How to Choose a Blog Name
I’d finally decided to use my own name as my blog name. Not a lotta sizzle in that, but at least it was safe, and after my Mitchellaneous mitchadventure, safe was a priority! Also, since I am literally the only Mitch Teemley on the planet, it was a guaranteed dot com. The only problem was that it didn’t say anything. Or did it? I decided to do some research.
Mitch is short for Mitchell, which according to every baby book in existence, except one, is a variation on the name Michael (“godlike”). The one exception says it’s Old Syrian for “little loaf of bread.” Hmm, Godlike + Bread = “Spiritual Sustenance!” Whoa! How deep can you get?
Teemley isn’t in the name books because it’s made-up. Well, sure, all names are made-up. But Teemley only goes back to the 1800s. Why? It turns out my great-great grandfather Conrad, the first Teemley (who was illegitimate, btw), altered his mother’s last name Dimler to Teemley (pretty much the way Dimler sounds with a German accent).
Interestingly, though, Dimler is derived from the word tumlen, to tumble, sometimes spelled timlen, which is even closer to “Teemley.” In medieval Germany, it came to mean any kind of “traveling entertainer.” (The Dimler family tree never intersects with Daimler, by the way, which is German for “traveling in a really expensive car”— damn.)
So, my search for meaning resulted in this rich (especially when embellished) definition: “A Godlike Little Loaf of Bread That Has Traveled All the Way from Medieval Germany to Entertain You!” Talk about originality! Talk about pregnant with meaning! Talk about—
Nah, I don’t buy it either.
Nevertheless, I decided to stick with my name for the blog title. Which meant I would need a more thematic subtitle. We’ll talk about that next time. Meanwhile, farewell from your friend Mitch,
The Godlike Little Loaf of Bread
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I love your humor about it. Fun stuff. 🙂
Thanks, Jeanne.
My pleasure. 🙂
Haha, love the loaf of bread. My ancestors are from Greece the name Idonidis, and no I don’t know how to spell that, became Nightingale. Ancestry is really interesting.
It is indeed, Martha.
It’s fantastic how you took the results of your research, pulled it together and…I adore ‘ The Godlike Little Loaf of Bread’
Why, thank you, Susan.
I think it is great to be a Godlike Little Loaf of Bread.
;>)
Your research technique is as creative as your script writing. 🙂
;>)
Nevertheless, I decided to stick with my name for the blog title. Which meant I would need a more thematic subtitle. We’ll talk about that next time. Meanwhile, farewell from your friend Mitch.
I learned a lot from your post.
I know you love your name.
Best regards 🙏
Arun
Thank you, Arun.
Namaste 🙏
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Nice. My surname means “marshy or boggy place.”
Oh, I never knew that. My name also has a meaning but in another language so won’t say…, but it is v old.
;>)
That is a nice recap of the meaning of your name. And you nicely entertain us with it, therefore it fits 🙂
Thank you, Anonymous.
Congratulations that you have arrived, Mitch. I love your sense of humor!
Aw, thank you, San!
Well, the story of the names in and of itself is entertaining, if not traveling. Except it seems to involve traveling both linguistically as well as one land to another. Now I could use, if possible, the story of The Power of Story. Though I believe in it, certainly. Engaging work, Mitch (little–probably not so little–bread of God)!
Thanks, Christopher. Actually, the next post in this serious will be about my subtitle The Power of Story.
Sounds like the Pillsbury Dough Boy story….
;>)
The medieval German traveling entertainer has me thinking there is some jester in your past! Which would actually explain a lot. 😉 I think it’s very cool your last name is made up and nobody else has it!
Last I checked, there were maybe 15 or 16 Teemleys in the world, all descended from the same great-great grandfather Conrad.
You have chosen well. Bread is the staff or stuff of life, they say.
This had me smiling;g from start to finish. Fun read!
Thanks, Terry!
I wondered about the Dimler/Daimler connection but then you answered the question for me. Names are fun.
They are!
Awww, I like it! 😊
I sometimes feel like every name is a made up one
Well, in a sense they are. Although a lot of names seem to have started out as discriptives or occupations.
True. They often have an origin that forged them
My father’s surname is German too. Woessner which means ‘wagon maker’ or ‘cartwright’ so maybe my Anglicized name would be Cartwright? I use my mother’s surname tho. Hunter?? Ya. 😛
Exactly, my Anonymous friend. So many surnames began as occupations.
That is pretty cool, Mitch. I am anxious to see what you come with for the subtitle.
That is interesting history about your name and amazing that it is unique. In Scandinavia (I’m originally from Sweden) it used to be a tradition to the change the last name each generation. If your dad’s first name was Lars and your last name became Larsson (assuming you were a boy). This eventually stopped. In my case my ancestors name was Paul, so it should have been Paulson. However, he fought with the Vikman platoon (Viking platoon) in a war against Russia (1809) and he kept the name Vikman. Both W and V is pronounced like ‘V’ in Swedish and the V was often interchanged for W so Vikman became Wikman, and that stayed.
I’ve heard of the Scandinavian naming tradition. I find it fascinating, but assume it must be hard to trace.
I’ve only ever known one other Mitch in my life, and certainly no Teemleys.
I’m not surprised.
My sister’s given name is Michele. Rarely does anyone call her by that name. She’s always been Mitch.
Nice. I’ve only met a few Mitch’s, and never a female one.
Believe me, she’s a force to be reckoned with. The hurricane with the same name proved it.
;>)
Our names mean more than we know. Blessings
Thanks, Pete.
Godlike little loaf of bread—lol! I’m glad you’re sticking to YOUR name, Mitch. It will never go stale, my friend.
;>)
Love the story, glad you stuck with the original. Your humor always keeps me smiling!
Thanks, Peggy!
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