A crisis of identity

Don’t think me wrong, Dear Reader; I like my name. I’ve had it almost 51 years now, I’m quite used to it.

But I’ve been looking at getting a new, preferably shorter domain name and, to be frank (or Francis) it isn’t going so well. Nominet and I are having quite the argument about sunrise periods and Domain Registrars doing their own thing while the rest of us mere mortals have to wait. I wrote a bit about that last year.

I could just add ‘PR’ at the end, but that pigeonholes me a bit – which I dislike, and is one reason I changed my Twitter handle a bit – and ignores my librarianship past of which I’m still proud. And it doesn’t help that I’m not even the only comms-related Gary Taylor working in Sheffield at the moment.

The Name of The Rose

I admit that I’m the kind of person that equates “personal brand” with “getting a tattoo”, but as Shakespeare wrote:

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet

Romeo and Juliet

If you don’t believe me on the Shakespeare, you should ask an expert. Try Gary Taylor.

But if I can’t have my full name, how should I shorten it? Am I a gtaylor or a garyt? To friends over the years I’ve been “G”, “GT” and “Mr T”, none of which really help. Definitely not ‘Gazza’, which seems to be doing the rounds at my new place. Growing up in the seventies, my primary school headmaster nicknamed me ‘Gary Glitter’, which with the benefit of hindsight is wrong on so many levels.

Perhaps I should take a leaf out of Homer’s book, and rename myself Max Power? Checks… no, that domain name is also taken.

“Eminence Gris” is a bit long (and a tad pretentious). But broadly accurate. Then again, so is “Eeyore”. Let’s be honest, I’m more of a “Captain Grumpy” these days.

Or how about something more abstract? That worked well for Consignia.

I could burnish my European credentials a bit. Not with a .eu address, if we have to hand them back in 14 months, of course, but I am a (small ‘e’) europhile.

Ultimately, this is down to my decision to have one site for everything: professional, personal and all points in between. But I feel a change coming on. Be afraid, be very afraid.