How to Create an Email Name

An email name consists of two parts. The part before the @ symbol is an individual identifier to the person owning the email name, and the part after the @ symbol is where the email name is being hosted. For example, someone creating an account at Hotmail.com would choose his individual name--say, JohnDoe--so his email name would be [e-mail]. Some sites, such as Microsoft's Hotmail or Google's Gmail, will allow the user to create email aliases as well. This allows the user to have several email names under one account.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Decide on the audience. Believe it or not this is important. You want to make sure that your email name is going to be appropriate. If you will only be sending emails to friends, then you may not have to worry about it. But, if you are sending out applications for work, emails to your church or other organizations, then you may want to consider carefully what your email name will be. If this is the case, then it may benefit you to take advantage of email aliases.

2. Decide what host you want to use. Google's Gmail, Microsoft's Hotmail or Yahoo's Yahoo Mail are all very similar, but each has its own little extras. You can have several accounts spread throughout the Internet if you would like, but keeping track of them could be an arduous task.

3. Create an email account. Now that you have chosen which host you would like to use, you will have to create an account with that hosting site. During this time you will have to enter your email name you have decided on.

4. Enter your email name. Unfortunately, there are several people who have the same idea as you do. When you enter your decided email name, the hosting site will see if it is available. For example, [e-mail] may already be in use by someone else. The hosting site will tell you that this email is not available. They will typically give you a suggested email name, which will have your requested email name followed by a series of numbers. You will either have to choose another email name or try another hosting site.

5. Enter your email again. This can happen several times. If you are trying to be professional in your email, then try your middle initial--such as [e-mail]. Spelling out your middle name or shortening your first or last names may work as well.

6. Send an email. Once you have your account set up, send an email to a friend or to yourself to verify that the email works.

Resources

• To get a Google Gmail account
• To get a Yahoo Mail account
• To get a Microsoft Hotmail account