Hello WordPress! I’m baaaack! It’s been almost a year since my visit. I’ve missed you. And I’m very sorry. I’m sorry that in the busyness that is life I wasn’t able to give you the time and attention you so deserve.

Last summer you were a priority. I put you on my calendar. I vowed to write on a regular basis.

It was doable then. School was out. I had the extra time and energy necessary to devote to you.

By the end of July, however, the window for writing started to close. The day-to-day filled up. There were the last-minute vacations, the trips to the mall and Target to get my son ready for his freshman year, and then my professional development days followed by the start of school.

Weirdly, or perhaps not so weirdly, my last blog post was all about this kind of thing. It was about work-life balance and juggling multiple priorities. I had to drop one of the balls I had in the air (see The Importance of Balance and We Juggle Our Way Through Life) and you, my dear blog, were the winner, or loser, depending on one’s point of view.

When school ended (right before Memorial Day), I found myself with some extra time and decided to pick up the blogging ball again. Yes, that was THREE WEEKS AGO. Problem is, until now, I’ve been struggling to find something to write about. My brain couldn’t conjure up even a mediocre idea. I had nothing. Nada. Zippo.

I looked to the usual suspects for inspiration: social media, supermarket tabloids (#fakenews), journals, photo albums and the family group text. Still nothing. As I labored to find an engaging topic, it suddenly hit me – why not ask one of the most entertaining people I know for a suggestion? Brilliant, right? Right. So as soon as David, my 15-year-old son, rolled out of bed last Thursday, I skipped “good morning” and went straight to, “I need an idea for my blog. What should I write about?”

His response was immediate and simple. “Pancakes.”

Pancakes? Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? Pancakes! They have broad appeal. They aren’t that controversial or offensive, unless of course you are on a carb-free diet or you are a diehard waffle fan. And, they’ve been in the news. So they are relevant. Win. Win. Win.

Now before you exit out of this blog and return to hitting the like button on your friends’ Facebook posts, hear me out. Give pancakes a chance. Pretty please?!

About a week and a half ago IHOP, the International House of Pancakes (See how I did that?), announced it would change its name to IHOb, flipping the “P” to a “b.” Initially, people appeared to have fun guessing what the “b” meant. Could it be bacon? Bitcoin possibly? Bears? Beets? Battlestar Galactica? (Hey lovers of “The Office” – you’re welcome!)

As the reality of this big change started to sink in, and we all know that for many of us change is really hard, people’s predictions and general feelings on the matter got a little saltier. Is the “b” for betrayal? Bad idea? (I’ll leave the negative speculations right there otherwise this blog will need a parental warning.)

As d-day, or I guess we should say “b” day approached, it appeared the consensus on social media was that IHOP was about to reveal that the “b” in IHOb was for “breakfast.” Sounds fairly reasonable, right? Wrong. When the big reveal came last Monday, we learned that the “b” stood for burgers. “Burgers so burgers’ good, we changed our name to IHOb. For burgers.”

Rest assured, you can still get pancakes at IHOb. In fact, the name change is a temporary thing – a marketing campaign, aimed at getting people to think of the restaurant as a lunch and dinner hotspot, not just a destination for breakfast. “We take our new burgers just as seriously as we take our pancakes. And you can get both of them at #IHOb,” @IHOb explained.

Nevertheless, IHOP fans were not amused. “I had a burger at IHOP once. There’s a reason it shouldn’t be IHOb,” read one tweet. And yet another social media user commented, “Well, IHOB seems like a really smart idea, since there are so few places to get burgers.”

Off and on last Monday, I checked my Twitter timeline, reading all of the witty digs at the IHOP, sorry IHOb, marketing team. Take Aaron Marquis, for example, who tweeted, “Had to be confusing for all the drunks who went to sleep in an #IHOP and woke up in an #IHOb.” Several others chimed in, “Only 90s kids will remember #IHOP.” Many pancake aficionados said they didn’t care what the restaurant called itself as long as it maintained its free pancake day.

Brands got into the action, too, with Burger King announcing it would change its name to Pancake King. And, Whataburger assuring everyone that even though it loves a good pancake, it wasn’t about to rebrand as Whatapancake. One Twitter user (@soloucity) called out Wendy’s for a response, “So @Wendys u just gonna let @IHOb sell burgers on your block? thought you were the og?”

Wendy’s won the day with its response, “Not really afraid of the burgers from a place that decided pancakes were too hard.” Ouch.

I have to admit, I was among the countless detractors, shaking my head at what appeared to be a colossal rebranding blunder. You’re known for pancakes. You’re the pancake expert. The pancake guru. No, you’re not simply the pancake guru, you’re the WORLD/INTERNATIONAL pancake guru. And yet, you change your name and apparent focus to burgers? What? Even as a temporary campaign, it seemed ill conceived.

But what do I know. I am sure IHOP marketers and execs considered all of the angles before landing on IHOb. Right? I’m trying to visualize the boardroom conversation that resulted in IHOb.

“I think customers are tired of the name IHOP. It’s time to shake things up. How about we flip the ‘H’ to … wait – that’s still an ‘H.’ Never mind.”

“I think you’re onto something. I know we’ve been telling people that pancakes aren’t just for breakfast anymore, but is anyone really buying that load of malarkey?”

“Actually they are – recently our sales have seen a slight uptick…”

“Sales, schmales! Ever since I’ve been on this low-carb diet, I haven’t looked twice at a pancake. Meat is where it’s at. How about we change our name to IHOb? ‘B’ is for burgers. Everyone will love it! Who doesn’t love a good burger?”

“Brilliant idea. As long as we can keep the red smiley on the logo. I’m out if we aren’t keeping the red smiley thing.”

“OK – we’ll keep the smiley thing. You think people will remember that we’ve always had burgers on our menu?”

“Does it matter? We’re IHOb now.”

As I continued to consider IHOP or IHOb’s fate, I started to think more generally about the power of a name. And it occurred to me that brands aren’t the only ones who have made missteps when it comes to naming and/or name changes. Individuals have made similar gaffes. How did they fare?

Google led me to a ton of articles on this very topic. Most of the stories I clicked on centered around celebrities and sports personalities who changed their names. The impact of their decisions varied widely. Some enjoyed a lot of success with their new designation and others failed.

Remember Chad Johnson? The NFL player? In 2008, Johnson changed his last name to Ocho Cinco. It was supposed to be a Spanish reference to his jersey number – 85. I vividly remember when this happened because the number for 85 in Spanish is ochenta y cinco NOT ocho cinco. I remember feeling perplexed by Ocho Cinco. If Johnson was going to the trouble of changing his name, why wouldn’t he choose the accurate translation?

Ocho Cinco’s coach at the time, Marvin Lewis, was equally as dumbfounded. He was never a supporter of Ocho Cinco’s attention-getting stunts and after the season referred to the receiver as “Ocho Psycho.”

Anywho – that’s neither here nor there – did his name change have an impact on his performance? I’m not sure. What I can tell you is this, according to a 2012 ESPN article, Johnson was a six-time Pro Bowler for the Cincinnati Bengals and averaged nearly 80 receptions for seven seasons. Ocho Cinco averaged 51.75 receptions in four seasons, including a career-low 15 for the New England Patriots in 2011. So you do the math.

According to a story in Forbes, Ocho Cinco eventually paid $401 to change his name back to Johnson. He said he made the reversal for his wife.

Johnson-to-Ocho Cinco is among “10 of the Most Ridiculous Name Changes” as outlined by Time magazine in an article in 2011. Also making this list was Prince. In 1993, Prince changed his name to unpronounceable symbol that was a combination of the symbols for man and woman. Verbally and in the press Prince became “the Artist Formerly Known as Prince,” despite his insistence that the correct phrasing for his new moniker was Love Symbol No. 2. After a number of years using that symbol, the Artist changed his name back to Prince in 2000.

What was the impact of this name change? Well – from what I read – it appeared that Prince changed his name to the symbol to get back at his record label who he was having a beef with at the time. Long story short, when he got out of that contract he changed his name back to Prince. So maybe the name change helped him achieve his goal? Success?

The bottom line is names matter. Duh! Seriously though, according to an article in The New Yorker, research suggests that “names can influence choice of professional, where were live, whom we marry, the grades we earn, the stocks we invest in, whether we’re accepted to a school or are hired for a particular job, and the quality of our work in a group setting.” In the article, writer Maria Konnikova goes on to assert that our names can even determine whether we donate to disaster victims. According to one study, those who share an initial with the name of a hurricane are far more likely to donate to relief funds after it hits.

Yikes. All of the preceding puts a lot of pressure on parents to be, doesn’t it? I imagine an entrepreneur is equally as stressed when it comes to naming a business.

In the Forbes piece, “12 Tips for Naming Your Startup Business,” contributor Richard Harroch urges careful consideration before settling on a name. He warns, the wrong name can “result in insurmountable business and legal hurdles.” Harroch’s tips appear fairly common sense; do your research, keep it simple, ask for feedback and make sure you’re personally happy with the name. “You as the business owner will have to live with the name for a long time,” Harroch reasons, “So make sure you are happy with it and believe it will resonate with your customers.”

It appears that IHOb is content with its decision. They’ve gotten a lot of traction on social media and at the office water cooler this last week. #IHOP and #IHOb were trending topics. Only time will tell if the chatter continues and if that translates to an increase in sales.

Hopefully IHOb isn’t relying on teens to keep the buzz going.  I just mentioned to David that I took his advice and was blogging about pancakes and more specifically about the whole IHOP/IHOb thing. I asked him what he thought. Not missing a beat, “I can’t be reached for further comment.” In other words, he’s over it.