How I Named My Newsletter

These stories are presented by Beefree, an email and landing page builder that helps you create better, and faster. With over 1,700 free templates and an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, freelancers and teams can quickly design high-performing emails and landing pages. Build emails in a fraction of the time and deploy them easily through platforms like ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, or Mailchimp. 82% of users say they build emails faster thanks to Beefree — and 63% have seen click-through rates improve by more than 11%. Start creating better, faster emails today. Get started for free, and upgrade as you grow.

I put less time into deciding what to name my newsletter Evil Witches than I do my average restaurant order. My newsletter is about parenting and motherhood (and the many other things people who do parenting/motherhood care about). It was spun out of a Facebook group of the same name, which I started in 2018 as a place “to complain about her husband and/or children in a safe space.” I undoubtedly shot that name out one exhausted weeknight evening, maybe a glass or two of wine in. 

There are many ways my newsletter’s name could be better. It could reference parenting or motherhood, for one thing. Another key weakness: Whenever I search for my articles online, I typically have to put “newsletter” or “Substack” in the search so I don’t get served articles on evil witches lowercase. 

And yet, I still love the name. I’m happy I picked something spontaneous and true rather than overworked or cute. Actually, it does work because I have plenty of readers who aren’t moms (my favorite kind of reader, to be honest — it means I’ve achieved my goal of expanding the typical bounds of parenting writing). Dads and child-free people can be witchy, too.

How do other operators decide to title their publications? Some are straightforward and clear — The News is about, well, the news and The Food Section was created to feel like the food section of a great newspaper. Others lean into a writer’s name or topic, like how Pit Gottschalk’s newsletter, Fever Pit’ch, is a play on his name and Nick Hornsby’s soccer autobiography, “Fever Pitch.” Some names are carefully considered, informed by past mistakes. (See Dan’s approach to naming Inbox Collective.) Others made a last-minute gut decision. Some have more than a few regrets! 

I asked several newsletter creators how and why they originally named their newsletter, and their answers were as varied as their publications. Here’s what they told me. 

Big Salad

Who launched it: Joanna Goddard

What it’s about: Lifestyle, parenting and culture

When brainstorming a name for our newsletter, we wanted it to complement the name of our pre-existing lifestyle website, Cup of Jo. (Kind of like choosing a name for your second child that sounds good with the name of your first child.) Since Cup of Jo is a play on the nickname for coffee (“cup of joe”), we spitballed a bunch of food-related newsletter names: 

• Airport Candy 
• The Grapevine 
• Cheese Plate

Finally, we landed on Big Salad, which we loved because it felt like the same food universe as Cup of Jo. It also gave a nod to the Seinfeld episode where Elaine ordered a big salad. It felt like a playful, cheerful, memorable name, and we were sold.

We also made a list of existing newsletter names that we liked and realized they were mostly two-word names — Maybe Baby, Evil Witches, Burnt Toast. So, we tried to focus on coming up with two-word names. And we didn’t want a title that described the newsletter too literally. Our newsletter features people’s favorite things and life advice, but we didn’t want to call it “Favorite Things” or “Pro Tips” or something that would hem us in too much and make it hard to change our editorial approach in the future. Big Salad was a fun name but abstract enough that we could grow and shift our mission, layout, etc., beneath that — if we decided to.

Finally, you want a name that’s easy for people to remember. Many movies, books, websites, newsletters, etc. have vague names that blend together (say, the romcoms “Down to You” and “‘Til There Was You”). Big Salad is a clear visual and stays in your mind.

Big Undies

Who launched it: Corinne Fay

What it’s about: Clothes and how they function in your life

I had the idea and intention to start a newsletter for many years before I actually did it. The name that I had been rolling around in my mind when I would daydream about it was “The Shirtsleeve.” But when I asked a friend about it, she immediately hated it and said it sounded like a self-serious 2000s menswear blog. Then I asked my sister about the name, and she also said, “Absolutely not.” She said the name needed to be something funnier, something like… Big Undies. 

I immediately loved that name. It just felt right. I didn’t do any further testing, but I have occasionally second-guessed it when I’m emailing someone I don’t know. I love the name because it is weird and silly. I definitely wonder if it seems too silly sometimes. Ultimately, I love it, and it feels way more like me than “The Shirtsleeve.”

Books & Fiction

Who launched it: Dan Oshinsky, while working at The New Yorker

What it’s about: Literature

When I was at Buzzfeed, we launched lots of newsletters with boring names. Our daily newsletter was called “BuzzFeed Today.” Our weekly newsletter about cats was called “This Week in Cats.” Boring, straightforward names worked for us — readers knew what they were getting into right away, so we didn’t have to waste too much time explaining why a newsletter would be valuable. If you liked BuzzFeed and liked the topic — DIY, cooking, news, whatever — you would probably sign up.

But when I got to the New Yorker, I wanted to launch something with a more exciting name. For weeks, we workshopped different names for a new newsletter, which would highlight our best content about books and fiction. We played with lots of different phrases from the New Yorker lexicon. There were all sorts of words that editors used internally that had been passed from staff member to staff member over the years, and we thought one of those might be a good option for the newsletter. In the end, we realized that we’d have to spend so much time explaining to readers what those words meant and that trying to be a bit too clever would probably hurt our ability to grow the list.

So we launched the new newsletter as “Books & Fiction.” It was boring and self-explanatory — and quickly became one of the most popular newsletters in our catalog.

Sometimes, boring works.

Garbage Day

Who launched it: Ryan Broderick

What it’s about: Internet culture

The name has two meanings. The first is that Garbage Day started as a weekly email that I’d fill up with all of the weird little internet stories my bosses at the time were not interested in. So it was literally garbage day — here’s a bunch of junk no one wants, etc. But there is a second meaning. There is an old viral clip from a movie called “Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2” (which I have never seen) where a guy screams, “Garbage day!” When I was in college, working for the student humor magazine, this clip would play pretty much constantly on a loop. And it has been burned into my head ever since. So, it seemed like a perfect name.

Honey Stay Super

Who launched it: Kimberly Harrington

What it’s about: Big life changes

My newsletter was originally called Amateur Hour, which against the advice of everyone on Earth, was named for my first book. Not only was that an actual amateur move, but it was also dumb, since I didn’t launch my newsletter until after my book was published.

I changed it to Honey Stay Super when I decided to commit more seriously to using my newsletter as an outlet for my writing versus a blog-type thing with no direction or real purpose. Honey Stay Super is a name I came up with 16 years ago after I was laid off from my last full-time job. A friend from college always used to sign his emails with “stay super,” which I always loved, and always wanted to steal. I signed off my last email from that job with just that, “stay super,” because it was the job I moved cross country for, where I was employed when I had both my kids, and a foundation for a lot of professional growth and relationships. I was stunned, but I still managed to squeak that sentiment out.

Because I needed to immediately pull together a portfolio site for my unexpected job as a freelance creative director, my first decision was not to use my own name because it struck me as, well, not all that creative. I tried to register staysuper.com, but sadly, it was taken. I couldn’t let the sentiment of that name go, though. I tried to figure out what to add to it that wouldn’t feel forced. I decided to add “honey” because it felt like encouragement, something someone who loved you might say during a hard or big moment.

This name has taken on even more layers for me, as I went from writing about motherhood and little kids, to ending my marriage, writing another book about our non-traditional separation, and going through a volatile and identity-imploding divorce. It continues to apply even more as I write about being over 50, non-monogamy, sex, dating, being an empty nester, and soon my move out of Vermont after 21 years.

Of course, as a person who actually does naming and messaging hierarchies for a living, I unintentionally created a real mess of crossover. Honey Stay Super is not only my newsletter and my brand portfolio site, but it’s also my personal (private) Instagram account. But Kimberly Harrington is both my author site and my public Instagram. Only proving that we really can be our own worst clients.

Important, Not Important

Who launched it: Quinn Emmett

What it’s about: Science and activism

It’s a ridiculous name that is too long and that I’ve been halfheartedly trying to bury since the moment I first deployed it.

The initial version years ago was the world’s laziest Squarespace page where — I am 1,000 and worked in print for a long time — the “above the fold” part of the page was “Important” news, and “below the fold” was “Not Important” news, which was generally what most people actually saw in their headlines. 

It’s got its own brand now and is a whole media company-thing, but the general idea I actually do stand by is that we need to actually, collectively pay attention to the big stuff, how we got here, and what we can do about it.

In Pursuit of Clean Countertops

Who launched it: Sara Petersen

What it’s about: Momfluencer critique

I named this newsletter In Pursuit of Clean Countertops because I suck at keeping my countertops clean, because I feel calmer when my countertops are clean, because clean countertops are aspirational, because momfluencers make clean countertops look like clarity, because the “right” clean countertops speak to “good taste,” which speaks to class, which speaks to race, which speaks to gender, which speaks to performance which speaks to momfluencer culture. I could’ve named the newsletter “In Pursuit of Beachy Waves.” Or “In Pursuit of the Perfect Red Lip.” Or “In Pursuit of Ecru Linen Jumpsuits.” Or “In Pursuit of Maternal Peace.” The point is, momfluencer culture (and all that entails!), for me, is always about pursuit. And more often than not, when I try to understand a pursuit (where it stems from, who it benefits, who it erases) I can understand something larger about the world.

Is My Kid the Asshole?

Who launched it: Melinda Moyer

What it’s about: Parenting and raising kids

I started my newsletter back in 2020, six months before my book “How to Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes,” came out. I started the newsletter specifically to support the book launch, and I had no idea what to call it. I essentially texted “help!” to my friend Virginia Sole-Smith, who had already started Burnt Toast, and she’s the one who suggested Is My Kid the Asshole?, based on the book title and the subreddit [Am I the Asshole?]. I immediately loved it and didn’t seriously consider any other names!

Fast forward four years, and yes, I plan to rename and rebrand it. The focus of the newsletter has broadened a lot since I started it — I’m no longer only writing about raising non-assholes, but also about being a parent more generally and all the things that go along with that. So although I still love the name, and I know a lot of my readers do too, I want to rename it to better capture its new scope. It’ll be called “Now What,” because so much of my writing is a response to things happening in the world. Your son just started quoting Andrew Tate; now what? There was another school shooting; now what? Your daughter has started counting calories; now what? It also works well with the focus of my second book, “Hello Cruel World!”, which is about the collective angst so many parents have right now about the state of the world and what we can do to raise kids who can survive and thrive in it. (By the way, if you think Now What is a bad name or that rebranding is a questionable idea for any reason, please let me know! It’s not too late!) 

As for suggestions for writers who are trying to name their newsletters: I admit I have long wished that Is My Kid the Asshole? was a) shorter and b) didn’t have a swear word in it — that’s made it harder to market and share. I would suggest that writers think about a title that captures the spirit of their writing — what makes their approach unique? — and to consider that their focus or scope may change over time, so if possible, pick a name that could still fit if that happens. In other words, don’t be too specific.

Momspreading

Who launched it: Sarah Wheeler

What it’s about: The absurdity of parenting

My husband and I originally came up with Momsplaining. Then we googled it and realized it was a Kristen Bell show. When we then thought of Momspreading we googled it, only got porn, and were satisfied!

Oldster

Who launched it: Sari Botton

What it’s about: Getting older

The name Oldster Magazine came to me in an early morning dream on August 31, 2021. I made a joke about it on Twitter, then realized, “Oh, wait, that’s actually kind of a good name…” That same day, I launched Oldster, and it was an instant hit. I had tapped into something other people were thinking about. 

Oldster is a word that was once something of a slur, and that gave me a chance to reframe it, just as I’d wanted to reframe the experience of — and attitudes toward — aging. But Oldster wasn’t my first foray into this subject. When I was the essays editor at Longreads, I launched and edited a series called Fine Lines, which also explored what it means to travel through time in a human body at every phase of life. “To Grieve is to Carry Another Time,” an essay by Matthew Salesses that I commissioned and edited for that series, went on to be included in The Best American Essays 2020. When I left Longreads in June 2020, I knew I couldn’t take that series or its name with me, and I knew I wasn’t done with the subject. So I have been overjoyed that a little over a year later, my brain coughed up Oldster Magazine, and that so many people have really latched onto it.

The Purse

Who launched it: Lindsey Stanberry

What it’s about: Finance, money, and motherhood

Before I left my job at Fortune, I started noodling around with the idea of launching something. I knew I wanted to get back to my Refinery29 roots and write about women and money. [Editor’s note: Lindsey launched the popular series Money Diaries there.] I knew I wanted it to be for a slightly older audience (i.e. me and my friends). I had a particular tone and vision in mind — something honest and funny and real, not necessarily too feminine and definitely not cutesy. But also, I don’t think of myself as very cool, so it was never going to be something too highbrow.

Creating an editorial vision was easy. Landing on a name was not. I remember pretty early in the brainstorming process, I texted my former R29 work wife, Vanessa, and asked her what she thought of “The Purse.” She sort of nicely told me to keep thinking. For a few months, I obsessed over it. I had a list in my Notes app, and I added to it all the time. I liked “Penny” but I had a friend who ran a now-defunct women-and-money group out of Chicago with that name. I was listening to The Highwomen’s song “Redesigning Women” a lot and got hung up on “Bread and Butter,” but my husband thought it sounded like a food blog.

But I couldn’t shake “The Purse.” I liked that it was simple, and I could imagine people saying, “Oh yeah, I read that on The Purse,” the same way they might say, “I read that on Vox/Glamour/The Cut.”

A more romantic reason for landing on The Purse is that it reminded me of my Nanna, who was a real force of nature and never went anywhere without hers. She always carried lipstick, her Neiman’s charge card, and a handkerchief. And if we were out to lunch at a place that set out a basket of crackers, she’d inevitably stick a bunch in her purse for us to eat later. Her parents died when she was very young, and she grew up poor in Depression-era Tennessee. She went to nursing school and had a pretty successful career before that was really a thing for white women in the South. She’s always been an inspiration for me, and I could see her getting a kick out of The Purse.

Last but not least, a purse is such a distinctly female thing, and we carry so much more than our money in our handbags. I liked the idea that this newsletter was about more than just women and money.

Still, I waffled. Still, I tried to brainstorm more ideas. Finally, I had a deadline to send a business proposal I wrote to an investor I admired just to get her feedback (not with the intention of raising capital). In a moment of desperation, I just stuck “The Purse” as the project name, and I added a little explainer at the end as to why I decided on that name. When we got on the call to review, she said she loved the idea and hated the name. It felt too much like Barbie, she told me. This was two months before the movie came out and was a huge blockbuster.

She also gave me a deadline to launch my newsletter, and I appreciated someone holding me accountable. But I also didn’t have any better name ideas, so I just decided, “Screw it, I’m calling it The Purse.” I sent the first newsletter to 200 friends and family with a postscript asking people to tell me what they thought of the name. Honestly, it was mixed! But more than a year in, it’s grown on most people, including me, and I can’t imagine choosing something else.

She’s a Beast

Who launched it: Casey Johnston

What it’s about: Strength training

To come up with the name, I did not crowdsource or anything. My go-to method for short bits of text like this has been something akin to what I hear advertising copy editors do, a kind of brute-force iteration, where I will just write down literally 50 to 100 minor variations on a theme. In this case, I made long lists of associated words, everything I could think of that directly relates to or even just invokes strength, lifting weights, and embodiment. This took more than a few sessions, which feels a bit silly because it’s so simple. But in writing about bodies, there are often a lot of cliches I want to avoid invoking. A lot of times when I’m doing this for a headline or something, I have to pull back from mining one vein and start over and come up with a completely different series of words and then follow that to all its possible fractals. It can take a bit of effort! But in another way, it’s just a few words and doesn’t take that long. 

Tangle

Who launched it: Isaac Saul

What it’s about: Politics and news through a U.S. lens

I explained the concept to about 50 friends and family and then asked for naming ideas. My wife’s brother submitted “Tangle,” and I knew it was the right one when I saw it. Punchy. Fits the mission. Memorable. We actually joked at the time that if it took off, he would get 1% of the company, which is something he still holds over my head to this day (now that we have taken off).

I still have a note in my phone from the other names, and they were AWFUL:

• Topshelf 
• The well
• reCap
• The Mix
• The Shuffle
• Amplify
• Answered
• The Lot
• No Dumb Questions (NDQ)
• Phone Keys Wallet (PKW)
• Decoded
• Unpacked
• Unpcked
• Polingo
• The Takeaway
• Equipped
• The Commute
• Click and know
• The Routine
• Backpocket news
• Fresh Squeezed
• Morning ruffle
• Red Eye News
• The Concentrate 
• The Cipher
• The Answer Key
• Morning shuffle
• Deer ears 
• Twine

well, actually

Who launched it: Jacqui Shine

What it’s about: Pop culture and history

I came up with the title in 2019 when Substack approached me, encouraging me to start a newsletter (this, alas, was before they gave people money — or at least they didn’t give me any).

At the time, I was regularly annoyed by viral Twitter posts that circulated bad information about history and culture, which was a very specific and personal affliction. (I have a Ph.D. in history!) My idea at the time was to do sort of corrective work with those things, and I have, to some degree; early posts were about the flagrant misuse of the word “factoid” and what people get wrong about the concept of intersectionality.

Sometimes, historians responded to this kind of stuff with “Historian here…,” which I found a little tedious, but I did like the idea of someone saying in a very specific and smug tone: “Well, actually….” So, the title was sort of meant to be performatively annoying. And I envisioned one of those Windows 95 screensavers that bounce around lines of text with different visual effects — you know what I mean? — with “well, actually” spinning into infinity. Which I still think is a very funny vibe. 

I like doing deep, weird dives, and “well, actually” can also be a very exciting introduction to a special interest, of which I have many. I think I’m going to start recapping “Homicide: Life on the Street” now that it’s streaming on Peacock — my doctoral work is actually about the history of police procedurals, so strong Special Interest vibes and, actually, I think it’s one of the best, better than “The Wire.” (Fight me!!!!!) 

What The Fuck Just Happened Today?

Who launched it: Matt Kiser

What it’s about: The day’s political news

The name — and the newsletter, really — grew out of the urgency that followed the 2016 election. Aside from being the literal phrase that people were openly asking at the time, it was also both a statement and a question. I liked that framing in the same way I liked all those mid-2010’s single-serving websites, like IsItIcedCoffeeWeather.com, back when the internet was still a fun and creative place. 

Perhaps the biggest issue with the name was that when I originally started, it was “WTF Just Happened, Today?” — people took me to task for the seemingly random and possibly improper comma usage. I reluctantly dropped it. 

Also, this was supposed to be a side project just for myself to test out ideas in public. Had I known I was starting a business at the time, I’m sure I would’ve gone with something much more safe, like News In Brief. The upside is that with a name like WTF Just Happened Today? operating at the intersection of the internet and politics communicates just about everything you need to know about this newsletter. If you’re offended by an f-bomb on the internet, I don’t know what to tell ya. 

The White Pages

Who launched it: Garrett Bucks

What it’s about: Whiteness and building a more just world

The White Pages, as a name, is the result of a strong gut instinct and far too little critical thought. I can’t even remember what the other contenders were. I liked it because it was short, familiar, and hinted at one of the newsletter’s core obsessions (Whiteness and race) without being so descriptive that it would lock me into a suffocatingly narrow beat. Should I have thought more about the downsides (for instance, for search engine optimization and being able to ever purchase “thewhitepages.com” as a domain)? I mean, I’ll forever live in the shadow of Big Phone Book, so maybe. Mostly, though, I’ve been really pleased. I still can’t imagine my newsletter being named anything else.

Thanks to our sponsor

The stories you’re reading on inboxcollective.com are brought to you by Beefree, which makes designing great emails and landing pages better and faster. Their drag-and-drop builder and mobile-friendly templates work seamlessly in all email clients, from Gmail to Outlook. With Beefree, you can save time and still create standout designs that drive results. Easily deploy your emails to platforms like ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, or Mailchimp. Get started for free, and upgrade as you grow.