Forenames and surnames have traditionally been popular categories of .COM domain names to invest in, due to a high potential return on investment. Whilst forenames as a category are usually much rarer and more difficult to acquire, surnames are bought and sold by investors every week, simply because of the amount of surnames that are out there.
Surnames are popular acquisitions amongst the general public, as they make great custom email addresses, and can also host the family or personal website. This week, we challenged ourselves to sift through the .COM data available for surnames in the United States to see how valuable surname .COMs really are. Thanks to @Michael from NameBio, we have a list of over 2,000 domain sales that correspond with surnames in the USA.
In part one of this mini series on surname data, we hope to show you the most popular surnames on our list, and what they are being used for. We should remind you that some of these sales were not acquired purely for the fact that the domain is a popular surname; in cases such as King.com, although it is a popular surname, it was acquired and developed without the surname in mind.
5 Most Popular Surnames
This is the list of the top five most popular surnames that have corresponding publicly available domain sales data. If we were going by the official data of the most popular surnames in the USA, regardless of domain sales, it would be Smith and Smith.com. There are 3mm Smith's in the United States.
Brown - Brown.com
According to WhitePages, which is where the surname data originates, there are just over 1.7mm people in the USA with the surname Brown. The domain name sold in 2006 for $300,000 and is currently used by a distribution company called Brown. The company name is the founders' surname, so you could argue that this was a sale based purely on the value of a surname.
King - King.com
There are over 500,000 Kings in the States, with King.com being sold in 2005 for $155,000. It now shows the website of an entertainment company, called King that had a revenue of over $2bn in 2014.
Roberts - Roberts.com
Roberts comes in at number three in our list of most popular surnames with a corresponding domain sale. The domain was sold in 2009 for $19,500 and is currently used by a company called Roberts Land, which is owned by a man called James Roberts. This is a great example of a .COM name with commercial potential, thanks largely to the popularity of the surname.
Interestingly, this name represents the best value of all 2,000+ domain names on our list. With a sales price of just $19,500 and a frequency of 442,000 people in the United States with a surname of Roberts, it represents an the best investment, which is proved by NameBio's data.
Snyder - Snyder.com
Snyder is an Anglicized version of the Dutch Sneijder, the German Schneider or the Swiss Schnyder. With 186,000 Snyders in America, this comes in at number four on our list. The corresponding domain sold for $18,900 way back in 2004. It is currently owned by an individual called Russell Snyder, and it looks to be used for his own custom email address.
Castillo - Castillo.com
There are 183,000 Castillo's in the USA, according to WhitePages. The domain Castillo.com is owned by Dvlpmnt Marketing, who own a portfolio of over 45,000 domain names. The name was last sold in 2007 for $35,000. As a popular surname, Castillo is used in many business names.
Other popular surnames include Mendez, Fleming, Rhodes (which is also a Greek island), Jennings and Maldonado. Mendez.com in particular represents excellent value as an investment. It was sold for just $8,111 on NameJet in 2014. With 125,000 Mendez's in the USA, it takes just one to offer a five or even six figure fee to give a good return on your investment.
By looking at WhitePages.com's data, you can find out the most popular surnames in the USA, which may help with your acquisitions. As we've seen above, owning a surname in the .COM TLD can be extremely profitable, as surnames are often used as business names, or by wealthy individuals looking to use the domain for a custom email address, or a personal website.
There are surnames that come up for auction every week, and by searching the data and making informed decisions based on past sales, you too can acquire surnames for your portfolio.
In part two, we take a closer look at the surname data that NameBio provided us to figure out exactly how we can make the best, and most informed decisions for buying surname .COM names.
Surnames are popular acquisitions amongst the general public, as they make great custom email addresses, and can also host the family or personal website. This week, we challenged ourselves to sift through the .COM data available for surnames in the United States to see how valuable surname .COMs really are. Thanks to @Michael from NameBio, we have a list of over 2,000 domain sales that correspond with surnames in the USA.
In part one of this mini series on surname data, we hope to show you the most popular surnames on our list, and what they are being used for. We should remind you that some of these sales were not acquired purely for the fact that the domain is a popular surname; in cases such as King.com, although it is a popular surname, it was acquired and developed without the surname in mind.
5 Most Popular Surnames
This is the list of the top five most popular surnames that have corresponding publicly available domain sales data. If we were going by the official data of the most popular surnames in the USA, regardless of domain sales, it would be Smith and Smith.com. There are 3mm Smith's in the United States.
Brown - Brown.com
According to WhitePages, which is where the surname data originates, there are just over 1.7mm people in the USA with the surname Brown. The domain name sold in 2006 for $300,000 and is currently used by a distribution company called Brown. The company name is the founders' surname, so you could argue that this was a sale based purely on the value of a surname.
King - King.com
There are over 500,000 Kings in the States, with King.com being sold in 2005 for $155,000. It now shows the website of an entertainment company, called King that had a revenue of over $2bn in 2014.
Roberts - Roberts.com
Roberts comes in at number three in our list of most popular surnames with a corresponding domain sale. The domain was sold in 2009 for $19,500 and is currently used by a company called Roberts Land, which is owned by a man called James Roberts. This is a great example of a .COM name with commercial potential, thanks largely to the popularity of the surname.
Interestingly, this name represents the best value of all 2,000+ domain names on our list. With a sales price of just $19,500 and a frequency of 442,000 people in the United States with a surname of Roberts, it represents an the best investment, which is proved by NameBio's data.
Snyder - Snyder.com
Snyder is an Anglicized version of the Dutch Sneijder, the German Schneider or the Swiss Schnyder. With 186,000 Snyders in America, this comes in at number four on our list. The corresponding domain sold for $18,900 way back in 2004. It is currently owned by an individual called Russell Snyder, and it looks to be used for his own custom email address.
Castillo - Castillo.com
There are 183,000 Castillo's in the USA, according to WhitePages. The domain Castillo.com is owned by Dvlpmnt Marketing, who own a portfolio of over 45,000 domain names. The name was last sold in 2007 for $35,000. As a popular surname, Castillo is used in many business names.
Other popular surnames include Mendez, Fleming, Rhodes (which is also a Greek island), Jennings and Maldonado. Mendez.com in particular represents excellent value as an investment. It was sold for just $8,111 on NameJet in 2014. With 125,000 Mendez's in the USA, it takes just one to offer a five or even six figure fee to give a good return on your investment.
By looking at WhitePages.com's data, you can find out the most popular surnames in the USA, which may help with your acquisitions. As we've seen above, owning a surname in the .COM TLD can be extremely profitable, as surnames are often used as business names, or by wealthy individuals looking to use the domain for a custom email address, or a personal website.
There are surnames that come up for auction every week, and by searching the data and making informed decisions based on past sales, you too can acquire surnames for your portfolio.
In part two, we take a closer look at the surname data that NameBio provided us to figure out exactly how we can make the best, and most informed decisions for buying surname .COM names.
