How to Choose an Email Name

Email is a must have in today’s society. Whether it is for business or for personal use, you have to have an email address. Choosing an email name can be a hard decision. Using a real name for your email can be dangerous, but you want people to know it is from you. You want your email name to reflect your personality, but want it to be professional. Choosing an email name doesn’t have to be hard, just follow these guidelines.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer with Internet access

1. Decide if this email is going to be for personal or professional use. If your email name is going to be for personal use, move to Step 2. If it is going to be for professional use, skip to Step 3.

2. Think about what you like to do. Do you have a favorite hobby? You can incorporate that into your email name. If you like scrap booking for instance, your email name could be “Scrappy 1”. If you have a wilder interest it could be “Swing4U”. If you have a nickname, use that for your email name. For example, if your nickname is Scooter you can use “Scooter2u” for your email. Once you decide what interests, or nickname, you want to use skip to Step 4.

3. Use a simple email name for professional email. It can be as simple as “MrSmith”. If you want to incorporate your profession in your email, use part of your name and the professional. For example an editor could use “SmithEdits”. If you want a less formal email name, but still want it to sound professional, use a first name and last initial. For example, “JohnS” would be a simple, professional email name.

4. Sign on to whatever email host you plan on using. Do a search to see if your name is available. If the name has been taken, try changing it just a bit. If you used a number, try spelling it out. For example, “Scrappy1” could be “ScrappyOne”. If you used a name add another initial. For example, “MrSmith” could be “MrJSmith”.

5. Sign up for your new email account once you find an available name. You are now ready to send emails using your custom created email name.

Tips & Warnings

• You can have more than one email account, but don’t have so many you can’t keep track of them.
• Don’t pick a really long name. You will have to type it in every time you check your email.
• If you are applying for a job be sure to use a professional email address. Recruiters have been known to toss resumes that have silly or unprofessional email addresses.
• Before sending an email, be sure you are logged into the correct account. You don’t want to send an email to your mother from your “Swing4U” email account.