My first name – Karlyn – is uncommon, so I get away with adding it as an alert, and I am not bombarded with too many alerts sent to my inbox. However, the number of alerts has increased in the last year, for sure. I’m seeing more people with the name Karlyn pop up all over the Wide World Web, and a couple of businesses named Karlyn also. I received an alert just this morning that Karlyn has joined LinkedIn. I removed my own my LinkedIn account a couple of years ago because I never used it, so I knew this alert was not about me. Therefore, I checked out the link and was brought to a page of ALL the Karlyns on LinkedIn (http://us.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Karlyn/+). It is always a little surreal to see so many people with “my” Karlyn name. On this particular list, they are all females with careers mostly in design, marketing, law and public relations. Interesting…

You have probably searched for your own name on Google.com by now. I do this every so often, to see where my name lands in the rankings of other Karlyns. Because of the uniqueness of my first name, and the fact that I have two domains that use my first name (fromkarlyn.com and karlyns.com), my name domains pop up in the top ten listing of Google’s first page. This is very good in terms of rankings and exposure. It looks like (as of today), a company named Karlyn Ind. beat me out of the #1 and #2 spots. I hold the #2 with my FromKarlyn.com and the #5 position with my Karlyns.com. A different Karlyn co. holds the #4 spot. Also in this top 10 listing on Google is a Karlyn-related comment I made on a baby names site about the name Karlyn, and around the #8 spot is a link to my twitter page, where my user-name is – you guessed it – Karlyn.

Another way I search for Karlyn sometimes – and you may want to try this occasionally too – is by using Google’s Realtime search tool (http://www.google.com/realtime/). Realtime Search lets you see up-to-the-second social updates, news articles, and blog posts about your search word. When I add the keyword Karlyn to this search tool, the first thing I see if the Foursquare and Twitter update I posted just a moment ago. Yes, this search tool is that fast! I also see, on this one-page list of results, some other social updates, and comments from people either named Karlyn or just used the word in their response. This Realtime search will bring up all mentions of the term and I simply need to refresh the page to see the latest. Sixty seconds later, I refresh this page and my Twitter update has dropped a few spots down the list as two more Karlyn updates (from others) have taken its place. This Realtime search page also displays a handy little time-line visual on the ride sidebar that shows high volume uses of your term. You can click on the time-line to go directly to that time and day and see the specific results. Pretty cool!

I am using my name as an example here, but these searching tools are useful for any term or keyword that interests you, from a name to a hot news topic… Try it out.

I love my name and am indeed celebrating it. I hope you are celebrating yours too!

Since 2004, I have been meeting (virtually) many other people with the name Karlyn and have been introducing them through my “Calling All Karlyns” page. It’s so much fun meeting other people with my same unique name. They come from all over the world, most are female and have all sorts of careers. It’s been really interesting to me, to learn how they got their Karlyn name. I have found, through the years, that a lot of my fellow karlyns got their name as a derivative of a similar name – like Karl or Carlin. I have an aunt named Carolyn, but my mother told me she saw the unique spelling of the name Karlyn in a newspaper one day and knew it was the name for me.

Where did you get your name from (besides your parents)?
Have you ever researched the background or meaning of your name?
Check out behindthename.com for help with that.

I’ve seen a couple of different “meanings” for the name Karlyn. From Man to Womanly, Little to Beautiful. I’m sure the reason for these varieties is simply based on whatever original name derivative that particular article chose to follow.. I don’t put a whole lot of stock into name meanings anyway. It’s just fun to look them up some times. Some names, as you know, go way way back. How far back does your name go?

So, take a moment to celebrate your name! Design art of your name at Wordle.net and add it to the Wordle gallery like I did. And though it’s fun to look up name meanings and history of names online, remember…

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet..

..by William Shakespeare from his play Romeo and Juliet, meant to say that the names do not matter.. it’s what you are that matters.

Yes, I’ve tried it.

However, maybe folks think “Karlyn” is hard to pronounce, so they don’t just attempt to spell it phonetically? Do I have a difficult name? *shrug*

It’s only six letters though. Seriously. Are these typos? Why so much misspelling?

So, back in August of 2009, I posted briefly about trying out a vegetarian lifestyle.  I started a vegetarian diet in July ’09 actually, and it stuck. I enjoyed it, and still do – 7 months later. I can’t do Vegan as it’s just too restrictive for me, but the Pescetarian way suits me very well. This is a change I plan to keep and continue with for a long time to come.. along with consuming more whole foods and organic foods in general. It makes me feel good, healthy and positive. I’m trying to also exercise more, though I’m not much of an exercise fan. My work on the computer finds me quite sedentary, so I have to make myself stop working, get up, out, and active. I take a walk almost every day which helps too.

Back in October, I posted information about some pain I was experiencing and researched. Cubital tunnel syndrome is what I diagnosed myself with, and unfortunately, am still dealing with. It got worse in December and then just recently, in the last couple of weeks, has improved some.. so I have hope that it is finally healing. I have spent quite a lot of time with the one of those ACE bandages on.. the one for the elbow, which I think has helped. I’m hopeful it is getting better.. slowly.

For years now, it’s been an important pursuit of mine to be positive. I’ve been trying to make physical and emotional changes in my life that promote positivity in and around me. It’s not always easy, but it will always be something I work on/strive for and I think I’m doing pretty well. I see this as so much more than just a positive attitude.. it’s a way of life. It’s what you seek, what you promote, what you say and what you do.  It’s my belief that when you give out positive energy, you receive it back as well. I think it’s a conscience choice people make. Positive, Negative.. they are directions. You can choose one direction or the other.

I hope your new year is off to a good start so far. If you’ve set goals or made plans for yourself, I wish you success with them. Whatever you do, I hope much happiness follows.

- Karlyn

I thought this site very interesting. There was a lot stated I agree with. The site went on to say.. “Harmony-seeking Idealists have a lively fantasy, often an almost clairvoyant intuition and are often very creative. Once they have tackled a project, they do everything in their power to achieve their goals. In everyday life, they often prove to be excellent problem solvers. They like to get to the root of things and have a natural curiosity and a thirst for knowledge. At the same time, they are practically oriented, well organized and in a position to tackle complex situations in a structured and carefully considered manner. When they concentrate on something, they do so one hundred percent – they often become so immersed in a task that they forget everything else around them. That is the secret of their often very large professional success.”

Why not try it for yourself. Click the image below to check it out and get your comprehensive results! There’s even a handy link to share your results on twitter and Facebook or many other networks you may be on.