly chosen.
It is also smart to remember that Steemit and the Steem blockchain are different. Steemit need not survive for the Steem blockchain to be massive. Steemit is just one of the frontends. But, the account names will survive even if Steemit doesn't as they are the ID of the account itself.
Yes, it is good to have a name that stands out but, remember that it is a name that stands out and is easily remembered so, it makes it a little easier to find if you behave well, or poorly as the case may be.
Also, if you are looking for engagement, j0hn5m1th is not easy to type and since tagging doesn't work, you are likely adding steps to someone's ability to remember and find you. Not wise in an attention deficit disorder world.
There are lots of things to think about when choosing a name but look at it kind of like a tattoo. Sure, at 18 that spider on your face seemed a brilliant idea but now that you just finished your law degree and need a job, hindsight says differently.
Just some thoughts to be thought.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
"With so few accounts on the platform, you can have almost any name you could possible want. "
Stop looking at me
I pictured your monster the whole way...
EDIT: the one @saywha drew ;)
What an interesting topic. This one of the most things that us treated superficial, but in sone cultures names mean a lit and are often chosen as a symbol to something. Importance of name...defines our character and who we really are.
Haha yes you have a lot of explaining to do.. lol
At least you will be remembered :D
This is very good advice, on a platform like steemit where you can't change your username, it will always be so useful to consider and think twice about the username before creating one.
A friend of mine used a certain weird name it makes it hard for most of us to locate him though we are slowly adapting. He wanted to change it and lol.. that's when he realized it's not that easy.
Nice article will be able to tell people to be mindful of their usernames before signing up here.
what an interesting post. I also chose the name. and only half true. a lot said for yourself
I work as a teacher in College, and believe me, a lot of these names are strange too))))
I think this is one of the reasons it's hard to find people you know. Very few use there actual name. I never thought about that when naming. I linked it to my blog name. So there could be 100 plus people o know. But without knowing there Steem name it's hard to identify.
As for Steem and whale names I initial thoughts they had weight but after looking at a few wallets. Clearly not. Lol.
There are likely to be many different front ends with the possibility to use the name across all even though only using one or two of them (It happens now). With more people coming in, search and communities will take different forms.
I think personal names are boring and they don't really stand out!
I have creatovert across all platforms and I own www.creatovert.com . So, it's good for me I guess!
Ermmm.. you are kinda right. Some can be boring but some of them really stand out.
yes, there is nothing wrong with non personal names but, as you said, you use t across all platforms and have the domain...
@castleberry is actually my real name. As creative as it may sound... I went with something easy to remember as you said! I thought about creating accounts and getting dibs on names... like the .com's so someone would have to buy it off me! Is that greedy and wrong? @google @apple @etc I even thought about making one called @BéarnaiseAnders
lol.
I think that even though people are parking names like that, regulation will come where they have to hand it over or can't use it. not now perhaps, but at some point.
In the wise worlds of John Connor "The future's not set. There's no fate but what we make for ourselves."
Looks like someone beat to it! hahahhahahahaha
My mother did a brilliant job by choosing my name. It is quite unique and I kept it here as it is because I knew and understand what you wrote here. Our identity should be outstanding here and should define ourselves. I couldn't think of anything else except my name.
I asked for the meaning of your name last time, you wrote a whole article about it. Hahaha :p Kidding :D
Yeah names can be important and some people take them seriously.
No, it was actually a post sitting in my drafts (I have many) and in chat last night something reminded me to look at it again. :)
Okh. Seems like my writings remind you good things. How about you have a look at my blog to find some writings which might help you remember some more good things for your next article :p :p Hehehe
I would tattoo my screen name on my ass. Just sayin...
But yes, you are correct, personal branding is very important. If you are trying to get big on the platform or merely remembered then you need some uniqueness about you.
Your naming convention is near perfect. Perfect would be Gincake.
Yeah. Name really convenes a special attribute of what someone or something stands for.
People come up with some pretty bizarre names for their kids in the real world. Yours is barely a blip on the radar of strange. Somewhere out there is a child named Hashtag, another named Ninja Qwest. There's even someone named Sssst. A couple in New Zealand decided on Superman after the government denied them their first choice of 4Real because it contained a digit.
In Germany, where I currently live, it's not legal to give your child a name that might screw up its life. They might be on to something.
At least the people here get to choose their own weird names instead of having them bestowed by their parents before they even know what a name is. If someone want to be bobbybigdick-69, well... more power to them, I guess. I hope at least their parents had more wisdom.
Yes, parents have a lot to answer for.
I ma in Finland now and the names have to be approved by the government, the downside is that there are only a few thousand names for 5.5 million people so there is lots of repetition. My Ex was Miia, at her school, was Tiia and Piia. They all had the same last name but were not related. There is more freedom for foreigners here though.
People of course do what they want, same with face tattoos but, there are reactions to all actions.
For a moment I felt like you were talking to me. But I get your point though. If you're really going to make it big , you should stand out , be unique. Our names really go a long way and helps us build the reputation we seek for. Thanks for sharing.
Clio is the muse of history and I am a historian, so I thought Clio was an appropriate name for me. I will someday soon write a post about the historical Clio.Reading your post, I thought I was glad I chose a rather easy name, @clio.
I would like to read that. I didn't realise i wasn't following you. corrected now :)
Thaks for sharing
I LOVE THIS POST.
nice and interesting
please follow me @sohailomi
https://steemit.com/dtube/@zainu786/enjoying-great-moments-with-besties
Do you know what dropping unrelated links with no supporting text on other people's articles gets?
Nice work here
So true that many usernames here aren't taken yet. I couldn't think of anything other than my usual gaming name. Makes me think twice about it, considering that perhaps I could have gone for a better or more catchy name. :) Oh well! Let's hope it sticks!
Great read, definitely worth it!