Branding

Why I Changed My Name on Medium

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Photo of an old but reliable microphone used by the author / Photo by the author

Who cares.

But I wanted to keep writing, and someone asked me about it. So, I took the liberty of using it as a prompt.

If you could choose any name besides your real one on Medium, what would it be?

I have to admit, this prompt is more difficult than something like:

・If you could be a superhero, what superpower would you have?
・If you could go back in time, where would you return to? And why?
・If you could go on a date with a celebrity, who would it be?

As you can see, I decided on Jake FM. Why? For the record, it’s not because I want to become a radio host or a DJ.

But let’s back up a bit first.

My full name is in my profile under the About Me tab for anyone who is even remotely interested. So, it’s not like I’m trying to hide my identity. Let’s delete that out of the way.

But my first ten followers (if they’re still around) may recall that I started with my Japanese surname, which can be constructed from two kanji or Chinese Han characters. (Why Chinese is involved in the Japanese language is a separate topic that can readily be found on Google.)

Anyway, the first kanji is Tobi （ 飛 ）which translates literally as “to soar, to jump, and to fly”, and the second is Yama（ 山 ）which means mountain. Combine them and you get Flying-Mountain.

Sure, I considered Soaring-Mountain. It sounds pretentious.

Jumping-Mountain? It sounds cartoon-ish.

Flying-Mountain sounded like a camp gear retailer, which I found serendipitous due to my love for hiking and roasting marshmallows.

And I stuck with Flying-Mountain for a few months until it just failed to stick. And I was getting worried that other writers might start sending me their orders for tents and hiking poles.

Then, I had a kind of Eureka! moment. I had already begun planning my podcast project and thus had a platform to showcase it. Separately, I was already recording my stories on Medium and submitting the audio links to For the Love of Narration publication.

It dawned on me that using the initials FM would be a convenient way to integrate the narration theme and broadcast my content, while half-concealing my name under the brand of a generic term.

And I hoped my new Medium monicker would not get lost in translation.

p.s. Nobody has asked me if my surname was Frequency-Modulation — not yet. If so, I’ll have to change my name again and apologize for my frequent modulation.

(sorry)

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I write for connections (^-^)/