Yes, it was lovely seeing some old familiar shop names! I am always intrigued about how shop names originated (and I even like to hear about how people got their social media user names or even about street names) I’m just nosey I suppose!
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Just to say @dotterypottery I too thank you for restarting this thread, as I have enjoyed reading through and finding out the background to the names.
Hope a few more pop on and share!
I love the quirky ones…
As for me… mine has been used from my very beginning and is a little quirky… 
I always wanted a bit different name anyway, and luckily my surname is… Mudd… which is a bit different, and as I make my items it was simple MuddMade!
I have only been online since June though, and this is the only platform I have tried and sell on, but I have been doing fairs and had a website for years - didn’t have it set up properly to sell on, changed hosts and now have it all set to point to Folksy - so yes I have been asked numerous times 
(seriously it’s a great conversation starter) ‘why the name’ and then ‘oh that
Is fun’ followed by ‘oh that’s different but easy to remember’ 
So it suits me!
On IG I just added my first name so on there it’s @judymuddmade
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My shop name started out on Etsy as Fififoxfossets - bit of a mouthful but too late now to change on Etsy. Anyhow when I came to Folksy earlier this year I wanted to keep the connection but not the name hence Fififoxi which I hope is a more user friendly shortened version. Fifi was my nickname when I was a child and I’ve always liked drawing natural history subjects like foxes so because I couldn’t think of anything clever Fififoxi seemed as good as any other name - luckily ‘Fififoxi on Folksy’ rolls off the tongue nicely and it’s easy to type as well.
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Brenda @teabreaks you mean to tell me all the years I’ve said Gwed-us in my head I’ve been making a boob of myself 
When I very first started out on the auction site in 2010, my main business was knitting and crochet supplies, yarns, patterns, needles etc and I was trading under the very unimaginative name of crafty people. I did used to knit and sell the odd item but the finished goods was never my main business. I done OK at first but then I started getting undercut so much that I would have been making a loss if I carried on (I never did work out how they sold so cheap! They were cheaper than I could get from the wholesalers!)
Anyway that’s when I discovered folksy in 2012 and I opened my shop here under the name of crafty people. I still had supplies stock so listed that but eventually the finished knitted and crocheted items took over and my name just didn’t fit or tell anyone what my shop was all about. Knittingtopia came about just by me searching for available domain names that contained ‘knitting’ and I liked knittingtopia although I do sometimes get called knitting utopia
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Since I started beading, wherever I go I see beautiful, eye-catching jewellery - at fairs, markets, charity shops, even items that other people are wearing! When I see something like this, I call it my magpie sensor because I’m drawn to it like a magpie is to shiny objects (minus the stealing part lol). Sometimes I buy pieces from charity shops just to take them apart and use the beads to make something else because I love the beads so much. The little part is self explanatory, because I am pretty little. It was a big battle between makes and crafts but in the end I went for the alliteration. And so Little Magpie Makes was born 
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I have 2 shops which I am ashamed to say did not have thought going into them. The first Oswestry Jewels came about when a friend was helping me set up a facebook page for my shop. Just for convenience when she asked what the page was to be called I said Oswestry as that is where I live and Jewels as that was what I made.
The second shop was Creations for Tiny Tots. This one happened because I knit a lot and had some many items made and not enough babies in my circle being born so I decided to open another shop. I have arthritis in my hands and that makes it hard to hold the knitting for big sizes and I wanted to make it clear that I only knitted little things but not only for babies but some bigger children too. A lot of the names I came up with were really long so by a process of elimination the name Creations for Tiny Tots came along.
Not as interesting as the process behind you shop name Brenda
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This is a great thread to revive, it’s nice to read about shop names and what inspired them, my name came from our farm terrier at the time called Bramble and the ‘Burt’ part is self explanatory from my surname Burton, I remember at the time of choosing it 10ish years ago it was a bit of a trend in craft and shops to have two names …but I can’t remember any examples now!!
I have also recently discovered a newish shop on Folksy with an almost identical named shop when I was doing a search (one letter difference in the spelling) which isn’t great when people are trying to search for you, I was a little miffed about it for a short while…. I then decided life was too short to be grumpy about it!!
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I get most of my vintage beads from charity shops, car boots etc. I take the items apart and give them a thorough clean & disinfect and then I’m good for crafting and jewelry (I do loads of necklaces and earrings but can never bear to sell them as I like them too much - one day though I might give it a go!).
I’m reviving this thread again as I know there are quite a few new shops - I just love seeing how you all chose your shop names!
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For 20 plus years I had miniature pinscher fur babies and our house got the nick name Minpin Towers, however they have now all gone over rainbow bridge. So the name Minpin Towers is in their memory.
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I only knew recently that the shortened version of miniature pinscher’s was MinPin - it’s so cute.
Before that, your shop name @MinpinTowers just reminded me of the little woman in the moomins with the red hair in a bun! (I’m not sure - maybe her name sounds like it or something - I’ll have to go and look her name up!)
ETA - her name was Little My but she was a mymble (maybe that’s where I’m making the connection!)
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I have just googled little woman in the moomins and I have to say the images made me laugh, but she always looks so cross and her hair well mine has never stood up in a ponytail …that’s so not me or my hair lol
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Hehe…well, I actually do wear my red hair in a bun and I do look very cross most of the time, so maybe I’ve just got an affinity with her and she’s just on my mind…lol!
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My husband used to work a lot with Japanese clients, and developed a love for the country, it’s people and culture, having visited many times on business. He even learnt the language! And on retirement did a degree in Japanese studies. I have been there a few times now on holidays, and agree it is indeed a beautiful country. When I was opening my shop, selling a variety of things made from all sorts of bits and bobs, he suggested Samazama, which is Japanese for ‘miscellaneus, variety etc’ and I liked the idea.
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Oh, I like that Liz @samazama!
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Love the way you chose your names Sue and Liz.
I started as Designs by Debby back in the very beginning, a year on and I wanted a proper name for my bear business. I kept coming up with ideas that were bear related but when I typed them into google those names were taken so I left it a while and a few weeks later came up with Bearlescent, a unique made up name and I loved it…bit like Pearlescent but with a B and google often asks me if i mean Pearlescent when i put my name into the search bar. I registered it as Bearlescent.co.uk, might have been better doing .com but to date there is only one other in the US and they are a gaming company. I don’t think anyone in the Uk can copy the name if it is registered, not sure,
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Mine was easy to choose, I have a horse, she is my world, I painted her (my logo) many years ago now, so as she is my Painted Horse and I make Art, it was easy to just put them together to create Painted Horse Art, not exciting and not particularly creative but it’s what it means to me that is Important.
I keep thinking about upgrading my logo picture to a newer (better) painting but because that’s been with me from day one I just can’t bring myself to change it, beside which it’s on all my business cards, thank you cards etc so maybe if I ever run out of those I may reconsider.
I’m loving reading this thread btw, thank you Brenda @teabreaks for starting it all those years ago and Thank you @dotterypottery for reviving it.
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I’m a Reiki therapist so I chose Violet Flame because in spiritual terms the violet flame transmutes negative to positive and in material terms violet flames are actually the hottest type of flames discovered. And seeing as glass is transformed from one element to another in extreme heat, it kind of fit what I was looking for.
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I don’t recall spending much time thinking it up and fortunately I don’t regret it. I make jewellery and my name is Silvana. I’ve always hated my name (kids can be cruel when they shorten names and I was an easy target for the bullies) but I’ve grown into it and I’m no longer that shy wallflower, anything but! 
Anyway, I work in silver so it says it all really. The only glitch is that it was meant to be Jewellery By Silvana on everything but when I set up my Folksy shop back in 2011, I made a mess of it and ended up with Silvana Jewellery in some places. Never did figure that out but it’s got the same words in so it’s not so bad a mistake.
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I went for The Old Button (Y Hen Botwm in Welsh) because my love of sewing was inspired by the old tins of buttons my grandmother used to let me play with as a child, and over the years people kept giving me button tins as their family members pass away. So I became known as “The Old Button” while still in my 30s and making stuff for school fairs:rofl:
The name (and the logo) really worked when I first set up the “business” and my Folksy shop (back in 2012) as I made a lot of things from vintage and upcycled fabrics and often sewed on an old button from my collection into each item.
Nowadays I’m not too sure it works. I do still make some vintage/upcycled themed items, but I mostly use brighter colours and modern fabrics for my children themed items. And I can’t use vintage/reclaimed fabrics or buttons at all for my playmats or other toys for safety regulations.
I’m also not sure The Old Button is a good name for kids makes. I’ve been dithering about changing the name, or splitting my makes into two - keeping The Old Button for the vintage stuff, and having a new name for the kids stuff.
I did wonder about Button Bach - bach being the Welsh word for little, but it’s not good practice to combine the languages (Wenglish) when selling at Welsh medum or bi-lingual events. The full Welsh version is Botwm Bach - but I can’t use this as someone else already has it and it looks like bottom anyway and people might think I’m selling kids nappies 
And the English version Little Button has also gone too.
But two names/shops is rather complicated as some of my makes fall into both themes, and I’d have to pay two sets of Plus membership (hint hint Folksy admin 
) and run two sets of social media. So I end up back where I started…
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