Parents are buying, or more accurately reserving, internet domain names for their new-born babies because they see it as an investment for their child’s future. As we are living in a digital world, it is important to remember that a simple item like a domain name might be important later on in life – whether it’s because you want to blog, start a business, or become a leader in your field of expertise (and therefore become famous), this type of investment is seen as future proofing your child’s right to use their own name.
Of course there can be a couple of snags that can occur along the way. First, somebody might already have your child’s name registered – either because that is their name, or they are ‘squatting’ on the name – ie, they have bought the rights to the name but are yet to use it. Another problem is that if your child has a name that is the same as somebody who is famous, then the chances of that name being available are pretty remote.
So how do you go about getting the name? As long as the name is available you go to www.whois.com.au and it will tell you if the name if available. For an annual fee of approximately $8 (which will probably go up over time) you can renew the name until you are ready to set up a website. You also have to give what is called ‘reasonable’ evidence that you should have the domain name, with you giving the details of your child – or yourself for that matter – usually being enough. Each domain name suffix can have different variants of ‘reasonable’ evidence. For example the .com domain is easy, just choose the name and if available you can register it. However, the .com.au domain is harder requiring a valid use for the name, usually to operate a business and evidence such operation must be supplied at sign up.
The good thing is that most websites that sell domain names have a user-friendly interface that will let you quickly and easily register the name, set up an email service and also website hostage. And, the cost to do all of this has dropped alot in the last few years because of the ability to do these basics yourself.