I would personally recommend the equivalent of [email protected], which is the format I use. I agree with your assessment — to me, emails like [email protected] and [email protected] seem a bit too playful or informal. I like to use one email address across all the services I use, so something that is completely neutral is key. Hard to get more neutral than [email protected], in my opinion.

The benefit to [email protected] is that it helps reinforce the fact that this person is, indeed, emailing you, and no one else. [email protected] would probably work in most contexts, but to me it adds a layer of ambiguity — when I see that, I have to think twice and make sure that there's no one else who would be receiving this email ("is this really going to John, or is there a dedicated support person answering emails?"). This is less problematic when it's someone's personal site, but for small businesses where it's really not clear whether there might be a support staff responding to emails, I then have to look it up and potentially resort to omitting a name in the salutation of my email, or writing "Dear John Doe Support", or something similar. Not optimal.

Lastly, I live in America but have a non-American first name, which gets misspelled a lot. Having to type my first name twice in my email address helps reinforce the spelling, leading to less awkwardness for the other person.

Answer from Itai Ferber on Stack Exchange
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ZenBusiness
zenbusiness.com › blog › personal-domain-names
8 Great Examples of a Personal Domain Name in Action | ZenBusiness
July 31, 2025 - He hosts his blog there but has other projects on separate domains. Laura has branded her business around her persona, especially through her heavy use of videos (in both her blog and in the courses she offers). The branding of her products are then separate brands in and of themselves. Last, but certainly not least, is Marie Forleo. If we had to recommend just one example of how to inject your personality into your brand, Marie would be it.
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I would personally recommend the equivalent of [email protected], which is the format I use. I agree with your assessment — to me, emails like [email protected] and [email protected] seem a bit too playful or informal. I like to use one email address across all the services I use, so something that is completely neutral is key. Hard to get more neutral than [email protected], in my opinion.

The benefit to [email protected] is that it helps reinforce the fact that this person is, indeed, emailing you, and no one else. [email protected] would probably work in most contexts, but to me it adds a layer of ambiguity — when I see that, I have to think twice and make sure that there's no one else who would be receiving this email ("is this really going to John, or is there a dedicated support person answering emails?"). This is less problematic when it's someone's personal site, but for small businesses where it's really not clear whether there might be a support staff responding to emails, I then have to look it up and potentially resort to omitting a name in the salutation of my email, or writing "Dear John Doe Support", or something similar. Not optimal.

Lastly, I live in America but have a non-American first name, which gets misspelled a lot. Having to type my first name twice in my email address helps reinforce the spelling, leading to less awkwardness for the other person.

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  • [email protected] - for admin stuff
  • [email protected] - for support stuff
  • [email protected] - for hr stuff
  • [email protected] - for communication over mail

Such email ids are fairly standard nowadays.

Am I better off using a known provider such as @gmail.com or @yahoo.com?

If you own your own email domain name then why go for other email providers. Its always nice to go with your own.

I will suggest you to go with [email protected] as it looks very consistent. This format is being used widely nowadays. Its also very easy to remember for the people emailing you.

Discussions

What is the best email address for a personal website with my name as the .com domain name? - Webmasters Stack Exchange
I convinced one of my creative friends to finally purchase his own name as a domain name and start a portfolio. It has been years coming, but mission finally accomplished. Now I am helping him buil... More on webmasters.stackexchange.com
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November 23, 2012
Best personal domain name?
(Your first name).ninja More on reddit.com
🌐 r/webhosting
18
7
May 17, 2017
Advice for personal domain name scheme
I agree that lastname.tld looks the best. If you want to you can add a subdomain and the email would look good too. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/webhosting
13
11
May 17, 2021
Help choosing a domain name for personal website.
It's hard. It took me months to figure out what I wanted to be my domain for the rest of my life. I ended up picking a random town name from a tv show I liked. Am still happy with it, and 2 years later, it just seems natural. More on reddit.com
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May 29, 2021
People also ask

How do I get a personal email domain?
IONOS’ email hosting service lets you create your own email domain, helping you to craft a professional appearance and stand out from the crowd.
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ionos.com
ionos.com › domains › personal-domain
Get your own personal domain name | IONOS
How do I choose a personal domain?
When it comes to the domain name for your personal website, it makes sense to go with your name. After all, this website is all about you and presenting yourself in the best possible light to potential employers or anyone else you’re trying to impress. It’s imperative that you really think long and hard about your personal domain name because even though it is possible to change it later, this could be damaging to your brand and have a negative effect on search rankings. If your name is quite common, someone else may have got there first, but in this case, you simply have to be creative – try
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ionos.com
ionos.com › domains › personal-domain
Get your own personal domain name | IONOS
What is the best extension for a personal domain name?
The .com domain has been around since 1985 and is also the most common with almost every major website using the .com extension. This means that if someone were searching for your personal domain and didn’t know the extension, they are very likely to try with “.com” first. The .com extension is also one of the most credible domain extensions, so if you opt for it, it will automatically make your personal domain appear more trustworthy. Another point worth mentioning is that many smartphones have a .com button, making it even easier for someone to type in your personal domain name if it has
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ionos.com
ionos.com › domains › personal-domain
Get your own personal domain name | IONOS
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/freelance › personal domain name ideas for someone with a very common name.
r/freelance on Reddit: Personal domain name ideas for someone with a very common name.
March 29, 2012 -

I have a fairly common sounding name, so of course the .com and .net are taken. Let's pretend my name is "James Thompson". I'm trying to brainstorm some ideas here, have you guys ever seen or done anything creative that works? I'm leaning towards purchasing a .cc domain name just because I think it rolls off the tongue better than other lower-level domains, but I'm interested in your input.

Ideas: jamesthompson.cc jamesthompson.me itsjamesthompson.com

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IONOS
ionos.com › domains › personal-domain
Get your own personal domain name | IONOS
For example, if your personal domain is janemiller.com, you can create personal domain email addresses such as mail@janemiller.com or contact@janemiller.com.
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Spaceship
spaceship.com › homepage › blog › why you need a personal domain name
Why you need a personal domain name
July 21, 2025 - A personal domain is a domain name that uses your first and last name followed by a top-level domain (TLD) such as .com, .net, and .me. For example, my name is Colleen Branch, and my personal domain could be colleenbranch.com.
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Domain.ME
domain.me › home › 18 personal website examples to use for inspiration
18 Personal Website Examples to Use for Inspiration - Domain.ME
December 30, 2024 - This website structure is great if you’re looking to build a personal brand through blogging, regardless of the industry you’re aiming at. Rosie’s travel blog called The Londoner is an awesome example of making the most from both high quality photographs and meaningful content.
Find elsewhere
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TS Cloud Malaysia
googleworkspace.tscloud.com.my › gmail › personal-domain
The Complete Guide to Personal Domains: Everything You Need to Know - TS Cloud Malaysia
April 26, 2024 - A personal domain, like “@yourdomainname.com”, is your main website address acquired through a domain purchase service. Subdomains, on the other hand, are created within your existing personal domain using your server management panel.
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Google
developers.google.com › style › example domains and names
Example domains and names | Google developer documentation style guide | Google for Developers
If you need a generic email address, use one of the domains listed in Example domain names and one of the names listed in Example person names—for example, [email protected]. It's OK to use generic addresses like [email protected].
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Strikingly
strikingly.com › blog › posts › personal-domain-names-find-perfect-name-online-presence
Personal Domain Names: Find the Perfect Name for Your Online Presence
August 31, 2024 - Some successful personal domain name examples include GaryVaynerchuk.com, MarieForleo.com, and TimFerriss.com. These individuals have used their domains to build their brands and share their expertise.
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Site Builder Report
sitebuilderreport.com › examples › personal websites
Personal Websites: 35 Inspiring Examples (2025)
This website’s domain name is “mershin.org”. If someone is asked to identify the type of website just from the domain name, they might think it’s some organization’s website, but it’s definitely a personal website. Do you know how I know?
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Forbes
forbes.com › forbes homepage › small business
Council Post: Website Domains: Finding The Right Fit For Your Personal Brand
August 13, 2024 - These can potentially tie your personal brand to an irrelevant country. ... Using a qualifier word in your domain name is almost always a bad idea since such words are not permanent fixtures of your identity. For example, “jasonbarnardauthor.com" or "jasonbarnard.music" would tie me to a specific career.
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EuroDNS
eurodns.com › blog › too-cool-for-com-10-trendy-domain-extensions-for-your-personal-site
10 Trendy Domain Extensions for Your Personal Site
September 7, 2025 - The .me extension is ideal for personal branding, blogs, and portfolios. Whether you’re a freelancer, artist, or consultant, .me makes it clear that your website is all about you. Example:www.johndoe.me – sleek, simple, and personal.
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Quora
quora.com › For-people-who-have-a-custom-personal-domain-for-their-email-address-what-do-you-put-before-the-at-symbol-For-example-if-you-have-firstname-com-what-would-you-put-before-the-symbol
For people who have a custom/personal domain for their email address, what do you put before the “at” symbol? For example, if you have fi...
Answer (1 of 6): The “@“ always goes before the domain. For example, my business domain is *incrediblysimple dot net* (no Quora bot, this is not spam!!!). So my professional email is simply my first two initials, followed by “@“, followed by the domain.
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Strikingly
strikingly.com › blog › posts › personal-domain-unlocking-your-digital-identity-and-how
Personal Domain - Unlocking Your Digital Identity And H...
September 12, 2023 - Use puns, alliteration, or wordplay to create a memorable and catchy domain name. For example, if your name is John Smith and you're a photographer, you could go for something like SnapSmith or ShutterSmith.
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IndieWeb
indieweb.org › personal-domain
personal-domain - IndieWeb
January 3, 2017 - Registering a personal domain is confusing even for people who have domains. For instance, navigating through GoDaddy can be difficult if you need to configure custom DNS settings.
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Hostinger
hostinger.com › home › 25 top personal website examples for design, content, and ux inspiration
25 Top Personal Website Examples for Design, Content, and UX Inspiration
June 13, 2025 - From sharing his personal story to detailing how to make a booking and answering frequently asked questions, Vytautas ensures that his site is both good-looking and helpful for potential customers. Whether you’re a tattoo artist or a content creator in a different domain, Vytautas’s site exemplifies how to combine visually striking and memorable web development with informative content.
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Neo
neo.space › blog › domain-name-examples-and-ideas
Domain Name Examples, Ideas & Best Practices : A Detailed Guide
For example, a bakery might use ‘DeliciousBreads.com’ to describe its products. Creating Variations with Common Suffixes: Consider adding words like ‘Ltd,’ ‘Store,’ or ‘Online’ to your initial domain name idea. This can create a new, memorable, and available domain name. Using Animal Names for Brand Personality: Adding an animal name to your domain can make it catchy and memorable.
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Quora
quora.com › What-are-some-examples-of-personal-domains-of-truth
What are some examples of personal domains of truth? - Quora
Answer (1 of 18): Here’s a list of personal domains of truth: 1. Your body: in any given moment, it cannot be anything other than exactly what it is. 2. Your moment: only you can inhabit each moment within which you exist.