Blog-tember Challenge prompt: Tell us about your blog name. Where did it come from?
My blog name, Anna Angela, is my first name. Creative, isn’t it? It came from my parents, mostly my mom. There are two main reasons I chose my first name and it’s a little embarrassing to admit. Here goes anyway.
Reason 1 is two-fold. First, God asked for my writing. I wanted to honor Him with my writing. I had a Blogger blog and was struggling with whether or not to start a new one.
Second, I needed an author’s website. I knew I was headed that way and knew I need a website with my name in it.
I finally decided to strike two birds with one stone (that’s a horrible saying, by the way). I would start a new blog/author website.
There were more and more Anna Angela’s going online so I jumped on the domain before someone else could take it.
Why not include my last name? That’s Reason 2. I knew I was going to get married one day and my last name would change, so I didn’t include it in my domain. That’s the embarrassing part since, well, I’m single!
In my defense, I at least thought of branding. Across social media, I am @annaangela with a few exceptions like Instagram and Snapchat. Because I took forever switching to a smartphone, someone claimed my usual handle. My Instagram and Snapchat handle is @annaangelars.
And since my blog name isn’t very creative, let me tell you why I love my name.
Anna is from the Hebrew name Hannah and means favor or grace. Anna is also the name of a prophetess in the Book of Luke who prophesied over a baby Jesus when he was presented at the temple. Angela is Latin derived from Greek and means messenger of God or angel messenger of God.
I think it goes together. I believe in the importance of names. In the Bible, names are so specific to the parents’ or unborn child’s circumstance.
The way my life turned out reflects my name…or vice versa. I went to a Christian college on a pastoral track for children. To become a messenger of God to kids, speaking over their lives and helping them come to the grace of God. As a writer, I write on faith in every season, hopefully being a messenger of God and speaking faith and grace into the lives of people.
