Command+D: What’s in a Name?
posted in Doin' Our Thang |
The other day I typed in the first part of my favorite website, http://www.stevesword.com/ . Since I have it bookmarked (duh), I can usually just type the first few letters and my web browser knows the rest so I just press enter. So this time I typed in “www.steve.com” by accident and I stumbled onto a place I’d never been. It wasn’t what I expected to say the least. In the days where every URL under five or six characters has been bought and companies fight for the rights to shorter and shorter names for their website steve.com seemed an anomoly. A personal website for a musician that I’d never heard of before! Not only that but it doesn’t appear that Steve has a staff to manage his image or branding (my apologies to his staff if they do, in fact, exist). It’s just a dude and his website! This prompted me to try other names. Think of this Command+D as a sort of pre-google googling of names. Let’s see what happens!
BOYS
1. Steve. This is the guy who started it all. Well, he started me thinking and I think him kindly for it. Also, stevesword.com lawyers wanted me to mention that this is not Steve of Stevesword fame.
2. Jeff. Another site from “just a guy.” Check out his about page where he thumbs his nose at the other Jeff’s out there who try and buy him out. He hurt my feelings… The guy whose picture is in the heading is from Jeff.net
3. Matt. A little more cryptic and a touch of menace here at matt.com. Who knew he had such a firm grasp of economics? “Do you get to have all the stuff you want? No… you do not.” Major points for style. UPDATE: I didn’t have time to read the entire site, but was Matt advocating for counterfitting your own money to subvert the dominant power structure? Just checking.
4. Ryan. Whoah! This sucker’s actually not in use! I wonder how much byanything.com would charge a person named Ryan for it? Our very own Ryan better jump on it, lest he befall a fate like mine (see #2 above).
5. Tim. How in the world is this not a real website? Tim just recently put together his timspellman.com so I’ll ask him directly. Tim, did you realize this was purchaseable? What were they gonna charge you for it? Maybe you should buy it because that really kinda makes you the Tim; the definitive online version of your namesake.
GIRLS
6. Kate. It appears to be a real site, but upon closer inspection methinks it’s a people-finder front. If not than the Kate of Kate.com is a sucker MC. I’d assume purchase-ability would be pretty high for this one, since it’s owned by a company and all companies are motivated soley by money. Kate Hawthorne needs to get on it and make this site the rockin-est site ever; one that is more deserving of her name.
7. Sarah somehow does not exist. Sara is definitely not what I expected. Talk about dork central.
8. Mary. Is this the name you think of when you hear the word “facelift?” Me neither. The more I look at this the more it looks like a placeholder site. Someone needs to buy this and make it a real facelift site.
9. Jenny. Porn. Jenna. Porn. Jesse. Don’t even ask.
9. Julia. This site is a great big quesiton mark right now, but it looks promising. I like the color scheme. Julia better get after it if she wants her site to be up “on 2008″ as she puts it on the page. I bet it’s either going to be artwork… or porn.
So what is http://www.(yourfirstnamehere).com ? I’ll bet about 25% of these sites (or 15% if you’re a girl) are either totally virgin territory or their merely being sat upon by a greedy but negotiable company that wants you to have your namesake .com. Check them out and don’t forget to look at .net, .tv, and my favorite .biz. Let me know if you find anything crazy because I bet I’ll end up doing a follow up Command+D with more names.
