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This may be to much of a subjective question, but I'm not sure. I'm setting up email for a new business, with a new domain, and a new email server (google apps). Are there any recommended standards for email that are widely followed? At my day job we use first.last@domain.com, at my last job we used [firstinitial][lastname]@domain.com... Is there anything that is widely followed, or anything I should take into consideration?

I know this isn't really a server admistration question, but I'm sure it's something that a lot of you deal with.

John Gardeniers
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Max Schmeling
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    This absolutally is a server admin question. Unless you work for the most organised company on the planet, chances are it's you who will choose the naming scheme for the emails and usernames! – Mark Henderson Oct 06 '09 at 20:25

9 Answers9

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What we did was we generated a username that was 6-8 characters long. If it can it'll use [first-initial][lastname up to 7 chars]. If they had a shorter last name, it'd take more of the first name than the first initial. I believe there was only one or two people whose usernames were below 6 characters due to short names. I really didn't like this system, as it made any sort of emailing without LDAP lookups difficult.

I personally like first.last@place.com. Simple, easy to remember, and pretty standard throughout the email world. Alternatively, as you said, [first-initial][last name]@place.com is also widely used. It doesn't really matter as long as they're consistent, once someone has seen one they can reasonably send them to the right place with a name.

If you're still worried about it, set up a directory and configure LDAP in their address books.

Dennis Williamson
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Xorlev
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    I simply don't understand the mentality of organisations that use anything other than firstname.surname@domain.com or firstname.InitialMiddleName.surname (in cases of conflict). – Izzy Oct 06 '09 at 18:57
  • The reason we used the system we did (implemented before I ever worked there) was to avoid conflicts in almost all situations as the 6-8 character window could simply be shifted to [first-2][last-6] and such. It wasn't friendly but it worked. – Xorlev Oct 06 '09 at 19:03
  • @Xorlev - SAMAccountName != emailaddress. We have an 8 character SAMAccountName, but a fully descriptive email address. – Izzy Oct 06 '09 at 19:05
  • I didn't mean SAMAccountName. We used the same system for email. It was not under my responsibilities (nor ability) to change to something better. – Xorlev Oct 06 '09 at 19:20
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We generally provide aliases as [firstinitial][lastname]@, [firstname].[lastname]@, and [firstname][lastname]@. If the username (or login name) was different from all of these, we'd make an alias for that, too. We generally set the [firstname].[lastname]@ as the default from: address for outbound messages.

When it's me, I also try to snag dave@ since it's mean to make people try to spell "Mackintosh", almost nobody gets it right.

David Mackintosh
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  • You could also set up aliases that include your name misspelled. – wfaulk Oct 06 '09 at 18:53
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    @wfaulk - That's a bad idea. You are pandering to, and condoning, bad practice and laziness. People should type the correct email address. Can you imagine scaling your suggestion to an organisation with 15k+ users? – Izzy Oct 06 '09 at 19:00
  • At certain sizes, it's sometimes easier to move to subdomain'd email addresses. e.g. first.last@it.corp.com. – Xorlev Oct 06 '09 at 19:07
  • I can't comment on the size issue -- at some point presumably yes the organization is subdivided and you'd have separate teams overlooking separate subdomains' email service. But I am yet to be with a company that big. – David Mackintosh Oct 06 '09 at 19:36
  • @Izzy: I meant it as a joke. I forgot the ;) – wfaulk Oct 06 '09 at 21:31
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I personally prefer to configure my mail server for both (this may be less fun if you're paying per email address) - but since there's no functional difference between the two, it makes everyone happy. You'll always have people who very strongly like/dislike one method or the other.

Kara Marfia
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  • This is what I did with my setup. I find it more professional to have the full name, but like the option to shorthand the email. – Ben S Oct 06 '09 at 18:24
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Just don't do [firstname]@domain.com unless there is no chance you'll ever hire another employee. Having 3 Donnas at a company is confusing enough without having one of them be Donna@domain.com and the others being [firstinitial][lastname]@domain.com because you now see why [firstname]@domain.com is a bad idea.

Also fun is families that use the same first initial such as j[lastname]@domain.com. You get a Jack, Joy, jessica, jennifer, Jane chain going and you quickly have to either figure out if you want to do [firstinitial][lastname]2@domain.com or [firstinitial]2[lastname]@domain.com or break out into [firstname][lastname]@domain.com. Even non related employees with the same first initial + same last name gets into this mess and its common in even small/medium companies.

You may also get Manager's/Executives that are tired of people choosing wrong when the [firstinitial][lastname]@domain.com that might be theirs isn't and demand that you break convention to keep their email in a different part of the alphabetical email list.

pplrppl
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  • Also to note that there may be a security risk with only first names and they are easy SPAM targets when only a first name is used. – keithosu Oct 06 '09 at 18:56
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There's a little-known actual "standard" by the World Electronic Messaging Association for this. It's essentially the firstname.lastname@domain setup.

These kind people have provided a well-thought out set of rules for employing this standard:

http://web.archive.org/web/20101212180138/http://www.bestsoft.ch/Software/microsoft/exchange/dlfiles/e-mail_naming_standard.pdf

Xen
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DictatorBob
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Why not make the default email address the employee number and then throw in some standardised aliases such as first.middle-initial/s.surname@domain.whatever etc. That way each mailbox will have a clear single owner that will 'survive' name changes (weddings/divorces etc.) but still allow the user to 'mess' with the aliases as needed.

Chopper3
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My default email address at work is "William.Faulk@…". People frequently send emails to our other William that are intended for me.

You might want to consider a last-name-first approach, since last names are more likely to be unique than first names. You probably want a variety of aliases, too, but for people who are too lazy to read their autocompletes, keying off of last name probably makes more sense.

wfaulk
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Don't do [firstname][lastnameinitial]@domain.com - eg. chrisf@example.com.

We had this at one place I worked and got lots of spam addressed to "chrisa", "chrisb", "chrisc",... well you get the picture.

I'd go with [firstname].[lastname] personally.

ChrisF
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As you can see, while nearly everyone has a recommendation, there is certainly no standard. What I see most commonly, and what I personally prefer, is first.last@domain.whatever. Most people find this very easy to read and certainly removes any ambiguity about who's email address it is. Where I now work the company "standard" is firstlast@domain.whatever. Hard on the eyes, to say the least. If you don't already know the person's full name some are difficult to decipher. It's on my list of things to change.

John Gardeniers
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