Do you have a way or strat how to choose your domain or portfolio/service site name other than just using your plain name/surname.

 

This may sound very vague or silly asking this kind of question but I've seen some people struggle how to pick a name for their website or domain.

 

That's including me! Although I just used my name for my personal site, but I want it to make it different for my freelance/service site.

Personally I try to get a name that has a meaning, so for example I might think about what I do.. Design.. Then I think of names I could use around that so for example some friends at uni needed a name so we come up with venn design, venn is a diagram that uses circles to represent sets and their relationships, although more mathematical it involved a geometric shape so kind of worked.

 

It's not wrong to use names either as it gives the site a more personal 'freelancer' view.

 

The only real recemdation I would say is to stick with real names or words as obscure made up names require a lot more marketing to become successful.

Maybe it's just me, but I would avoid widely used names, such as the ones that include "lab", "creative", "pixel" etc.

Not saying that's wrong per se, just I find those overused.

 

Many designers / devs (including me) use their own name if they freelance, some use both their name and a business name.

from an abolute beginner: had the same situation literally a couple of days ago. perheps i was in a better position since the domain was not meant to be commercial i.e. i did not have to think about anything which would need to please the petential customers. my starting point was a sentence (or rather a short slogan) i made up some time ago which i really liked and which was linked to a particular event in my life. i used some combinations of the sylabous of the sentence to build up a name which sounded good to me and i also happily discovered that the name resambled a name of a city i have some affection to... this was my way

 

in general i think it's good to have some associations/ dynamics/ story with the name.

 

i agree with teodora and i'd avoid things like "design", "creative" etc. and i'd rather prove the creativity or the design edge with the content of the page (let the content speak!)

 

happy name searching!

I have 2 sides of my business, a typical 'digital' name where my services are 'yeah, websites yada yada' and i'm working on a freelance website which goes under a more tech feel where you hire 'me' on contract as opposed marketing as a design company. As for names themselves, your own name is ok but make sure you get a good extension ... try to avoid junk like 'best-web-design' and 'design-4-u' as if you look at leading designers and developers, or even look at an other industry it's the catchy brand name which sticks in your mind.