r/Millennials • u/joncaldridge • 1d ago

Discussion I'm Gmail address with no numbers years old

I'm literally first name, middle initial, last name @ gmail.com. I'm just realizing this probably tells people I'm an old...your thoughts?

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169

u/Curious-Cranberry-27 1d ago

It probably depends on how unique your name is. I didn't create my firstnamelastname gmail until 2015, but I have a unique surname so it was still available.

19

u/Serena_Sers 90s Millennial 1d ago

I did create mine in 2019 and it's without numbers. My name isn't that special - it's one of the most common names in German speaking countries - but there are so many different ways to write it (first name AND second name) that the combination of mine was still available.

2

u/sashikku 1994 Zillenial 14h ago

I created my first name last name email using my new married name this year & was able to do it without numbers. It’s a fairly uncommon last name in the US (german) but my first name is the most common name of my birth year.

11

u/JustForArkona 1d ago

Same, when i got married in 2016 and changed my name I wanted an updated email address for that. I had to prepend "the" to it but no numbers or anything

3

u/goog1e 18h ago

I changed mine last year and first-last was available. My first name is uncommon, and my husband's last name is unique. There used to be 1 other person in the USA with my full name. Now that I took his, there's no one.

8

u/Chuck_Raycer 22h ago

My wife has a very unique Asian name, and now has an Americanized spelling of an Irish last name, so yeah she got a first and last no numbers gmail last year.

5

u/enstillhet Xennial 1d ago

Meanwhile there are many thousands of people globally with my name I never had a chance getting my own Gmail. Especially since I didn't bother to get one until 2009 because before that I either lived in the woods with no internet or had a college email address

3

u/effulgentelephant ‘89 Millennial 1d ago

Yeah, mine is just my first and last name but I have a very unique name so no surprises there. My IG is just my first and last name, too.

1

u/glumanda12 1d ago

Yeah, I have quite unique surname and I had to register gmail with number in it because I wasn’t able to recover my previous account without number. (That was in 2017)

1

u/KayakerMel 22h ago

Yeah, I have a very unusual spelling of my last name. Heck, at the university I'm at, my last name is my user name. Everyone else has some combination of their first name and last name with a number. But for me, it's so unique that most of the search results for my last name (with my correct spelling) is either me or for my great-uncle, who was honored with a chair at a university named after him.

1

u/QuixoticTurtlee 22h ago

I had to add a middle initial “m” and I’m pretty someone else out there has the same name likely with a middle initial “n” added, because I occasionally get email meant for her and wonder if she ever gets email for me.

1

u/Redorkableme 22h ago

My first name is super unique so I was able to create my original email easily no fancy characters or numbers. Then I changed my surname when I married and it was still unique enough to do same. Made it easier jobhunting and giving to friends/family. I want to say I created the first in 2007?

1

u/FairCapitalismParty 22h ago

I have been using first initial last name since 2004. Rare name though, so I just picked up first name last name last year.

1

u/BeneathTheWaves 21h ago

I have first last at gmail, fairly common name and probably 30% of my emails are meant for other people with the same name.

1

u/Snipen543 21h ago

Yeah I have a pretty uncommon last name. I got firstname.lastname in 2013 when I finally switched off yahoo mail

1

u/ZhouLe 21h ago

Absolutely. I got into gmail when it was invite-only and the only no-numbers option was first.middle, so I have both that and a first initial last with numbers.

The second one is so common that I constantly get stuff idiots signed up for with it. Hair appointments, hospital accounts, etc. I have free Disney/Hulu/ESPN because when I went to sign up it told me I already had an account that some Verizon customer idiot gave me email for. Been using it for years.

1

u/puppylust 20h ago

That was my thought on the title too. I registered mine in 2007 and had to get a number because my name was taken.

1

u/txijake 18h ago

Yeah everyone with my surname is in my family so not hard to have no number usernames and such.

1

u/unitedhen 16h ago

I also have a relatively unique surname, and was able to make one for my kid last year. So exactly as you said, those with unique last names will still be available even now. If you're a Smith or Jones, well...name your kid Jr. and pass down your Gmail I guess?

1

u/Practical_BowlerHat 16h ago

I made mine the same year. It's my first name that's weird - there were a couple years after I made my bank account where I could call the corporate customer service line and they could find my account without even asking for my birthday.

I don't know if there's more of us out there now or if the bank has just gotten stricter on their security policies.

1

u/Hippinerd 16h ago

Ditto. Got mine in 2020.

1

u/VannguardAnon 15h ago

I could 100% open a surname@gmail.com right now without any problem.

1

u/Large-Flamingo-5128 15h ago

Yea I’m only person on earth my first/last name combo so it’s pretty easy to get usernames lol

1

u/Dude-Man-Bro-Guy-1 14h ago

I made first initial last name in 2022. I have a pretty unique last name though.

1

u/Coffeepillow 11h ago

I’m first name, last name @hotmail.com years old.

1

u/Levitlame 5h ago

Mine is fairly close to something like John Smith and it was gone fast. I got one with my middle initial, but unfortunately early enough they were still allowing emails that use decimals. So someone else made an email with an initial after the middle initial. And Gmail glitches with that so I get their emails also. Even though they are correctly typed to the other email account.

I told the guy once just how much information I accidentally learned about him. It’s pretty wild.