# Is it "bad" to use numbers in your email address? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295 "2012-06-25T21:19:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Loafty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Loafty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loafty)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/1 "2012-06-25T21:19:34Z")
I think I am a relatively tech savvy person. I use Gmail but had to use a string of three random numbers after my name because it was taken. One of my co-workers said today: “Seriously, that’s your email? Are you in high school?” He was referring to the numbers. Is this a common held belief? I can understand having a stupid name like cheeseface235@gmail but yourname123@gmail is considered ‘high school’? What am I supposed to do if my name is taken then? ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/2 "2012-06-25T21:24:28Z")
> [@Loafty](#): > > I think I am a relatively tech savvy person. I use Gmail but had to use a string of three random numbers after my name because it was taken. One of my co-workers said today: “Seriously, that’s your email? Are you in high school?” He was referring to the numbers. Is this a common held belief? I can understand having a stupid name like cheeseface235@gmail but yourname123@gmail is considered ‘high school’? What am I supposed to do if my name is taken then? Your friend sounds like a loser who needs to get a life, frankly. How is numbers in your name “high school?” No, it’s not a common belief and as you say often necessary/practical due to your name being taken. I think sitting there trying to come up with some cutesy name vs just using your first name and some numbers is “high school,” if anything. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/3 "2012-06-25T21:26:20Z")
There was a thread here, sorta recently, about how to go about getting a better email address when your name is taken. On a slight side-note, when I did fraud prevention at a website, one of the ‘flags’ was an email account that used an actual name. This was, oh…almost 10 years ago, but apparantly that was considered ‘trying too hard and must be fake’. I never did understand that one. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/4 "2012-06-25T21:38:07Z")
Eh, I think numbers after a name is a little bit… uh, declasse. Perhaps it recalls visions of AOL screen names. But to have a weird name and several numbers (like “Rolanda Everready 234” or “Taylur Roofshingle 047”) is ample cause for nobody to read your emails, ever. Even if you are on peoples’ “not spam” list. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/5 "2012-06-25T21:40:59Z")
I have three sons with the same first initial as mine, which often leads to at least one of us having numbers in his login or yahoo address. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/6 "2012-06-25T21:50:18Z")
Personally, I have never had any problems getting my email address to match ‘Gagundathar The Inexplicable’ even though it is a very common name in my home culture. I have often wondered about this and once went so far as to add numbers to it just to fit in. But, there was a tragic buffer overflow when I tried Gagundathar271828The314159Inexplicable. Please don’t hate me. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/7 "2012-06-25T22:06:21Z")
If you’re using it with the latest number you run a higher risk of your email going to someone else maybe? As in if you’re X64 and theres an X63, X65, X54, X74… Otara ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/8 "2012-06-25T22:27:55Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Eh, I think numbers after a name is a little bit… uh, declasse. Perhaps it recalls visions of AOL screen names. > > But to have a weird name and several numbers (like “Rolanda Everready 234” or “Taylur Roofshingle 047”) is ample cause for nobody to read your emails, ever. Even if you are on peoples’ “not spam” list. Its made my life much simpler 🙂 Best thing since I decided not to get on Facebook. Nobody ever bothers me with emails. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/9 "2012-06-25T23:10:37Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > There was a thread here, sorta recently, about how to go about getting a better email address when your name is taken. > > On a slight side-note, when I did fraud prevention at a website, one of the ‘flags’ was an email account that used an actual name. This was, oh…almost 10 years ago, but apparantly that was considered ‘trying too hard and must be fake’. > > I never did understand that one. ? I was issued [firstinitiallastname251@ISP.com](mailto:firstinitiallastname251@ISP.com) and never bothered changing it, I use it as a spamcatcher for filling out forms. Nobody has ever bothered me about it in like 17 years. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/10 "2012-06-25T23:29:44Z")
I don’t personally want numbers in my email address, and avoid them, but that’s my own preference, not a rule that others need to follow. I doubt most people care. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/11 "2012-06-25T23:38:25Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > ? I was issued [firstinitiallastname251@ISP.com](mailto:firstinitiallastname251@ISP.com) and never bothered changing it, I use it as a spamcatcher for filling out forms. Nobody has ever bothered me about it in like 17 years. Yeah, I really never understood that filter. But when I was hired there, it was as part a new group of people who were to manually go through suspicious postings and manually verify they were real people with real items for sale using real credit cards, not shills using stolen credit cards to con people. The ‘real name is a flag’ thing, again, just made no sense. After about 6 months, when we’d completed the job we were hired for \ we had some great programmers put together an automated system, based on the info we’d learned during said probation. I can’t see any reason why they would have included the whole ‘real name is fake’ thing in the automated version; it never helped us once, manually. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/12 "2012-06-26T02:06:22Z")
My real name is so darned common I can never have an email address using it without numbers. I’m truly shocked that my company benefits login allows it, because that is the first site I have ever been able to use just firstinitiallastname at. I enter a lot of email addresses all day long, and most all of the that have real names in them use numbers, unless they are for company-specific email or gmail. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/13 "2012-06-26T02:12:14Z")
I think it gives off a slightly less professional look, unless the numbers are meaningful. Like the year you started the company, or something. It’d be better to use initials of your job title, or your middle initial, or an underscore or periods. [EMAIL=“[yourname123@gmail.com](mailto:yourname123@gmail.com)”]yourname123@gmail.com has alternatives, you could certainly come up with something better. Say your name is Joseph Alan Schmidt: [EMAIL=“[josephalanschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:josephalanschmidt@gmail.com)”]josephalanschmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[joealanschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joealanschmidt@gmail.com)”]joealanschmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[joe.alan.schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joe.alan.schmidt@gmail.com)”]joe.alan.schmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[joe\_alan\_schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joe_alan_schmidt@gmail.com)”]joe\_alan\_schmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[joeschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joeschmidt@gmail.com)”]joeschmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[jaschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:jaschmidt@gmail.com)”]jaschmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[j.a.schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:j.a.schmidt@gmail.com)”]j.a.schmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[j\_a\_schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:j_a_schmidt@gmail.com)”]j\_a\_schmidt@gmail.com[EMAIL=“[joeschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joeschmidt@gmail.com)”] [EMAIL=“[joe.a.schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joe.a.schmidt@gmail.com)”]joe.a.schmidt@gmail.com [EMAIL=“[joseph.a.schmidt.jas@gmail.com](mailto:joseph.a.schmidt.jas@gmail.com)”]joseph.a.schmidt.jas@gmail.com Although if your last name is super, super common (like Garcia or Smith) then it’d be understandable you \*have \*to use numbers. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/14 "2012-06-26T02:31:18Z")
I knew someone who’s email adress ended in a number. But that wasn’t the bad part. The bad part was a litteral slang translation of it was “mother who gives blow jobs”. Not the best thing to put on a resume and job application…but maybe thats just me. Then again that might be the thing to clinch the job… ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/15 "2012-06-26T11:25:42Z")
Another thing is for personal (ie unsecure) email, I don’t WANT my real name in there. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/16 "2012-06-26T11:51:34Z")
The coworker was really rude, but to me, yeah, that doesn’t look professional. I mean, that’s like “not wearing a tie”, some places it matters and some places it doesn’t. I’m used to computer jobs where most usually someone has an organisational email address from their old university, their job, some small ISP they happen to know, a domain name they registered themself, etc, etc. I know lots of people with (to me) silly email addresses are perfectly sensible, so it shouldn’t make a difference, but to me it’s like wearing a tie: you don’t care if you see a coworker outside of a work context and find they have a silly email address and a T-Shirt, but it’s a bit weird if that’s what they wear to a job interview. ETA: FWIW, I would still have the same reaction against a yahoo email address, or using facebook rather than email, etc, etc. To me, gmail is only barely acceptible as a “real” email address (I use it but redirect email there). But I realise that, in fact, lots of people have no reason to keep to those standards 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![oreally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ab992/32.png) [@oreally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oreally)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/17 "2012-06-26T12:02:49Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > The coworker was really rude, but to me, yeah, that doesn’t look professional. ? Did I miss something? This is a personal email address, not a work one. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/18 "2012-06-26T14:28:26Z")
The less numbers the better, but your coworker is making a big deal out of nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/19 "2012-06-26T15:55:19Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > I think it gives off a slightly less professional look, unless the numbers are meaningful. Like the year you started the company, or something. It’d be better to use initials of your job title, or your middle initial, or an underscore or periods. > > [EMAIL=“[yourname123@gmail.com](mailto:yourname123@gmail.com)”]yourname123@gmail.com has alternatives, you could certainly come up with something better. Say your name is Joseph Alan Schmidt: > [EMAIL=“[josephalanschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:josephalanschmidt@gmail.com)”]josephalanschmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[joealanschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joealanschmidt@gmail.com)”]joealanschmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[joe.alan.schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joe.alan.schmidt@gmail.com)”]joe.alan.schmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[joe\_alan\_schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joe_alan_schmidt@gmail.com)”]joe\_alan\_schmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[joeschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joeschmidt@gmail.com)”]joeschmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[jaschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:jaschmidt@gmail.com)”]jaschmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[j.a.schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:j.a.schmidt@gmail.com)”]j.a.schmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[j\_a\_schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:j_a_schmidt@gmail.com)”]j\_a\_schmidt@gmail.com[EMAIL=“[joeschmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joeschmidt@gmail.com)”] > [EMAIL=“[joe.a.schmidt@gmail.com](mailto:joe.a.schmidt@gmail.com)”]joe.a.schmidt@gmail.com > [EMAIL=“[joseph.a.schmidt.jas@gmail.com](mailto:joseph.a.schmidt.jas@gmail.com)”]joseph.a.schmidt.jas@gmail.com I don’t know about other email providers, but Gmail ignores full stops (periods) in usernames. joealanschmidt is the same username as joe.alan.schmidt or joealan.schmidt, etc. So some of those are out. Also I would tend to avoid underscores, as lots of people seem to have real trouble figuring out how to type them, or knowing what the character is called if you have to give your address over the phone. Also, when written they can get confused with hyphens. Luckily, I was able to get [firstname.surname@gmail.com](mailto:firstname.surname@gmail.com) - and I regularly get email intended for other people of the same name who didn’t manage to bag it it. (Most recently sign-up info for a soccer team in Canada, monthly wages summary for a small business in Australia, and a random photo of some girl and her dog, saying hi to their family.) ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295/20 "2012-06-26T16:16:10Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > The ‘real name is a flag’ thing, again, just made no sense. After about 6 months, when we’d completed the job we were hired for \ we had some great programmers put together an automated system, based on the info we’d learned during said probation. I can’t see any reason why they would have included the whole ‘real name is fake’ thing in the automated version; it never helped us once, manually. I’d be screwed by that system, as my e-mail address is with my domain, which is [myrealname.com](http://myrealname.com) I have my own domain and run two websites (one is my name, another is not, both are photography related). It makes it really easy for people to remember, so it’s nice. Since I own my own domain and such, I also have 3 or 4 different e-mails (that I will use mainly as a junk collection filter or some other such stuff) as well as a gmail account that has nothing to do with my real name. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-bad-to-use-numbers-in-your-email-address/626295.md?page=2)