advice Surname domain extension options

[stvn42088]

I'm fortunate enough that I have a few versions of my surname available to me. I'm looking for advice on the best one to use. Only .com and .net are taken at present.

Use case: General business email and might eventually be the parent company of other businesses (real estate, web businesses, etc). Other email addresses would ultimately forward to this and I'd likely have this email on a general business card.

Options:

• .org - I own this already and its the second most used extension. Concerns are that it wouldn't be for a non-profit (I know this isn't a hard rule, but seems to be how it is used)
• .com - "surnameLLC.com" or "surnameLIMITED" or "surnameCO.com" (last one feels redudant) - downside here is that it just feels like I'm adding unnecessary characters/information to the domain. The current owner uses it for email and unlikely to give it up anytime soon based on previous conversations.
• .net - seems limited in use, tech companies only? I also have to wait for it to drop or offer the current owner money.
• .co - my concern is the mix-up between this and .com
• .us - really isn't used widely from what I've seen

I'm open to other options as well. I thought ".ltd" was interesting, but it would probably confuse most people.

Also, it is probably worth noting that I have "FirstnameLastname.com", but this doesn't feel appropriate for the use case. I will likely use this more of as a blog and/or for my resume.

 

[Name Trader]

I am in the unfortunate position that all GTLD's are taken in both the singular and plural of my last name, as well as all the common suffixs like co, inc, corp, ltd, limited, llc, and others. So a little worse situation than you. even .co, .us, .co.uk are all taken. So I was pretty much forced to pickup something in the nGTLDs. My logic for wanting the domain was much similar to your own.. The best nGTLD I could find which was appropriate was .ltd, which was the one I purchased. But if your business is in a particular market sector, say like design. It might be worth you searching registrars like Uniregistry or NameSilo, to see if you name is available in your market sector. Mine was. But I didn't pick it up yet because I wanted a more non-specific extension, like .ltd. I suppose I should buy the .limited version too.

this was my experience, similar to what you are going thru. I'd prefer surnameco.com, surnamellc.com or surname.co from the choices you've outlined above. Or the plural in .com might also be a good choice, if it is available.

 

[stvn42088]

I'll consider surnameLLC or surnameCO.com and look for any other potential alternatives that would give me the .com version. The ".co" version still scares me a bit because people might think: "Oh look, he forgot the 'm'" and then send an email to the wrong location.

The plural was something I was considering as well. Another good thought. I'll sleep on it and see if anyone else has any other options for creating a good .com out of a surname.

 

[Name Trader]

Yep. I know what you mean. I would appreciate you letting us know what you finally decide. Of the three that you mentioned. I like surnameco.com the best. Maybe not everyone will understand what LLC means, and with surnames.com, maybe the 's' personalizes the domain a tad too much, as in Joes.com corner shop. But if it's free. I'd certainly register it. Even if you decide it's not the domain you are going to use.