Picking Baby Names Based On The Availability Of The Dot Com

from the a-sign-of-the-times dept

Wed, Aug 22nd 2007 10:44pm — Mike Masnick

There are some really cool tools out there for people trying to come up with baby names, but apparently some parents are now mostly concerned about what names will have a URL available, so they can register it well before the kid is ever going to use it. This isn't too surprising as a sign of the times, but it does make you wonder if there will be fewer and fewer of stories like the one found recently in the Washington Post of a guy who tried to find all the people around the world who shared his name. Given the combination of a more global communications system and the desire to have a place of your own online, the quest for truly unique names may become even more important.

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Filed Under: baby names, domain names
Companies: godaddy

23 Comments

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n3rdkw, 22 Aug 2007 @ 11:43pm

Somone should name their kid Ephen
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Jeff, 23 Aug 2007 @ 1:35am

ROFL
Well, at least there's a simple solution to this. We just direct those sorts of parents to have abortions or to drown the children if they're religious, that way that child won't have to grow up as a personal fucking billboard for the parents. I'm sure being raised like that would at LEAST make you be into fucking corpses or get into crossdressing or something. We don't need those kinda people walking around.
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- Yangyang (profile), 23 Aug 2007 @ 2:26am
  
  Re: ROFL
  What's wrong with crossdressing?
  Curious too why you would choose necrophilia as an example of a screwed up person.
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  - CT, 23 Aug 2007 @ 2:49am
    
    Re: Re: ROFL
    Um, dude, you do know that necrophilia is the desire to have sex with dead bodies, don't you. That WOULD be pretty screwed up...
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    - Yangyang (profile), 23 Aug 2007 @ 2:55am
      
      Re: Re: Re: ROFL
      Yea Dude, I know this, but you can be screwed up without being a necrophiliac.
      Anyway, i checked my own name in google and my name came up first. How about that for an ego-trip.
      Btw, you did not say what was wrong with crossdressing.
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    - Yangyang (profile), 23 Aug 2007 @ 2:58am
      
      Re: Re: Re: ROFL
      Yea Dude, I know this, but you can be screwed up without being a necrophiliac.
      Anyway, i checked my own name in google and my name came up first. How about that for an ego-trip.
      Btw, you did not say what was wrong with crossdressing.
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mk429, 23 Aug 2007 @ 2:18am

Parents
It's this type of thing that makes me wonder whether people should need a license to have children, or at least pass some sort of basic exam. Some people should really not be trusted to raise kids..
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GoblinJuice, 23 Aug 2007 @ 4:47am

Bonifa Latifa Sharifa Shar Jackson?
bonifalatifasharifasharjackson.com

is available!
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Rational Beaver, 23 Aug 2007 @ 7:28am

Does-this-mean-that-people-are-going-to-start-adding-dashes-in-between-their-names?

Oh wait...
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Witty Nickname, 23 Aug 2007 @ 8:53am

My name
I am having a baby soon, I checked FirstnameLastname.com for hime. I have a semi-common last name (No Smith or Jones, but it is not Abbadulakabob) and I am giving my child a popular first name and it is not registered.

Well, it wann't before I registered it - thanks for the tip.
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- junior, 23 Aug 2007 @ 9:52am
  
  Re: My name
  same here. did the same thing LOL
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Aug 2007 @ 10:28am

Interesting post here on the "Branding Up of Baby"

http://www.crucialminutiae.com/?p=559
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Alex Hagen, 23 Aug 2007 @ 10:43am

Thanks for the baby name link
I don't have any comment on the main topic of this article, other to say that the book Freakonomics shows an inverse correlation between wierd names and future earning. Maybe it is not a causal link, but you might want to name your babies carefully just in case.

But I would like to thank Mike for the baby name website. That's a very cool application, and will probably be useful for me in about 7 months.
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Sanguine Dream, 23 Aug 2007 @ 10:54am

Oh great...
I can already see a whole new round of domain squatting coming from this...
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Matt Bennett, 23 Aug 2007 @ 11:49am

yeah, you can google me forever never find me. Common name and all. Conversely, google my screen name Sir_Prometheus, you'll find posts and such I made real easy. (mostly forums talking about dorky pursuits)
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baby names and meanings, 26 Aug 2007 @ 3:24am

baby names
Most top domain names are not given name based. Short and memorable company names are really what people remember - such as Google, Yahoo, etc. It may be best to find one and register for it, instead of using a baby's name.
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A Key, 24 Nov 2007 @ 4:35pm

Lots of great Angel names around, not just the usual Michael and Gabriel and Angela - thousands of them, just avoid the ones that are hard to spell.
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cyclone, 4 Dec 2007 @ 9:40pm

Baby name
I have never heard of this until now, that is checking the name against url's very interesting as we are planning on having kids soon. will have to check against some names.
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Humble, 14 Mar 2008 @ 8:16pm

Choosing a Baby Name
Whatever happened to showing respect for one's seniors by naming them after wise and revered predecessors? Now we look for something unique and odd and domain-worthy. We are indeed in the final days of humanity.
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Tam, 14 Jul 2008 @ 9:48am

how to get new variations?
Hmm, are there websites to check available domain names automatically for all variations of name? Most provide only a list of variations, like here: meaning of Shiloh
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baby names meanings, 26 Sep 2008 @ 3:53pm

Great gift idea!
You have just given me a really kool idea for a baby shower gift! A close friend of mine is expecting a baby soon, I can gift them a domain name registered under the babies name! How kool and unique would that be.
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- karry, 1 Dec 2008 @ 4:29am
  
  Re: Great gift idea!
  I don't have any comment on the main topic of this article, other to say that the book Freakonomics shows an inverse correlation between wierd names and future earning. Maybe it is not a causal link, but laptop AC adapter you might want to name your babies carefully just in case.
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FindMyBabyName, 28 Oct 2009 @ 5:21pm

This is def a sign of the times. When I had my first child, I snagged up the .com in a heartbeat. You never know if it would be there when he was 18!
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