Short acronym domain names can represent Pinyin words that translate to Chinese characters. They are popular in China because they are short and easy to remember. However, there are certain challenges that limit the use of certain letters to stand for Pinyin words. In this post, I'd like to look at the challenges associated with the letter "e" in detail.
The challenge is that for "e" to work in an acronym, we need to find Pinyin words that begin with "e," such as “Er” (耳 ear). Upon further study, I was surprised to find that "e" can actually represent many Pinyin words, but most of them are not commonly used. This suggests that the scope of "e" is quite limited for use in Chinese acronym domain names.
Being curious, I wanted to find out how Chinese businesses use "e" for domain names in the real world. As an exercise, I searched for three-letter domain names that start with "e" on the .cn extension. As only the second and third letters could vary, there was a maximum sample of 676 domain names. During my research, I could only find 32 live websites out of the 676 domain names that had acronym domain names based more or less on Pinyin.
I learned the following from my research.
Here are the complete results of the 32 live websites that I found:
Based on such a small sample, one cannot draw definitive conclusions about the way Chinese companies use "e" for their domain names. But, it suggests that companies can be creative and get around the constraints of a Pinyin acronym, allowing them to still use a short domain name.
As we saw in the chart, many companies like to rhyme “e” with “Yi” to mean “easy.” The word “Yi” does project a very positive image for a brand. If consumers can accept such a deviation from the definition of an acronym, then using "e" to represent “Yi” can become very popular.
Sometimes, we can use "e" to mean the English letter “e” in a domain name without any translation if the remaining letters can form a good Chinese phrase. For example, exw.cn from the chart means “E学网” which translates to “E Study Network.” Because “e” can be used to refer to something online, as in “e-mail” or “e-commerce,” most people will understand the name, so no translation is required. Many will assume that “E Study Network” is an online study network. The same thing works for etz.cn, which means “E投资” and translates to “E Investments.” In this context, many will understand that this refers to investments done online. So, domain names beginning with “e” with no translation can work as long the the 2nd and 3rd letters provide a good Chinese meaning.
As domain investors, we can follow these trends in our research to find meaningful Chinese acronym domain names that begin with the letter "e."
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This blog post is part of a series on Chinese acronym domain names. My last post, Your Guide to Chinese Domain Names: From A to Z, features a chart of Pinyin translations of individual letters from A to Z, along with some of their possible Chinese meanings.
Follow me to learn more about Chinese domain names.
Special thanks go to the NamePros editing team for their great support.
The challenge is that for "e" to work in an acronym, we need to find Pinyin words that begin with "e," such as “Er” (耳 ear). Upon further study, I was surprised to find that "e" can actually represent many Pinyin words, but most of them are not commonly used. This suggests that the scope of "e" is quite limited for use in Chinese acronym domain names.
Being curious, I wanted to find out how Chinese businesses use "e" for domain names in the real world. As an exercise, I searched for three-letter domain names that start with "e" on the .cn extension. As only the second and third letters could vary, there was a maximum sample of 676 domain names. During my research, I could only find 32 live websites out of the 676 domain names that had acronym domain names based more or less on Pinyin.
I learned the following from my research.
- Surprisingly, only one domain name, egr.cn, follows the definition of an acronym and uses "e" to represent a Pinyin word beginning with "e" (En).
- Twelve names use “e'’ to represent “Yi” (易), which rhymes with "e" and translates to “easy.”
- Six names simply use "e" as the English letter "e" without any translation.
Here are the complete results of the 32 live websites that I found:
| Domain Name | Chinese Name | Pinyin for e | Chinese for e | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| eap | 易普斯 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| ebb | 易比网 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| ebf | 易必富 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| edl | 易得力 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| efo | 易富 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| ejt | 易教通 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| eju | 易居网 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| ekw | 易课网 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| enb | 易宁波 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| epu | 易铺网 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| eqf | 易企峰 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| ete | 易特 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| ewg | 易道 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| eze | 易家网 | Yi | 易 | Easy |
| efw | e房网 | - | - | e |
| ehm | 黄梅e | - | - | e |
| ejr | E家人 | - | - | e |
| ekk | E科 | - | - | e |
| etz | E投资 | - | - | e |
| exw | E学网 | - | - | e |
| edn | 一点网 | Yi | 一 | One |
| edt | 一点通 | Yi | 一 | One |
| ejj | 壹加 | Yi | 壹 | One |
| ece | 亿赢网 | Yi | 亿 | 100 million |
| epw | 亿普教育网 | Yi | 亿 | 100 million |
| exz | 徐州亿网 | Yi | 亿 | 100 million |
| eeo | 翼鸥 | Yi | 翼 | Wing |
| ego | 颐高 | Yi | 颐 | Cheek |
| egr | 恩格尔 | En | 恩 | Grace |
| eld | 宜联贷 | Yi | 宜 | Suitable |
| esv | 怡海 | Yi | 怡 | Harmony |
| eyn | 爱云南 | Ai | 爱 | Love |
Based on such a small sample, one cannot draw definitive conclusions about the way Chinese companies use "e" for their domain names. But, it suggests that companies can be creative and get around the constraints of a Pinyin acronym, allowing them to still use a short domain name.
As we saw in the chart, many companies like to rhyme “e” with “Yi” to mean “easy.” The word “Yi” does project a very positive image for a brand. If consumers can accept such a deviation from the definition of an acronym, then using "e" to represent “Yi” can become very popular.
Sometimes, we can use "e" to mean the English letter “e” in a domain name without any translation if the remaining letters can form a good Chinese phrase. For example, exw.cn from the chart means “E学网” which translates to “E Study Network.” Because “e” can be used to refer to something online, as in “e-mail” or “e-commerce,” most people will understand the name, so no translation is required. Many will assume that “E Study Network” is an online study network. The same thing works for etz.cn, which means “E投资” and translates to “E Investments.” In this context, many will understand that this refers to investments done online. So, domain names beginning with “e” with no translation can work as long the the 2nd and 3rd letters provide a good Chinese meaning.
As domain investors, we can follow these trends in our research to find meaningful Chinese acronym domain names that begin with the letter "e."
--
This blog post is part of a series on Chinese acronym domain names. My last post, Your Guide to Chinese Domain Names: From A to Z, features a chart of Pinyin translations of individual letters from A to Z, along with some of their possible Chinese meanings.
Follow me to learn more about Chinese domain names.
Special thanks go to the NamePros editing team for their great support.
