How changing just one letter made everything click

The Change from Lerp to Lurp

Sometimes, the biggest changes start with the smallest tweaks. When I first named my app “Lerp” I was happy, excited even, about the name's short, punchy nature. It came from *linear interpolation, *a concept I personally discovered in game development with the Unity engine. It sounded neat and it was short and memorable. But over time, I started to realize that it was far from the perfect domain. Everything from small friction to major issues with marketing became more and more apparent. Something had to change.

The Problem with “Lerp”

The biggest issue was what came up when you searched for “Lerp.” It turned out to be far from a blank slate. The majority of results were related to linear interpolation which, of course, also had been my own source of inspiration for the name. The problem was that these results had very high authority and ranked far higher in search engines than my own website. It didn't end with math either—there's also Emil Lerp, inventor of the chainsaw, and there’s a biological meaning too—lerps are weird sugary shelters made by insects. Clearly, none of these associations matched the image I wanted for the app.

To make things trickier, a company in Sweden was already registered under the name Lerp. It was on its way to liquidation, so the name might have opened up eventually—but waiting for that felt risky and unnecessary. Maybe the name just wasn't for me, I figured.

And when I really started to think about it, I realized that I wasn't even that happy with the name to begin with. It wasn’t that people mispronounced it or struggled to spell it (although some did try to spell it with a “u”). It was mostly that the name just didn’t feel quite right. The “e” didn’t balance quite as nicely in the logo as I’d hoped, and getting the design to look just right felt almost impossible. The friction started adding up and, suddenly, the change felt strategic rather than unfortunate.

The Moment “Lurp” Clicked

On a whim, I swapped the “e” for a “u.” And instantly, everything felt better.

“Lurp” had a friendlier, bouncier feel. It very similar to the original name but looked more fun and less stiff. The visual balance improved too—the “u” just worked better with the other letters and the design process of the new logo went flawlessly. I think “u” is just a very friendly letter, with its roundedness and basic shape.

Even better, the name was a clean slate. No chainsaws or science stuff, just a few silly Urban Dictionary entries, which were honestly just pretty funny (though I just had to add my own entry as well). It was the same name I fell in love with, but without any real baggage.

Best of all? It sounded exactly the same—at least in English. That made the transition feel natural, that there was no need to re-educate anyone on pronunciation. Just a simple tweak that made a big difference. In fact, the spelling had just become a tad more straightforward. When using Swedish pronunciation, there was actually a difference in vowel sound, which made it clear that some people were still holding on to the past. Though I had never intended for anyone to use Swedish pronounciation, I had come to find it quite charming and had started saying it myself. So because of that, it did also take me a while to stop saying “Lerp” out of pure reflex.

And as luck would have it, the domain I was already using, lerp.it, had a perfect counterpart: lurp.it. That made the switch even smoother and kept the brand consistent online.

Not Everyone Was On Board

A few friends weren’t sold on the new name. They liked “Lerp.” I could yap about it being sharper, or more technical or serious, but they were mostly just disliking *change. *They didn't see a need for change and I totally get that. But for me, “Lurp” was a name I could get behind and something I could grow with. It didn't feel like a compromise. It felt right.

Resulting SEO Improvements

When changing the domain name, I basically completely screwed up the SEO. I'll start from the beginning so you're up to speed.

I had the domain registered in Google Search Console so that Google would know exactly what my website had to offer. However, because the “lerp” keyword was so well-established, I barely managed to get a spot on the first page of Google Search. The hope was that this would all change when I went through with the name change.

However, I forgot to register the “change of address,” meaning Google wouldn't actually know that the site had moved. Instead I just deleted the domain and registered the new one. This way, the new website would have to go through the tedious process of getting crawled and registered in GSC all over again. The key here, even after the various mistakes, was to make sure that all pages of the old domain redirected to the new one. But it still took time, I think about two or three months, before the dust had settled. Let me tell you, those were some long months!

The result was very close to what I had hoped. Lurp.it consistently ranked in the top four, for the “lurp” keyword, and first for more specific searches. Gaining domain authority simply takes a lot of time, and I would eventually reach that top spot, even for the base keyword, though a lot of work and effort was put in along the way.

From Lerp to Lurp – What’s Next?

This wasn’t just a branding tweak; it was a mindset shift. I want Lurp to feel fun, approachable, and a little quirky. I want people to smile when they see the name. I even want it to have a mascot (his name is Lil’ Lars, by the way). The next steps are to continue the SEO battle and the work on the app. I will eventually make user posts appear in search results, like Reddit and other platforms, which would give the name even more authority.

So yeah, it’s just one letter. But for me, it made all the difference.