Domain versus Car Number Plates?

[Rubber Duck]

Do you think First and Family Names will be worth more than Car Number Plates?

If so perhaps you could gives us insights as to why?

[touchring]

Tucows bought a big surname portfolio not long ago:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2006/15/c4758.html

[Rubber Duck]

Tucows bought a big surname portfolio not long ago:

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/June2006/15/c4758.html

Thanks, very interesting, but are there really "thousands of the most common surnames" and how many of these are actually transliterations of how people actually write their own names?

Am I correct in assuming that name value is roughly in proportion to incidents of useage?

[domainstosell]

I think that one good possible way to go is to get a first or last name of celebrities or notable people.

For example, I have صدام.com (Saddam.com). Obviously it calls to mind a specific person, but it is also a fairly common name.

My own last name is Lee, so I think I'll have a difficult time getting that one... :)

[alpha]

Do you think First and Family Names will be worth more than Car Number Plates?

If so perhaps you could gives us insights as to why?

I think it will differ from language to language. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that in China, 10 surnames account for 80% of of the population. While the other 20% share many many different surnames.

My statistics are probably out, as I'm recalling this from memory - but I think the underlying message is true.

[555]

I dont have % but in israel also, about 5-6 last names count for alot of the population (cohen most common)


Taken,dont waste your time :)

[Rubber Duck]

I think it will differ from language to language. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that in China, 10 surnames account for 80% of of the population. While the other 20% share many many different surnames.

My statistics are probably out, as I'm recalling this from memory - but I think the underlying message is true.

Chinese Names are going to be a lot more valuable that most for just that reason. There are many many more Japanese Surnames than Chinese.

However, without taking the trouble to get things correct, in Pinyin you get things like Wang1, Wang3 and Wang4. For simplicity in the West all these different names are lumped together as Wang, so Western Stats might be a bit dodgy.

[touchring]

Too common a surname also means people tend to use full names, like in Chinese societies, no one will called out, Mr Surname, when addressing a crowd. People tend to use the full name - Mr/Ms Surname Lastname.

For instance Chen or Chan is extremely common among Cantonese people, so if you call out Mr Chan, please stand out, you might get a fifth of the guys standing out!

The same applies to company names, Chinese tend to use full names for company names (using full names was especially popular in the earlier part of the last century). "Surname Co" rarely makes sense for very common surnames.

But in terms of providing services like email alias or forwarding service, i think a common surname means a bigger market.