On titles · 7:04pm Feb 27th, 2018
Chaos Theory.
Searching for that phrase on Fimfiction brings up forty-five results. Seven of them are exactly that title and nothing else. Six others use it as part of a longer title. 
As a matter of policy I generally avoid using a contemporary popular phrase as a title, especially one enjoying a fad—what the kids these days call “viral”. It does not stand out. It becomes a cliché. It looks old and tired once the fad burns out. On a site like this it can get lost among a pile of similar or identical search results.
Instead I try to spend time and effort crafting titles that are at least a little off the beaten track, though admittedly I am not rigorous about it. Lectern’s New and Used Books is a reasonably original construction on this model. Obscure terms of art by definition fit it as well, and can carry the ring of authority or at least formality. Foreign Nationals of Unusual Importance, Diplomatic Overtures, and “Courtesy Call” are, or include, such specialized idioms.
A couple of my titles were commonplace once upon a time, but have fallen out of the popular consciousness. “The Farmer in the Dell” is the title of a centuries-old folk song I learned as a wee lad fifty years ago—but several readers informed me they’d never encountered it before. “Pig in a Poke” is an Applejack-style countryism I’ve used all my life, but again, one that seems to be new to a passel of folks. Titles of this sort work especially well for Equestria, which initially at least is presented as a Mark Twain-esque late-nineteenth-century setting.
Single-word titles have to work exceptionally hard to stand out. “Conference” and “Oops.” run afoul of this to an extent; Amphorae and Virga, being far less common words, do better. In a similar vein, playing off existing titles, whether as homages or parodies, can be tricky. Mister Cook Goes to Canterlot came out of this mold, and I wouldn’t have considered it for anything more weighty or serious.
But let’s take a look at the record and see how well I did, at least in terms of search results by relevance. I promise I searched after writing the above. Addendum: updated as new stories are published.
- “The Farmer in the Dell”: one result
- “Conference”: first of 73 results
- Lectern’s New and Used Books: two results
- Diplomatic Overtures: first of two results
- Amphorae: first of two results*
- “Oops.”: first of 95 results
- “Pig in a Poke”: first of two results
- “Courtesy Call”: first of 24 results
- Foreign Nationals of Unusual Importance: one result (searching for just “foreign nationals”, it’s first of 41 results)
- Mister Cook Goes to Canterlot: one result (searching for just “mister cook”, it’s first of two results)
- Virga: first of two results*
- “Inspired by . . .”: sixth of 6860(!) results
- Talking Heads: first of 209 results
- The Campus: first of 67 results
- Three-act Play: first of 14 results
* All the other results of this search were stories of mine.
Huh. Interesting.
Distinctive titles can be an art in and of themselves. I'd say you're quite skilled in that regard. (Of course, this is coming from someone who once picked the lowest-hanging of all fruit in this fandom and entitled something with the "My Little X: Y is Magic" template.)