Register Your Kid’s Domain Name When They’re Young

It’s impossible to know what your child will grow up to “be” when they’re still little. But chances are pretty good that whatever talents, skills, or interests they pursue in the future, they’ll want a personalised website to support or promote something. They may want an online portfolio of their graphic art or their amateur films or their best-selling novels. Maybe they’ll want to shun LinkedIn in favour of their own online resume. But if their name is Sam Brewer and sambrewer.com is already taken, they’re going to be bummed.

(I made that name up, but then I became curious and searched and it’s been taken, so it’s too late if you’ve been waiting on that one.)

This is why, during a time in which it feels like parents have so little control over our children’s futures, I suggest you do this one tiny thing to help ensure a brighter tomorrow — at least as it relates to domain-name satisfaction. Register their firstnamelastname.com, and hand over the log-in information when they’re old enough to promote themselves or their work.

I personally have done this for myself, my husband, and our son. We use GoDaddy, but there are several good registrars out there, and you’ll be able to search for available domain names from any registrar’s site. It costs about $20 a year to register a domain, which is cheap enough that you may want to register a couple of variations if you’re not sure whether your kid will go by Charles or Charlie as they get older. (Curiosity strikes again: samuelbrewer.com is taken, too.)

Of course, the .com domain suffix isn’t the only option. If your child’s name is already registered — or if you want to leave it to chance — there are other domain suffixes. But .com is among most popular and, therefore, the most memorable.

This would also be a nice thing to gift to a niece, nephew, or family friend if their parents can’t afford the annual fee — or they just haven’t thought to do it.