How did you choose your domain name?

Why didn’t I go with some variation of michaelmarshall.com? Unfortunately, I have an extremely common name and was late to the domain-claiming party. All the most straightforward variations of my name are already in use by other Michael Marshalls. There are literally 2 former professional baseball players with my name. The guy who sang ‘I Got 5 On It’ is one too. My solution was to make my domain name about my two greatest professional passions.

During the pandemic I got curious about the other Michael Marshalls and put together a brief podcast interviewing some of the other Michael Marshalls out there - just about our experience of having our common name. Things like receiving each other’s emails or mail, getting listed improperly on scholarly directories, and being booked for events in error are things we’ve all had to contend with.

How do we all feel like individuals with something like a full name being so widely shared? Are we similar in some way? Do we share a sense of abstract affinity for one another despite being in no way related?

If you’d like to check it out, here’s an episode below: