Hey,
I was looking for a second fun domain, and I know this is a hard subject, since nobody really likes giving away rare finds of unused, cheap, and yet cool domain names, so not asking for suggestions. I actually found a whole bunch of those against my own expectations last week, tbh, but I’m still looking for a ‘perfect one’. So, my question is: how do you go about looking for fun domain names? Is there anything that can help with getting something nice? And what are your expectations in getting one? (Short? Funny? Pronounceable?)
I did already try asking a LLM (ChatGPT) or three, but I actually came up with way better ones than those could generate, so they aren’t adding to the solution. I also tried those websites that ask you to enter a few words to put one together, but they were even worse, cause they just spit out .com addresses, while I like to integrate the TLD into the name (like for [already taken] example: “do.pe”). 😅
Or do I really have to depend on my own imagination alone? Cause the thing is that my imagination is known to usually spit out the best ideas when it’s just too late. 😅
Anyway, TL;DR: Any input that improves the finding of a good unique domain name would be welcome. 😜
The low hanging fruit will already be scooped up. You have to get creative with emphasis on it being pronounceable first and brevity second. I feel the biggest mistake that gets made is waiting for the perfect name and overlooking a good one.
I’ll say that you probably want .com. Domain names that integrate the TLD are cute, but they can be problematic. Not everyone will pick up on the fact that it’s supposed to be pronounced as one word. This leads into the fact that it can be hard to verbally convey this domain to other people. Very specific TLDs are also likely to have strict or unusual rules on their use that could get them revoked.
I acquired one already and I used .re, which is a French registrar available for any EU citizen and currently doesn’t even require verification (though might in the future, but I’m from the EU, so I can do that.) Not going to put the full url out here for display (for security reasons), but I can tell you it ends in …mo.re, which is very obviously part of the name, especially with what’s in front, so I think I got something in between that reaches both worlds: It’s an official country registrar (so won’t easily disappear), I am allowed to use it and it still is one word with the TLD… 🙂
Who says you can only get one? Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good; just get one of the fun ones you already came up with and in the future if you need a different one get that too. That’s been my approach, anyway.
I have jumped domain names 4 times in the last year. Because I find a “cool new one”
But I’ve found the perfect one I believe now.
Simply found it by typing something “cool” and looking what tlds are available for that word or phrase
Which is the obvious method not really worth mentioning, but still I do.
For my homelab, I used a constellation so I can name each of my server after a star in the constellation. It is on a generic domain extension.
If it is something long term, I’d generally opt for a more stable extension. I.e. vanilla .com/net/org; or cctld for an existing country that you have close ties with that’s not likely to go away anytime soon. It is extremely rare, but this way I’m not running the odd risk of the company behind those fun new extensions, or a country going away (see .yu, no pun intended).
