Aiuto! Help! Dilemma. And: Contest?

Update: Thanks to everyone! I've found a new name. The official unveiling will take place soon...stay tuned.

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We now interrupt your regularly-scheduled blog on life behind the scenes in Rome for a very important announcement.

Dear blog readers, I need your precious help. I have a bit of a problem, and my first thought was to turn to you, because maybe, just maybe, if we put our heads together, we can come up with a good solution.

Here’s the deal. As you may or may not know, I just started working from home and managing my lovely little tourist apartments in the beginning of August. All was swell. I figured, I better get involved more in my community or else I’ll end up a hermit, so I decided to join the American Women’s Association of Rome. Great group. They had their year opening event at the US ambassador’s residence this morning.

Brief tangent: The residence, (because if you get that high up on the ladder you no longer have a mere house or even home), it goes without saying, was unbelievably beautiful, with acres of manicured gardens, statues, fountains, etc. And they live in a villa. I didn’t take any pictures to post because I don’t want the CIA coming after my humble blog, but if you can get a job as a US ambassador, a US ambassador’s spouse, or manage to somehow get adopted by a US ambassador and therefore gain the right to live in his or her residence, at least here in Rome, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Now, here is where the problem rears its ugly head. In chatting with some ladies, they asked me what I do. I told them, I manage some tourist apartments. “Oh, what’s the business called?” they politely ask me. I respond, “At Home in Rome.” “Oh! We know you! We’ve heard about you!” I’m thinking: that’s nearly impossible, because almost no one knows of my existence (yet). And: wow, that’s cool.

We chat some more and come to find out that it’s not ME they know. It’s that OTHER At Home in Rome. Huh? That’s right, folks. Not only is my business name already taken. Apparently, and most unfortunately, and without going into any details, my colleagues are a rental agency with a less-than-stellar service reputation.

Which is why I turn to you. And you to your friends, and family, and random people on the street. I’ve decided that I need to re-name my business. I can’t get off on the wrong foot, and if people are already confusing me with someone else, especially someone else with above-mentioned reputation, well, that’s just not gonna fly.

So, it’s like having a kid, giving him or her a name, then changing your mind down the road. I really hope my apartments won’t end up suffering from an identity crisis and have to go into therapy. I don’t have that kind of money.

I ask you to help with a name because, the mere idea of having to come up with a new one brings me bone-chilling flashbacks of my time as a copywriter in an ad agency in Phoenix. The art director and I were assigned the task of coming up with a name to market some computer thing, a piece of computer hardware, something techie like that. After like an hour, our sheet of paper had a long list of stuff like “TechTron2000,” and variations on that theme. Makes you just think, “Hey, look you: NEW and IMPROVED! And super TECHNOLOGICAL!” (Fifties-era announcer optional). Now do you see why I am turning to you?

So please, if you have a charitable heart, or even if not, write me a comment with your entry, or send a name suggestion to my email at: info@athomerome.com. When I get enough suggestions, I’ll put them back to you all for a vote.

Just keep in mind: my idea is to cater to people who want an authentic Roman experience. People who speak/understand English. People who want something personalized and with attention to service. And, something that gives the feeling/idea of a cozy apartment in my old-fashioned and charming little Roman village of Trastevere. And of course, something that will conveniently fit on my business cards, easy and memorable domain name that isn't already taken, etc.

Armed with the tools, you are now ready to go down in history. And for that, I thank you.

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This has been an emergency blogcast. You may now return to your regularly-scheduled blog-reading.