ccTLDs for Personal Email Questions
 

Hi everyone,

My wife and I currently own our respective name domains (www.firstnamelastname.com). We use fastmail to host our MX records and use our name domains (firstname@firstnamelastname.com) for personal email (i.e. family and friends).

I'd really like to have a permanent personal address in the following format: firstname@lastname.com. However, our "lastname.com" domains are long gone, not surprisingly. I was able to secure my wife's "lastname.us" domain. My "lastname.us" domain is unavailable, as it's currently registered to ENOM (emailmyname.com). On to my questions:

1. Is it worth it--or even possible--to try and buy my "lastname.us" domain back from ENOM? The domain is set to expire in April, and www.emailmyname.com doesn't seem to be taking new registrations, which is perhaps a sign that it's on its way out.

2. There are several ccTLDs available for fairly reasonable prices (i.e. under $50/yr). These include: .st, .to, .bz, .io, etc. Of these, .st and .to seem the most appealing, particularly the latter. Is there anything I ought to be aware of when considering purchasing a ccTLD? Again, my plan is to use this domain exclusively for a permanent, personal email address.

Thanks in advance for the thoughts!

There is also the .name TLD.

There is also the option of finding a TLD whose letters match the last few of your name. It has the potential to confuse people. Instead of emailing joe AT balderda.sh, they write balderdash.com

I have a fairly common last name, so I was also unable to get anything remotely "good quality" (no .com, .net, .us.....)
I ended up buying my surname in the .cx and the .de tld's, and have a firstname@lastname.cx address for family and close friends.

I know some think that anything but a .com will confuse family and friends, but I've always found that I just send an email saying "this is my address, put it in your book", and whenever I send to someone, they will add me then, and/or reply to me. It's not the case of verbally telling someone what my address is, and having them confuse with a .com when it's a .cx instead.

As I'm sure theog and many, many more would agree, nothing beats a .com address. But I would rather have a personal, distinctive name in a .cx than a generic, non-related .com address.

just my two cents......

Thanks for the insights.

GeraldR, my "lastname.name" domain is also taken, alas, so that's not an option. I've considered buying a ".us.com" 2nd-level domain but am not entirely comfortable paying $50/yr for it. (Also, I'd prefer a shorter, "cleaner" TLD--but that's just an aesthetic preference). Evidently, GoDaddy will soon be selling the ".me" domain which might be nice for personal email. I'm curious to see how much it will cost annually.

So should I assume that buying back my "lastname.us" from emailmyname.com is a lost cause?

no_basho,

Are you telling us to much if you tell us the last two or three letters of your name?

Find a service that will try to buy a domain for you when it expires. Godaddy has one. Then put in a try for the domain you want that will expire in April.

With the .name domain you could specifically own "firstname@lastname.name" email address.
Is that also taken?

www.nic.name

GeraldR:

No, I don't think that's too much information <he says, peering around suspiciously>: ...er

Also, I've done what you suggested with my current domain provider (domain.powerhoster.com). We'll see what happens in April.

Kelly: yes, my last name domain ("...er.name") is taken, unfortunately.

Does anyone have an idea when this will happen?
I know GD's website says "late spring/early summer", but didn't know if anyone here had some more (inside?) information.

.er is Eritrea. http://www.afridns.org/er/tld_er.txt says you are out of luck unless you are in Eritrea:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.me#Dom...ucture_for_.me

This is pretty disappointing.

@OP: I'm guessing that emailmyname.com bought a bunch of generic last names and is selling email addresses at them? In that case, even though the domain is registered at eNom, it's owned by emailmyname.com - you would have to buy it through them, and it most likely will not expire. Even if it does expire, it is very hard to reregister it before the domain name vultures snap it up. :)

http://www.moniker.com/domains/registerdomainnames.jsp

This is a nice search if you want to check the pricing/availability of different TLDs quickly. The only thing to be aware of is that some extensions (such as .us) will not allow you to 'hide' your whois information. Also, some domains are not able to be transferred between registrars. Overall it shouldn't cause too many problems vs. a .com.

That stinks!

However, are they trying to be funny?:
In addition to declaring .me to be independent of .yu, a new .rs domain is to be deployed for Serbian use.,

with "me declaring my independence from you" :D . that's funny.


However, is this contrary to the wiki? It's from GoDaddy's website:

Will .ME work like other extensions?
Yes. .ME has been delegated by ICANN and has been added to the Domain Name System root servers just like .com, .net and other extensions. Afilias Global Registry Services will be providing the registry support for .ME. Afilias, the world's second largest registry services provider, currently supports .INFO, .MOBI, .ASIA, and others.

Well, I think it'll turn out like .co.uk and other similar TLDs.

and that's really too bad.

There is a lot of potential with .me as a tld by itself, not attached to a .com or the like. :(

Bah, this is indeed disappointing. I was starting to really like the idea of a "@lastname.me" email address. And as I'm not in Eritrea, it looks like ".er" is out, too. Double bah. ;)

Thanks for the tip! I didn't know about this site.