It’s official: Offbeat Mama is now Offbeat Families!

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#Site News#announcements


After months of deliberation and many hours of behind-the-scenes technical lever-pulling, button-pressing, server re-configuring, and graphic redesigning, we are officially relaunched under our new name: OFFBEAT FAMILIES!

Original illustration by Ellen Forney. Digital transition by Brett Wiseman.
Of course the new, more inclusive name is the biggest switcharoo, but we’re also excited to introduce you to our newly-transitioned header illustration. We used to think of hir as “blonde soccer mom,” but the new identity is more “blonde soccer butch/stay-at-home-dad/transdad/fey uncle/gender-queer auntie/tomboy daycare provider/whatever ze wants to be.”

Many thanks to both the original illustrator Ellen Forney and to Brett Wiseman, who edited the illustration.

We hope that our new name makes it clear that while many of our readers are mothers, we’ve always aimed to be inclusive of ANYONE who’s interested in families — whether you’re pre-parental, in the process of becoming a parent, or choosing to live childfree. This is something we’ve always hoped was clear from our Mission and three years of posts — but it feels good to have the title more immediately inclusive.

This shift to our new name should NOT have any technical impact on readers, regardless of how you follow our posts:

  • If you keep up with us via your web browser, none of your bookmarks need to be changed. All offbeatmama.com URLs will redirect to offbeatfamilies.com.
  • If you were following Offbeat Mama via social media, you’re already following Offbeat Families on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.
  • If you were subscribed to Offbeat Mama’s RSS feed, you should see Offbeat Families’ RSS feed in your reader. We’re keeping the same RSS feed URL.
  • If you are subscribed to our email newsletter, you’ll keep getting it same as before.

While all our static informational pages are updated with the new name, we’re definitely not going back through our almost 2000 archived blog posts to update them. Our new name won’t ever change the fact that we were Offbeat Mama for our first three years.

If you’re having any technical issues with the shift, feel free to post a comment below. And if you’re curious about the business backstory, head on over to the Offbeat Empire blog.

About the Author: Offbeat Editors

@offbeatempire

Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, our team of Offbeat Editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.

Comments on It’s official: Offbeat Mama is now Offbeat Families!

  5. As somebody who would always start comments with “while not a mama…” this childfree auntie/godmother/school teacher/child advocate appreciates the change. I’m not a biological mother and in all likelihood never will be, but I AM a force in many childrens’ lives and find OBF to be a resource I can’t imagine ever living without. Thanks for recognizing that families are built all kinds of ways and welcoming anyone who feels the need for community. You guys are awesome.

  6. Thank you, thank you, thank you! There’s nothing wrong with focussing on mamas, provided such focuses are reasonably permeable to friends of mamas. But as a transgender woman who someday hopes to be an adoptive mama, this welcomingly reassures us and underscores the difficulties of transgender folks’ position in families, in articulating our families within this society. I love your site and hope it will someday soon be a good resource for me personally. Until then, I love it as an ally and daughter and sister in a VERY offbeat family!

    • I could not agree more! My husband did half the work for our wedding and we both would have loved the site for our planning. (Alas we didn’t discover it in time)

      • Hey guys, Ariel touched on this in her post on the Empire blog:

        1. Offbeat Mama was named to match Offbeat Bride
        2. Offbeat Bride’s brand was based on my book
        3. My book was published by a women’s press… so of course the title is targeted to brides.

        Basically: there aren’t any plans to change the name of Bride.

      • Yeah, this question has come up many times over the last six years — so many, in fact, that it’s addressed on Offbeat Bride’s FAQ page. I totally appreciate all the reasons why people like “Offbeat Weddings,” but there are numerous business, technical, and legal reasons why Offbeat Bride’s name will not be changing.

  13. It’s funny… such a seemingly small change has such an impact on the way the site feels! I didn’t find “Offbeat Mama” a deterrent or exclusionary myself (My step-parent status gets me in the door, I guess, but I also have a fairly kid-free lifestyle much of the time), but have to say that seeing Families in the header does make a difference. I didn’t think it would, but it really does… I hope you all are feeling that it’s been worth the behind-the-scenes effort. Well done.

      • Love the redesigned illustration. I would love to see the middle photo altered to include a dad, maybe wearing a toddler on his back!

        While I preferred the idea of Offbeat Kin for the rename, I understand why you settled on families and totally support and appreciate the change.

        One of my best friends is gender flexible (I’m not really sure how she describes it) and she prefers to be know as uncle Kaisa to our son instead of Aunt. This change would please her greatly.

        Side note: THREE YEARS!?!? where did the time go. I remember when OBM launched not having a clue when my turn to be a mom would arrive. Now I sit here with the start of my forever family nursing my 2-month-old son.

        Oddly I read the site more before his arrival. Parenting leaves little time for pleasure reading.

        Anyway congrats! Looking forward to many more years of offbeat awesomeness! <3

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