The Naming Game
Presenting yourself on the internet can be rather complicated. Especially when you add the factor of a multilanguage website. Domain name availability, the ability to pronounce / spell a name are all factors.
Recently I’ve put what I believe to be the final touches (for now, at least) on my personal website setup. Originally, I went with one domain name and a subdomain for English speakers. It looked something like this:
- elmikewalsh.com
- en.elmikewalsh.com
That’s all fine and well…. In an English-speaking setting. No one would have problems spelling “mike”, “Walsh” is tough to screw up, and despite “el” being from Spanish, most English speakers would get the idea.
Unfortunately, in a Spanish-speaking content, it’s not so easy. Here’s the pitfalls I experienced:
- Mike: In Chile at least, you get “Maik”, “Maikol" or “Mike”. So there’s a 1 in 3 chance that part will be spelled correctly.
- Walsh: Spanish (and other Romance languages) have a nice flow of consonants and vowels. My last name does not. So about 100% of the time it is reduced to spelling it out.
- El: No problems in Spanish land with this one.
So, having to spell out m-i-k-e-w-a-l-s-h to share my domain name or email address sucks. Especially by phone.
Good test for choosing your name/email/whatever btw - if you can say it in a phone conversation and the other person can note it, you’re doing well.
Here’s how I got around it:
- I have two separate domain names - it’s as short as possible and only the extensions are different.
- For Spanish speakers (and a slight search results boost by using a ccTLD) I can be found at - elmike.cl
- For the English version of my personal site I went with - elmike.me (you are here)
- For personal email I went with the .me version, since .me works well in Spanish as well. It’s also easier to say, as “cl” is unpronounceable and you end up saying each letter.
- Also by eliminating my last name, a Spanish-speaker is just left with “mike”. For the Spanish-speaker (Chilean) that can’t spell it (quite a few it seems) I can say, “Mike. Mee-Kay-con-Ka) and that will work 99% of the time.
And for the other 1% electronic communication might be a whole different issue.
The original elmikewalsh.com domain? I put together a neat starry night landing/splash page with two photos of myself linked to the Spanish and English versions of my personal sites.
And that’s all I have to say about that.