This is a topic close to my heart and I have to say I agree whole-heartedly – well, it's a good idea, anyway. Parents are picking baby names based upon the availability of a domain name that matches.

For instance, if you want to name your kid John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, you would check to see if johnjacobjingleheimerschmidt.com was available before settling.

"One of the criteria was, if we liked the name, the domain had to be available," a mother told the Associated Press.

Apparently, it's a growing trend. And if not, then it is now that the press is writing about it.

Mike Masnick at TechDirt, who points out there are nice online tools for choosing baby names, says the development was perhaps expected. "This isn't too surprising as a sign of the times, but it does make you wonder if there will be fewer and fewer of stories like the one found recently in the Washington Post of a guy who tried to find all the people around the world who shared his name."

I'd like to take this opportunity to point out that WebProNews and I beat WaPo on that by about six months. But who's counting?

(Hey, I take my wins where I can get them, wrap them up, put them in my pocket, go to the top of the hill and yell "Pffffffftttttt." Now, if I could just get Google PR to drop me a line at the same time or prior to them giving the New York Times and Wall Street Journal advance notice of things. Both didn't know you existed four years ago, Google. But we did. Wink, wink, whine.)

Ahem. Like I was saying, the name thing is an issue close to my heart, seeing as I was saddled with one of the most common names in English history, so common that I share it, or a variation of it, with five other writers, a race car driver, three actors, a rodeo rider, and the lead singer for Godhead.

Doesn't matter, because I got my domain name, suckers! And I can't be bought, unless you offer me a whole lot of money.

[Via WebProNews]

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