The Importance of Being Matt…
Posted on January 24, 2008 by Christine | 7 Comments
Dwight Silverman wrote a great post about Matt Mullenweg today. It is hard to believe just how much has happened since Matt left Houston for San Francisco, and how WordPress has grown, developed, and changed the blogosphere over that time.
Speaking of Dwight, I *finally* got to meet him in person this morning. We have been in the same circle here now since 2003 or so, and yet we have never met in person. People have even joked that we’re like Clark Kent and Superman – never in the same room at the same time. (He is CLEARLY the Superman in this scenario.) And the first thing he told me? That he gave me a shout out in the post. For naming WordPress. My last great claim to geek fame… ah, good times, good times.
Now I need to go and focus on the Got Social Media conference. Read about Matt, he is quite the awesome guy.
And remember – social media tools don’t make the conversation, they support it. Now go forth and Twitter!
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7 Responses to “The Importance of Being Matt…”
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Hi! I'm Christine. I've been blogging here since 2000. I am married to Mike. I have a son, Jason. We have a cat, Mona. We live in Houston, Texas.
I love helping other photographers and other small business owners improve their businesses. Most of my posts here are related to that, although sometimes I write about personal things as well.
I am currently available for business & blogging consulting and assisting you with WordPress. Contact me for more details.
I am a wedding and boudoir photographer and I'm available both in Houston and for travel worldwide. I would love to be a part of your wedding!
You can buy prints of my photography.
In addition to photography and geek things, I sometimes knit. I even used to have a knitting podcast, PointySticks.
January 24th, 2008 @ 2:08 pm
Ahh it’s those little claims to fame that bring tiny little smiles to people everywhere.
January 25th, 2008 @ 3:59 am
So, how did you come up with the name? Do tell! Inquiring minds want to know. :->
January 25th, 2008 @ 4:05 am
Wow so you’re the one who named WordPress as WordPress. Great idea, weren’t you given a cut for naming such a very successful company of Automatic? just a thought.
January 25th, 2008 @ 10:01 am
[...] The little thing is that the name WordPress is due to Christine Tremoulet, who blogs at Big Pink Cookie. [...]
January 25th, 2008 @ 11:33 am
Donalyza, at the time, WordPress was still a dream – WP v0.71 or whatever had not even come out yet. Very few people other than Matt were using it. Automattic? Still a few years away! It grew out of WP, WP didn’t grow out of Automattic. So no, no cut at all for me. I’m ok with that – I’m a huge supporter of OpenSource, and that was what WP was all about. I’m not a programmer, so I did what I could to contribute – social media evangelizing (because I believed in it) and giving it a name.
Jennifer, no great story actually – I’ve named several companies over the years, I just seem to have a sense for what people will remember, and what has a good “sound” to it. So when Matt said he needed a name, I offered to think on it and let him know if I came up with one. I called him a few days later and left a crazypants message, probably yelling WordPress a few times and talking about having verified that a flavor of the URL was available. The rest? History.
February 2nd, 2008 @ 7:41 pm
Christine, it is a great story! The energy you have to inspire and encourage can’t be overlooked. I consider you an essential character in the WordPress story.
December 20th, 2009 @ 5:45 pm
And my daughter named it. I have such a link to fame! Cuz I won’t have my own!
mom