My name is Lorelle R. Smith. Welcome!

I created this site as a gathering place to network with other Lorelles in the world.

When I first joined the Internet in 1996, I used a search engine to see if there were others with my name.

I had made it to the age of 36 without knowing if it was true that my name was very rare. My father professed to have made it up himself, but I heard of another Lorelle in Seattle when I was growing up.

People always seem surprised when I tell them my name, and most comment that it’s “very pretty.” Still, it took me 35 years to fully embrace the name. The next year is when I got online and learned about domain names.

So naturally I tried to register the name Lorelle.com, and to my surprise, it was already taken. That’s when I got the idea to Google my name… er, use a search engine: Google wasn’t actually born yet!

In 1996, although most of the world had not gotten online yet, let alone establish a web presence beyond AOL, I managed to find 110 Lorelles! Not all of them were first names; many were surnames and businesses, like the owner of Lorelle.com, which was a car dealership at the time. (One of these days maybe I can dig up that 1996 list.)

Now one of the most visible Lorelles on the Internet is Lorelle of WordPress fame.

In 1996, AOL would let you search the member directory by keyword. So I began corresponding with other Lorelles around the world. One I remember was a grandmother named Lorelle whose granddaughter was named for her but was called “Relly.”

Now I’ve learned that Lorelle is a very common name in France. There is even a style of women’s shoes called Lorelle! (And boy are they gorgeous, not that I’m really a shoe person.)

For the past several years I’ve been subscribing to Google Alerts on my first name to discover the other Lorelles around the world (thanks, Google!). One day I got the idea to post them on a website and maybe even create a web community for all of us with the name. Here we can hang out and share our stories with each other.

If you are a Lorelle, too, feel free to register on this website. You can put whatever info in your profile that you’re comfortable sharing publicly. Or just email me through my contact form page to say hi. I won’t publish anything you send unless you give me permission.

Hope to hear from you!