The demand for names for new businesses globally is immense. While current figures are probably even higher, Moya K. Mason estimated that worldwide about 305 million businesses are attempted each year, of which roughly one-third, or 100 million businesses are actually started globally each year.
Let that figure sink in. For comparison, according to the most recent Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief, we currently sit at almost 357 million domain names in total.
Most of these businesses will need at least one domain name. The number of active words in the English language is estimated by the Eton Institute to be about 170,000, but for multiple reasons many of these words are not suitable for a business name. Possibly 40,000 English words would make a suitable business name.
While global businesses operate in many languages, and one should add in suitable words in other major languages, nevertheless it is clear that there are nowhere near as many suitable single words in .com as there are names needed by businesses.
Businesses adapt to this by using multi-word names, made up ‘words’, creative spellings or merges, different extensions, etc.
Another way that businesses expand the number of possible names is through the addition of prefixes or suffixes, the topic of this article.
Afternic Keyword Popularity Sales Data
Afternic now post monthly a list of the most popular keywords based on sales data from their platform during the previous month. The most recent data released, for August 2023 sales show my as the most popular keyword in the filtered list. While the list is keywords in any position, it is hard to conceive of my in positions other than as a prefix. They do not provide the actual number of sales, just the relative data.
They have filtered out the, a, x and a few other terms from that list. The unfiltered list for August 2023 Afternic sales is shown below.
In the unfiltered list, the is the leading keyword. Last year I wrote in the NamePros Blog about sales of domain names that started with the.
The Afternic popularity list does not change markedly from month to month, with my also strong that month. Below is the unfiltered data for the month of July 2023.
The Big Prefix-Suffix List
Quite some time ago now, the folks at LeanDomain put together a list of the 5000 most common domain prefixes and suffixes. The list is available various places, including a downloadable file at GitHub.
While one should keep in mind that the list is now dated, do you know what was number one on the list? The prefix my!
The prefix/suffix list has been discussed a few times on NamePros, I think most recently in a discussion started by @Rich: 5000 Most Frequently Used Domain Name Prefixes and Suffixes.
Why Is My Such A Popular Prefix?
I did some searching, without much success, to find writing from branding experts or the academic community on why it is that my has been such a popular prefix for many years.
Finally, I turned to GPT 3.5 based OpenAI Chat to see what it had to say. I think it covered the main points quite well:
Personalization:
Familiarity and Approachability:
I had thought that one function of the prefix ‘my’ would be to make the business feel approachable, and OpenAI Chat agreed:
Ownership and Control:
The next justification makes sense in retrospect, but I had not thought about it until ChatAI brought it up:
Brand Differentiation:
Closely related, but listed separately by ChatAI, the addition of ‘my’ may help a brand to emphasize that the products or services are customized to each user:
OpenAI Chat did offer the following caveat, however, as a name involving ‘my’ is not right in all situations:
Who Uses My In Their Name?
I went through a few lists of the largest global businesses, and none used my as a prefix in their name. That is not that surprising, as most large companies brand or rebrand on a single term.
There are a number of businesses using the my prefix however. Considering the following examples may help to see the sectors and niches that might adopt my as part of their name.
Sales
NamePros member @asxforum started a NamePros Discussion on the My Prefix back in 2017, at the time of the MyWorld.com sale for $1.2 million.
That is the largest sale that comes up when I did a search on NameBio for sales with my as a prefix, but there are a number of other substantial sales. For example, MyBlog.com sold for $400,000 in 2004, MyMeeting.com for $164,100 in 2015, and MyHome.com sold for $120,322 in 2023. You can see the full NameBio my prefix sales list at this link.
There were 2304 sales recorded on NameBio with my as the prefix, with a total sales volume of $8 million. Keep in mind that this is a mix of retail and wholesale transactions, and by no means all sales are recorded in NameBio.
If doing your own sales searches at NameBio for different keywords, make sure to use Prefix or Suffix in the NameBio Placement, rather than Starts With and Ends With, in order to avoid inclusion of longer terms including the prefix.
Thanks to Afternic for providing the monthly keyword popularity data and the three graphs used in this article. Thanks to NameBio for the sales data referenced in this article. Also acknowledge OpenAI for insights on why my is a popular domain name prefix. Thanks to LeanDomainSearch for the long prefix and suffix list.
Let that figure sink in. For comparison, according to the most recent Verisign Domain Name Industry Brief, we currently sit at almost 357 million domain names in total.
Most of these businesses will need at least one domain name. The number of active words in the English language is estimated by the Eton Institute to be about 170,000, but for multiple reasons many of these words are not suitable for a business name. Possibly 40,000 English words would make a suitable business name.
While global businesses operate in many languages, and one should add in suitable words in other major languages, nevertheless it is clear that there are nowhere near as many suitable single words in .com as there are names needed by businesses.
Businesses adapt to this by using multi-word names, made up ‘words’, creative spellings or merges, different extensions, etc.
Another way that businesses expand the number of possible names is through the addition of prefixes or suffixes, the topic of this article.
Afternic Keyword Popularity Sales Data
Afternic now post monthly a list of the most popular keywords based on sales data from their platform during the previous month. The most recent data released, for August 2023 sales show my as the most popular keyword in the filtered list. While the list is keywords in any position, it is hard to conceive of my in positions other than as a prefix. They do not provide the actual number of sales, just the relative data.
They have filtered out the, a, x and a few other terms from that list. The unfiltered list for August 2023 Afternic sales is shown below.
In the unfiltered list, the is the leading keyword. Last year I wrote in the NamePros Blog about sales of domain names that started with the.
The Afternic popularity list does not change markedly from month to month, with my also strong that month. Below is the unfiltered data for the month of July 2023.
The Big Prefix-Suffix List
Quite some time ago now, the folks at LeanDomain put together a list of the 5000 most common domain prefixes and suffixes. The list is available various places, including a downloadable file at GitHub.
While one should keep in mind that the list is now dated, do you know what was number one on the list? The prefix my!
The prefix/suffix list has been discussed a few times on NamePros, I think most recently in a discussion started by @Rich: 5000 Most Frequently Used Domain Name Prefixes and Suffixes.
Why Is My Such A Popular Prefix?
I did some searching, without much success, to find writing from branding experts or the academic community on why it is that my has been such a popular prefix for many years.
Finally, I turned to GPT 3.5 based OpenAI Chat to see what it had to say. I think it covered the main points quite well:
Personalization:
OpenAI Chat went on to point out that in digital technology we have become accustomed to making reference to ‘my account’ or ‘my documents’ and similar expressions. Some operating systems even use ‘my documents’ as the standard user file area.
Familiarity and Approachability:
I had thought that one function of the prefix ‘my’ would be to make the business feel approachable, and OpenAI Chat agreed:
Ownership and Control:
The next justification makes sense in retrospect, but I had not thought about it until ChatAI brought it up:
Brand Differentiation:
Closely related, but listed separately by ChatAI, the addition of ‘my’ may help a brand to emphasize that the products or services are customized to each user:
OpenAI Chat did offer the following caveat, however, as a name involving ‘my’ is not right in all situations:
Who Uses My In Their Name?
I went through a few lists of the largest global businesses, and none used my as a prefix in their name. That is not that surprising, as most large companies brand or rebrand on a single term.
There are a number of businesses using the my prefix however. Considering the following examples may help to see the sectors and niches that might adopt my as part of their name.
- MySpace For those who have been around the digital space for some time, MySpace, launched in 2003, probably comes first to mind. While MySpace.com is still active, it was best known in the early years, as one of the first successful social networking sites. It was particularly popular in the music, performance and creative arts communities.
- MyHeritage Many may be more familiar with the site MyHeritage.com, that supports family trees, genealogy, genetic testing and image services. It launched in 2003. MyHeritage operates in more than 40 languages, and has around 500 employees currently. In recent years it expanded AI-tools.
- MyPoints This well-known loyalty program operates at MyPoints.com.
- MyEyeDr This is a U.S. chain of eye care practitioners and eyewear. They operate at MyEyeDr.com.
- MyBank Several different banking and payment processors operate on different extensions under the name MyBank. A European payment processing network operates on MyBank.eu.
- MyCorporation They provide services helping businesses complete the steps for incorporation. They operate on MyCorporation.com.
- MyFitnessPal is a well-known food and exercise tracking app.
- MyUs This is a service that allow you to get a US or UK shipping address, and save on shipping costs. They operate at MyUS.com.
Sales
NamePros member @asxforum started a NamePros Discussion on the My Prefix back in 2017, at the time of the MyWorld.com sale for $1.2 million.
That is the largest sale that comes up when I did a search on NameBio for sales with my as a prefix, but there are a number of other substantial sales. For example, MyBlog.com sold for $400,000 in 2004, MyMeeting.com for $164,100 in 2015, and MyHome.com sold for $120,322 in 2023. You can see the full NameBio my prefix sales list at this link.
There were 2304 sales recorded on NameBio with my as the prefix, with a total sales volume of $8 million. Keep in mind that this is a mix of retail and wholesale transactions, and by no means all sales are recorded in NameBio.
If doing your own sales searches at NameBio for different keywords, make sure to use Prefix or Suffix in the NameBio Placement, rather than Starts With and Ends With, in order to avoid inclusion of longer terms including the prefix.
Thanks to Afternic for providing the monthly keyword popularity data and the three graphs used in this article. Thanks to NameBio for the sales data referenced in this article. Also acknowledge OpenAI for insights on why my is a popular domain name prefix. Thanks to LeanDomainSearch for the long prefix and suffix list.
