I’m looking into getting my own domain to use for email for both my partner and I. I was initially considering using both or first initials followed by our last name (example: ajsmith.tld for Ann and John Smith) but then got to thinking about it and realized that might not be best for privacy. It looks great in a professional setting (like job applications, bills, taxes, etc.), though. So I’m unsure. I’m curios what other privacy concerned people are doing. The main goal is to not have to worry about changing account emails when we change email providers.
Edit: thanks everyone! Lots more replies than I expected and lots of good advice. I ended up going with lastname.tld domain and will combine that with aliases for privacy where needed. I might buy a fun domain later as well but for now this works.
As others have hinted, there’s a tension here. Confiscating big tech’s access to your email is a major privacy win. But putting your actual name in your email address is… not so much. At the very least you won’t even have the option to obscure your identity from a correspondent. If you have a website at that domain, it too will be chained to your email identity, thus telling your correspondent all about you.
These realizations led me, personally, to ditch my whole setup of own-domain email. If the domain is going to be a pseudonym, might as well save some money and just use a pseudonymous handle at the email provider’s domain. That’s what I now do - with one of the privacy-respecting email hosts, of course.
Then it’s a hassle to change host later, you say? Yes, a little, but here arises another paradox: from the perspective of privacy, it’s actually an advantage to changing one’s email address from time to time.
Assuming you aren’t spending $$$ on a premium domain, I feel like $1/month on a domain is a pretty small price to pay for the freedom to move email providers as needed.