Reading Phil Illingworth’s post on how having an unusual name can help online made me recall that I continue to vie for position with Susan Francis, the American animal portrait artist (‘Always in our memories, forever in our hearts’). One day I will commission her to do my dog Otis and exhibit it. Now I notice Sarah Francis also has a blog and pops up on Axis, so confusing as a lot of people look at me and think I’m a Sarah anyway for some reason (no idea why, I once even had a brief boyfriend who kept calling me Sarah, needless to say he wasn’t much good).
Anyway, I am toying with the idea of using my married name and adding it to Francis in brackets. My husband is laughing now as back when we got hitched I insited on keeping my maiden name for work, despite his taking it as a personal rebuff but now it doesn’t look like such a clever move. With a married name like Alibocus, let’s face it, there is no chance of me ever getting with mixed up with someone else again, there only are a few left in the world and yes, it does attract laughs but we see it as a kind of test of strength of character – if you can cope with the sniggers as it were.
Anyway, I’d be interested to listen to peoples responses. At the moment it gives me an opportunity to live two seperate lives, and also to know when the phone rings and they ask for me, whether I need to slot into work mode or not. As more Francis’s rise to the top of the search engine though, the pressure’s on, not sure if I’m ready to drop my alias though, having two identities has it’s advantages.
