There has been talk lately about registering a domain name for your baby, so I wanted to give my two cents as to why this is potentially a good idea. While a lot of today’s mothers and fathers are happy enough to simply name their child, put up some photos on social media, and not think too far ahead, others are already planning for the future… way into the future.
Parents with a newborn child and an entrepreneurial spirit have been registering domains with their child’s name as the URL. Don’t be surprised if you start hearing about more unique names like those of celebrity kids (Blue Ivy Carter, Apple Martin, Saint West, etc.), as it’s going to be a lot easier to secure domains like those rather than www.sarahjones.com or www.jameswilliams.com for example.
Funnily enough, I read recently that a man in India beat Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the chase to purchase the domain name www.maxchanzuckerberg.org. Zuckerberg’s daughter is named Maxime Chan Zuckerberg, but the man had a lightning-quick idea of registering the name as soon as he heard that the baby was born. In the end, the man received $700 from Facebook for the rights to the domain (which seems paltry for a company like them), but the process demonstrates that picking up a domain name of a newborn child (even if it’s not your own) can pay dividends.
As for why people are becoming so obsessed with purchasing a domain for their child, it may be because there are a lot of children being born around the world, so there’s every reason to get in early and register it ASAP, even if you don’t quite know what your kid will do with it. If you’re after a .com and not willing to stoop to .me or .info (or heaven forbid, something like www.thejameswilliams64.com), then choosing one early is vital. Your child’s name as a domain is seen as a valuable investment for their adult life, as regardless whether they become a photographer, online store owner, YouTuber, or a famous musician, it will serve as a solid foundation to create an online identity.
It’s worth keeping in mind that you don’t necessarily have to do anything with the domain you register; think of it like buying a block of land and then deciding to build a house 20 years later. As long as you renew your domain every year, you can simply look here at cheap domain registration options and see if your child’s name is available. Of course, one doesn’t exactly have to name a child based solely on whether the URL is free, but I have heard of parents adding interesting middle names, or spelling the first name rather differently, such as Jessickha or Jaison.
All in all, the purchase of a domain name for your child should just be seen as a low-stakes gamble of sorts. Perhaps your son or daughter wants nothing to do with the internet and naught will come of it, or maybe when the time is right, they will be forever grateful that you took the time, money, and effort to name a website for them.
A lot of today’s youth probably see Facebook and Twitter as the only websites they ever need to visit, but what the forthcoming online landscape will become will certainly be an interesting sight, as it remains unknown just how tech-minded we’ll become. Planning for the future is important as a parent, but just as vital is teaching your kids to be good and responsible with money, as I feel like these are things that will never go out of fashion.
