My first ever Domain was Dunderhill.id.au (saddest webSite In History ,I haven't touched it in Months)
Because Aust. company offered them for free for Six months
(The .ID.au Ext (Aust Eqv. to .Name or .Me.UK) is not popular)
Renewed it recently because I am Sentimental Old Fool (cost $30USD)
Also have .com .info .tk As well
As the BareFootTech I have .com .net .info .tk .cjb.net
I registered it years ago, because .com and .net were taken.
I'd say <surname>.<any extension> is more useful, because then your whole family can use it for e-mail and web sites. By registering my own domain name, I can keep the same e-mail address for my whole life and even pass the domain name on to my children!
Also, if someone searches for my name on google, my web-site comes out as one of the top results, so it is easy for long lost friends to contact me. In fact a school friend from decades ago found me recently by searching for me in google.
.info domains are pretty cheap (about $3/year at planetdomain.com) and maybe your surname will be available with .info, so why not use that?
I was lucky enough to get my last name a few years ago. I had the .us version before. Everytime I go and register at Godaddy they ask if I want to add robertfleege.com --
If I didnt have my last name I would not go for firstlast.com - I'd rather come up with something creative