Can I register a domain name that isn't me?

October 24, 2006 10:38 AM

What kind of problems would I encounter for registering [myname].com where [myname] isn't actually mine?

I'm Alison [Lastname]. I'm a senior in college, studying photography. I'm in the process of building my online portfolio. Obviously, I am going to get the domain alisonlastname.com, but I was also thinking about getting allisonlastname.com (2 L's instead of one) as well. I would have allisonlastname.com redirect to alisonlastname.com. Pretty much every time someone spells my name, they do the 2 L thing. I always correct people, but since the rest of the world seems to prefer Allison over Alison, people tend to automatically go for the 2 L thing, so I'm just trying to make it easy for people to find me.

Since my last name isn't common, I didn't even think that it might be a possibility that Allison Lastname existed, but I googled it, and she does! There's even a picture of her online at her brother's college graduation, and I think she's sort of around the same age as me (she's probably early to mid-20s, I just turned 28).

Now, what happens if I go and register allisonlastname.com and she wants it at some point down the line? Is it even legal for me to register allisonlastname.com? If she wants it at some point, I'd be willing to talk to her about it, but I just don't want to get slapped with a lawsuit or something one day out of the blue. I know, I know, there's a 99% chance that she'd email me and say something like, "haha! There's two of us...can we talk about me getting my name?" but with my luck, I'd end up with the 1% that will automatically go into "screw the one-L Alison!" mode.

posted by AlisonM to computers & internet (12 comments total)

It's absolutely legal to register your name and the misspelling of your name.

Unless the name is a legal trademark (i.e. "Dolly Madison") there is no case at all for a lawsuit against you.

In summary, don't worry about it.
posted by tkolar at 10:51 AM on October 24, 2006

It's first come, first served. If, later, Allison Lastname contacted you and said, "I'm Allison Lastname and I notice you're just using the domain name to forward to yours - can I buy it from you?" you could sell it to her if you wanted to, or you could refuse. Allison Lastname would always have the option of buying allisonlastname.net, allisonlastname.us, allison-lastname.com, or something if you refuse.

I would actually recommend having a click-through page explaining the spelling at allisonlastname.com rather than an automatic redirect, so that people actually realize that they're spelling your name wrong. Otherwise they might not notice they're being redirected and would continue making the same mistake.
posted by srah at 10:57 AM on October 24, 2006

I would actually recommend having a click-through page explaining the spelling at allisonlastname.com rather than an automatic redirect, so that people actually realize that they're spelling your name wrong. Otherwise they might not notice they're being redirected and would continue making the same mistake.

Oh yeah, I'm gonna do that :) Thanks though.

I can't tell you people how annoying this 2-L thing was when I was a kid and wanted to buy stuff (pencils, cups, etc) with my name on it. They NEVER had the 1-L Alison!
posted by AlisonM at 11:01 AM on October 24, 2006

The .name TLD is stricter than .com since it's specifically set up for people to have domain names matching their real names. You might have trouble with allison.lastname.name if challenged, but allisonlastname.com is not a problem.
posted by Khalad at 11:04 AM on October 24, 2006

You can register any domain name that's available if a domain name registrar will let you. If you register a name that's trademarked you may be contacted by the trademark registrant and asked to either relinquish the name or be taken to court. The courts could/would decide.

In the case of AllisonSurname.com vs. AlisonSurname.com I doubt if you would lose the case since you got there first. However if your first name was Micro and your last name was Zoft In the case of MicroZoft.com vs. Microsoft.com you might lose since Microsoft has bigger pockets then Alison Surname even if you got their first.
posted by dgeiser13 at 11:33 AM on October 24, 2006

They NEVER had the 1-L Alison.

That's so odd! I know 3 Alisons and no Allison! (but Babynames.com does indeed say Allison is about twice as common as Alison.)
posted by ClarissaWAM at 12:33 PM on October 24, 2006

One thing that you can do, is register your last name only, and then, you can create subdomains of whatever you want.

So you would do this:

http://www.allison.lastname.com
http://www.alison.lastname.com

Then, when you have kids:

http://www.kid01.lastname.com
http://www.kid02.lastname.com

Assuming your last name stays the same.
posted by Monkey0nCrack at 12:39 PM on October 24, 2006

You can check HowManyofMe.com to get an idea how many share your name.
posted by geekyguy at 5:13 PM on October 24, 2006

Weird -- I have never seen the 2-L version. Monkey0nCrack has a pretty good idea -- I'd second that idea. The preceding www may not even be necessary on some subdomains configs tho.
posted by vanoakenfold at 6:19 PM on October 24, 2006

If she does come to you asking for the domain I'd be careful how you come across.

Monkey0nCrack has a pretty good idea -- I'd second that idea. The preceding www may not even be necessary on some subdomains configs tho.

That's actually a very common idea, and www isn't needed.
posted by justgary at 12:28 AM on October 25, 2006

Geekyguy: According your link, there is no one in America named 'Johan'. WTF?
posted by Goofyy at 2:20 AM on October 25, 2006

One thing that you can do, is register your last name only, and then, you can create subdomains of whatever you want.

My last name.com is already registered in Spain as some "Spanish as a second language" type institute/university. Its been registered to them since the first time I ever came online (I looked up random stuff), so I don't think its going anywhere.

The funniest part about it is that my name is Hungarian!

I'm just gonna go with alisonlastname.com and allisonlastname.com. If it becomes an issue down the line, I'll deal with it then. Thanks everyone!
posted by AlisonM at 7:27 AM on October 25, 2006