A long long time ago...

as cool as it is to have a gmail account from back then, I have an older lady in the US who just registers things against it, because we have the same first initial and last name. I found her on facebook and messaged her to tell to please stop using my email address, she still does it from time to time.

Its crazy that stuff like ebay will let you verify an account with a mobile number, but never verify the email address. I ended up moving her ebay account to an email address that I created, but I was tempted to buy a bunch of shit for her...

I gave up. I own my name as a domain.

So if my name was John Doe, as an example, my domain would be Johndoe.com and my email would be John@Johndoe (dot) com.

My name isn't John Doe.

Gmail is cool and all, but it's pretty sweet to have my custom domain name and email.

The domain I really want is just my last name, so I can be firstname@lastname (dot) com.

Unfortunately my last name isn't uncommon and the last time I checked, the squatters on the domain were asking like $3k usd for it.

All kind of nope on that.

I currently have my full name on GMail and Proton, but I actually had my first name on GMail when it first launched. As in, if my name was Brian (it isn't (it might be (it isn't))) I had brian@gmail.com. Sold it for £1000.

Wouldnt you get extra spam for having such a simple name?

Probably more a problem for Americans all being named John Smith

I’m so old I was able to get my kids Gmail with his name.

I have this and the other people with my name give it as their own email address all the time, apparently not understanding that you don’t get the address just for existing.

That’s pretty good, for how bad it is.
I have a pretty old gmail address that’s fmlast@gmail, and several years ago there was a lady with fmlast12@gmail who kept leaving the numbers off. It wasn’t that bad though, and for one or two important things I replied to help.
it happens to me too, though my format is lastname.firstinitial, so I have more potential for confusion as my last name isn't super uncommon.
people just sign up for stuff with it. sometimes banks even.
Ha ha this happens to me so much. I even had to help a poor dude out because his account (and stuff getting delivered) all was under my email.
On a side note, I got the firstnamelastname@gmail, but Gmail often proposed the firstname.lastname@gmail in autocomplete, with my image and all, so I just "recovered" it. Now I have both when I'm trying to ditch Google 🤷🏼‍♀️
- Gmail addresses with and without a dot are actually identical. Mine has a dot but I also get emails without the dot.
Ugh same. My first name is very common, last name moderately uncommon. I've gotten loads of stuff. Various quotes and invoices (vet, mechanic, window installation), invitations to child care groups, family gathering invitations (that one I think was the person writing the email address, not the person with my name).
Most of the time I just immediately unsubscribe or block or whatever and move on, but there's some (like the child care group) I had to reach out to because that could be potentially dangerous.
Get your own email right, people! It shouldn't be my responsibility to manage your email. Some of that shit includes your home address too.

I got my gmail as my name like a year ago because I just have an uncommon name (Denvil)

Denvil my man, have a great day!!

My partner has his lastname@gmail.com. no letter number €_-+() or whatever.

Stupid part now is that sometimes he gets mail for letter . /_/ - lastname. Only on important stuff he reacts. He still is happy with it.

My name is uncommon enough that I can always pick my name everywhere, and when I can't it means I forgot I had an account.

Summer 2005. I have the first letters for my name and middle names and then the full last name dot gmail.com. However, nowadays I use my own domain. Since 2008 i got my own domain dot country code but it was for selfhosting. 4 letters dot country code. Only last three years ago i switch to use it for mail as well. I dont host my inbox, just forwards it.

And here I am, with a firstname@lastname.de address, running my own mail server.

People sometimes act like this is pure magic
Some providers only allow popular mail services on signup (fuck those), so I had to set up a GMail address that just redirects to my actual one
My last name is really hard to spell, so it probably wasn't the best idea, since I always struggle communicating that address verbally

The pain of running this still beats having to deal with a free provider out there that either spams my inbox with their own BS or just skims through the data to serve me ads.

I have a few domain names, including firstnamelastname.co.uk. I mostly use it for spam monitoring; everyone gets a different address, so eBay has ebay@, Microsoft has microsoft@, etc. It's harder for them to link my identities together and if I suddenly start getting fuckloads of spam I know who leaked/sold my address. Fuck you, LinkedIn and LastFM.
I also had my own email server until recently (MailInABox on Proxmox), but I was looking for a cloud storage provider so I ended up signing up for Proton and moving my email there.
QR codes can help
I’m using my custom domain email with a hosting service (mailbox.org). Hosting on my own was a pain in the ass and you also have to deal with spam filters not trusting you.
I have @firstnamelastname.tld since last name was taken (unrelated to me).
Typically use company@firstnamelastname.tld when giving out my email to keep track of spam so I used airline@firstnamelastname.tld when buying tickets.
At the check in the person saw my airline@ email and askes: oh do you also work for airline?
Sadly I didn’t think to try to grab my last name until recently, and it has been owned for quite a while.
Nice! I have firstname@lastname.us.
- Congrats!
What setup did you use? I'm interested in doing this as well. I've already self hosted a NAS with vpn access using an RPI4 with PiVPN. It works quite well.

You could also get a private E-Mail address that doesn't scan all your mails to make money out of it. Google tries to enprison you in it's ecosystem by "facilitating" logins and so on. If you don't pay with money, you pay with your data.

mailbox.org
posteo.net

Both are great alternatives for only a couple of bucks a month.

Huge vote for mailbox.org. They have calendars, contract lists, online storage, etc. I've been able to get rid of Google/gmail almost entirely from my phone.
- Also ~~free~~ included video conferences!
Last year, I saw an article written by a recruiter about how recruiters are sort of biased against you if you use a non-GMail account because it "feels" like you're on old tech and out of touch and, therefore, will be hard to place and, Void, did it make be so mad.
- !linkedinlunatics@sh.itjust.works
Gmail and MS also make other providers jump through crazy hoops too to let users create a new email, lest they be flagged as a “spam” provider and blacklisted by the 2 services.
The modern internet sucks.
Purelymail is also an amazing service. 10€ per year for unlimited storage and addresses, and you can add your own domains.
- Been using them with a custom domain for about 8 months and love it, no issues at all.
Also tutamail
- Can vouch for TutaMail, currently on it as I attempt all the hurdles of serting up a self-hosted mail solution.

I got my Gmail account because someone gave me one of their early adopter invites LOL.

Same way back in the land of 2006.
- It is still under my Livejournal name hahahaha.
Yeah, I never got an early adopter invite, and by the time it launched to the public, someone already had my name. Apparently there’s some middle aged programmer who shares my name, and he got an invite.

I got <first_name_initial><middle_name_initial><last_name>@gmail.com in imitation of my university webmail account name. My brother who had the same first name and middle name initials knew this and had adjusted accordingly.

However, recently, someone registered this e-mail for school and I kept receiving their school e-mails.

My e-mail account is already roughly two decades old at this point, so I thought I was safe from this kind of problem.

I was there when gmail was invented
Was there during the invitation period
Someone picked my preferred name
I ended up with a kinda dumb name
Didn't matter much, because my primary email is a redirect, anyway, and gmail still lets me use those (kudos to them)
Google came up with Google Code (and other services) where your public gmail address is your identity
Nope, fuck off
Glad they died. Shame Github got eaten by Microsoft, but, eh...
Google hasn't really been good at letting people specify their identity, ever since
Yes, this is also a transgender user story, why do you ask?

I thought it was an April fools gag.

Yeah, I got my name when gmail was 'invite only' :/

It actually kinda sucks. At any given time I have between 3 and a zillion idiots around the globe who, for months or years on end, keep buying concert tickets, airline/vacation bookings, get job hits, legal firm or health-care notifications ... using my email (jbloggs@gmail.com) instead of (jbloggs999@gmail.com) or whatever variant they actually signed up for, since I got 'just my name' and they keep. forgetting. their. own. bloody. email.

And most of the time this shit is sent from a 'noreply@wherever.net' so I can't even tell them they have the wrong email address. Grrrrrrr.

Have you RSVPed for the soccer fundraiser yet? -_-
I really hope that is not your real email
- Joe Bloggs is the UK equivalent of Joe Shmoe, John Doe etc - a common placeholder name for the average person.
- or real name.
- Hah, no don't worry ;)
I never thought I'd meet the inventor of blogs!
Same here. And the reasons you mention are exactly the reason I deleted that account a few years ago when I switched to Fastmail.
A couple of my friends are willing to put up with it, but always mention the volume of spam they deal with.
I've had my new email address for 6-odd years and only have one regular spam source - from a hack of an online shop - but as I used a username+shopname email alias for it, it's easy to detect and automatically handle.
Now I use Fastmail's "Masked Email" feature for each online account. When (not if) a site gets hacked, I just change the site to use a new masked address and block/delete the old one, and then it's useless to scammers/spammers.
Same, the best one was the dude who created an account with my email but his own phone number. So I text him to try and scare him with the fact that some random dude got hold of his private info. He was unfazed and replied "my nephew set it up for me, guess we've got the same email address"...
There is still a woman in the Miami area who uses my email for everything. I've even received her completed tax documents from her accountant and was told to "disregard" when I replied to it. It's been over ten years. My name isn't even Alicia.
I've had someone's emails for years, every once in a while I get a new one from the doctor or when they need to recover another account its so weird. But they use the same email but with a dot. Even their google recovery emails from another account
I recently signed up for a new email. I check the address sometimes before entering it somewhere. It’s not hard.

I have a somewhat common word as my last name.

My first two initials are 'al', which means "to the" in Italian.

My email is al.lastname@gmail.com

I get Italian train ticket reservation info about twice a year.

I have a first name that is of Saxon origin but this name has also developed in Sanskrit independently from the Saxon name and the name is very common in India. One of my email addresses is [firstname]123@gmail.com I often get email directed to some Indian bloke. And it’s always for a different guy. I think these people don’t have an email and just make one up when they signed up for something. I even get someone’s banking communications.
I have just my last name, and get signed up for all kinds of bullshit by people with my last name because they'll enter firstname
<space>
lastname@gmail.com when signing up for stupid shit.
There was a mixup with a German teacher in France once and all of her students sent their homework to my email instead of hers. That was fun!
- Did they get good marks?
Found Alex Fresco!

I was there when it was invite only, child. They used to have an IM chat too.

Google still has a chat embedded in Gmail, but because Google is grotesquely incompetent they've never succeeded in making a good messaging service. I think they've had like 15, but they are too fucked up to just make one work.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/a-decade-and-a-half-of-instability-the-history-of-google-messaging-apps/
One of the things I bring up if someone says "we should run the government like a business"
- Man I completely forgot Gmail chat existed, and I used it for a while quite regularly.
- The hangouts app was actually sick. You could connect to Google voice and your actual phone number allowing you to:
  place phone calls from voice on your computer or phone
  place phone calls from your actual number on your phone
  send text messages from voice on your computer or phone
  send text messages from your actual number on your phone (and possibly computer)
  send ims from your computer or phone
  It was available within gmail or on its own dedicated site, and it automatically collated conversations regardless of send medium.
  It made communication free and easy regardless of what device I was using--then they rebranded it and made it IM only--then they killed it.
Oh shit yeah! I remember begging a friend who got one to send me an invite. Didnt you only get like 3 invites to begin with or something?
- I wanna say it was more than that, I don't remember the number but I remember saying "damn that's a lot." I wanna say it was maybe like 10?

Tbf im the only person on the planet with my name. I think that’s pretty neat.

For context, I have a made up last name so I know everyone on earth with my family name

I have an uncommon Anglo Saxon first name. (Funny thing is this name is very common in India but the Indian and Saxon version don’t share the same origin) and I have an uncommon French last name. So I have every variation of my full name as a Gmail address.
In my 40+ years alive, I've never met anyone with my first name, although I know they exist; a quick Google search shows me at least a handful of people who have it.
My last name is an Americanized spelling of a Danish pronunciation of a Norwegian farm name. There are very few people who have my exact last name, and every one I've ever spoken to has been a descendant of my ancestral family who immigrated to America a century and a half ago.
Combine the two, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only person on the planet with my specific name. I've never had a problem making accounts with my first.last name anywhere.
- Made me curious now, shame you'd have to dox yourself to tell me 😔

I own the domain for my last name (firstname@lastname.countrycode) and get people all the time insisting it can't be my real email. I also own a short domain based on my last name (like last.nm) which is very useful and techy people think it's pretty cool.

I own the domain firstname.countrycode so my email address is email@firstname.countrycode, haven't really had many people comment on it though. the previous owner didn't do anything with it and I thought about buying it from him, but a few years ago he forgot to renew it so I snatched it up
That's neat. I had my email on a .social domain and many websites would say it was not a valid address. Now I'm back to my firstlast@gmail.com, fuck everyone.
May I ask, where do you come from? I use firstname@lastname.dev domain, and even elderly people never question it. When I bought it, I was considering .pl (my country's TLD), because I thought that people would be suspicious of the .dev, but suprisingly they aren't.
- Exactly the same for me. I was worried people will not get it but it has never been a problem for almost 2 years now.

I have that for my deadname account, but I had to put a number in my post transition gmail account. I do have firstname@lastname as a personal domain though some sites don't like that.

In a galaxy far away...
Naboo was under an attack.
And I thought me and Qui-Gon Jinn
Could talk the federation in
To maybe... cutting them a... little slack.

But their response, it didn't thrill us.
They locked the doors and tried to kill us.
- We escaped from that gas
  Then met Jar Jar and Boss Nass

I made a gmail with my name like 2 years ago, I just have an uncommon name ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

I've tried using my name in email/accounts for decades and never got it. I have a name so common people think I'm making it up when I tell them. It also makes me not too worried about posting it online, because even if you knew it and my location you still probably couldn't find the right person.
- Nice to meet you John Smith.
- Nice x3
  I wish I had a slightly more common name sometimes tbf, cause it never appears on coke bottles or any other novelty that includes names lol. Googling my name just gives a result for a prince from the 14 century, and the year I was born there were only 3 other people with my name according to a naming website haha, not including my last name of course which is also one of the rarer ones from what I gather, so ye
Same! Even on Facebook, there is no one with my name (including me). I've recently accquired a lastname.tld domain, and it wasn't taken already :D

Sounds good until dozens of people around the world all use it as their email too. So many receipts and job applications. I have enough documents for an Australian with the same name as me, I could easily steal their identity. A 12 year old in England set up an Instagram with my email and I ended up with access to their full account. Also had some fun the time I was included in a maga family email chain.

Same for me. The lack of email validation is ridiculous.
One of my impostors signed up for adult friend finder and tinder using my address. Try explaining that to the wife. I also get important mortgage documents, consulting invoices, family gathering plans, you name it. The ones in Austin TX and London are especially egregious.
hah ! that's funny as hell.
There's a guy carrying my name, he works as something of an art dealer, don't know the specifics. I have been included in many conversations. The price some paintings go for is... surprising. Oh and one of the same bunch also runs a christian scouting club or something.

do you mean the holy grail of

firstname@gmail.com

or the slightly uncommon

firstnamelastname@gmail.com?

I got firstnamelastname@gmail.com when gmail was still 'invite only'.
The one drawback to that is there is a General in the U.S. Army with my exact name who doesn't understand how email works and apparently gives out my email address as his. I wish I knew what his actual email address was so I could let people know what it is. I bet he's missing out on a lot of VA functions and barber appointments because he couldn't be assed to remember his actual email address.
- I have first name lastname too. And tbh… It’s a bit of a curse.
  I have 2 swedish people wirh the same name as me give it to whatever websites they sign up for at random.
  (I’m pretty sure its two people, but oculd also be one person)
- If he's active duty Army, try firstnamelastname@usa.army.mil firstname.lastname@usa.army.mil. if it's a somewhat common name try adding .1 after the name and incrementing up if necessary.
  As a General, he's likely in charge of some really big organization, like a whole military base or CCMD (combatant command). Try looking through the emails you get to see if you can find some context for where he might work, then search for an about page or contact page on the public web. You won't get him directly but someone who knows how to route the information up to him.
I know somebody who got his first name on Xbox Live. And he didn't even make an account until he got a 360.
- Same thing happened to my friend xfggxil65

I’ve gotten that a few times from people, I got mine when it was still in beta. Don’t use it anymore because google, switched to Proton.

I heard that Proton email addresses have developed a reputation for often belonging to scammers and spammers. Do you know if any of your outgoing email has ended up in anyone's spam box?
- Can’t say that I do, but I also don’t know how I’d ever discover that what you’re asking happened.

First name guy right here. Bow before me, peasants!

I have just surname@gmail. On the one hand, easier to get, on the other hand, I get tons of spam from people who fucked up entering their intended recipient. It's the type of thing that seems cool on paper and in reality carries monkey paw consequences.
Firstname.lastname@gmail, and @yahoo, and @hotmail (before MS bought it.)
- I do too. Have it on @live.com too
The amount of spam you get must be unreal
- I do. Today I mainly use it to receive auth codes.

Kid taking my gmail address: how did they allow you to have a troll name for email address?

I was there when gmail was invented.

imagine my luck at joining lemmy.world before they created an affiliates program.

When I was growing up, this was all fields.. gestures towards ocean

Old Man Peabody owned all of this!
- Twin Emails Mall
When I think back on the times I ordered things from eBay by walking to the local convenient store, getting a money order for the winning bid amount and sticking it in an envelope to mail it to some random address for someone I'd never met expecting I was going to get an object back for the money, it's crazy that it worked for me every time. My brother would also buy cards online (basketball, baseball) and had a local shelf at a card shop here. He'd buy cards at the store when they were cheaper than they sold online, and those online that he could sell higher in the store. That led him down a hole where he used Bitcoin at one point for trading cards. He's one of those people that had 9 Bitcoin or some shit left with the key on a flash drive or something. At the time that was probably $7 or some shit so he lost track of it. Just had the numbers in his excel document with what was left from the purchases. He probably formatted it for use for some school project or something and never thought twice about it. Crazy to think that could have been sold for near a million dollars now haha
What? The curtains?

“Do not cite the deep magic to me…”

And of course, gmail is the only email provider.

(/s)

with DKIP and FARCS, it basically might as well be

Same here, I signed up immediately. Also had a google phone # for a while, but never used it and I don't think it even works anymore. I think they only created those to gather test data for voice recognition.

They still exist. You can grab a new one for free whenever. They only expire if you don't use them for ~6 months, and then you just ask for a new one.
They are great for a small business Lines?

I had firstnameLastname@gmail.com but deleted my account recently.

It felt great signing up for loops.Video when it got announced and getting firstname@loops.video

i regret having gmail

When gmail was invite I got my name, my ex wife's and both my kid's. I also got a couple of regular words, for other uses. I get a ton of mail for other people with the same last name.

my ex wife’s
At first, I was like "damn that's some next level revenge" before I realized what you meant

And I can still remember how...

I had to be invited.

I'll never understand why anyone would ever use their real name as a username. Why would you intentionally dox yourself?

For email? Business.
- Still wouldn't do it.
  Edit: Also, using Gmail as your businesses email address is extremely unprofessional. You should be using your own domain. You can always forward it to Gmail.
Because a lot of times you specifically want people to know who you are lol.
- My son at the bank with the director (the manager wasn't there) opening his bank account:
  So first name, your mail is: hellfireturtleboonstox@gmail ...
  Son:🥸
Just pause for a few seconds and think before you type
- I stand by what I said. This is basic privacy 101

In a galaxy far away 🎶

Naboo was under an attack

"invented" my ass.
It's just a data harvester with 0 innovation

When it came out it was the only email service that offered 1GB of storage for free.
- Came out on April first. All the other email providers had a good chuckle at the obvious joke. The panic when they finally realized it wasn't a joke was some good schadenfreude.
  For reference the standard limit at the time was 10MB with 100MB available for an extra fee.
- it's not free, YOU are a product

I changed my name.. I added numbers to my new email address :(

I really don't understand this. I just made a new gmail with my first and last name. No other symbols or anything. I did that last year. I can't possibly have that unique of a name compared to others.

Same thing happened with my nephew over the 4th.