Professional Email Address: How to Create One [+ Examples]
News flash — your email address from high school won’t cut it in the real world. Even if “baseballbro25@aim.com” is a reminder for your athletic years, it’s not a professional email address and can result in your email being ignored.
That said, there’s probably at least one person who has the same name as you, so the email address with just your first and last name is most likely taken by now.
Fortunately, there are plenty of ways you can choose a business email address that any recruiter or hiring manager would consider professional.
How to Create a Business Email Address
Unprofessional Email Address Examples
Professional Email Address Ideas and Examples
1. Choose your email host.
You must purchase a domain and hosting site when you start your business.
One way to create a business email address is to look for a hosting package with a business email. It’s usually an additional cost, but many users choose to set up their business email this way because of the ease.
If you choose this way of creating a business email, you’ll need to go to your hosting site and set up your email. Usually, this means going to the “Email” section of your hosting site and choosing an email (tips and examples below).
However, another way to set up email is to go through G-Suite instead of your hosting platform (this is what we do at HubSpot). Google will walk you through this process, so it’s usually as simple as 1, 2, or 3.
2. Connect your email to an email client.
Next, if you choose to host your email through your hosting platform, you must connect your email address to an email client.
To do this, you’ll log in to your hosting platform, go to the “Email” section, and find a button that says “Set up Mail Client” or something to that effect.
This will walk you through setting up your email with Outlook, Gmail, or any mail app.
3. Connect your email to your marketing automation software.
Finally, you’ll want to ensure your marketing automation platform has access to your email.
To do this with HubSpot, you can follow these instructions.
Usually, this process will include going to your settings and looking for a “Domains” or “Email Sending” button.
Once you’ve found this in your automation software, it should walk you through the process of connecting your email.
Before exploring different ideas to inspire your professional email address, let’s first dive into what you should avoid when crafting your email address.
Unprofessional Email Address Examples
Here are some examples of what your professional email should not include.
Nicknames
Even if your colleagues call you by your nickname, you should still leave nicknames and alter-egos out of your professional email.
For example, let’s say your name Daniel Johnson and your coworkers, friends, and family all call you Danny or DJ.
While you may like being called by the aforementioned names, the following email addresses would still be inappropriate:
- dannyjohnson@domain.com
- djdaniel@domain.com
- dannyj@domain.com
Your personal and social life could be separate from your business. Your coworkers can refer to you by your nickname if you wish.
However, it’s best to keep things professional if you’re emailing someone for the first time or giving out your contact information to a new potential lead.
Instead, use a combination of your first and last name or initials:
- djohnson@domain.com
- danieljohnson@domain.com
- danielj@domain.com
Company Position
Though it’s acceptable to include your profession in your business email, you should avoid using your company’s position. Your position within the company can change over time.
Furthermore, the title of your position may only capture a handful of your skills, and the person you’re contacting may not be interested in those particular skills.
Avoid creating an email address similar to the following:
- jsmithoperationsmanager@domain.com
- seniorengineerjohnsmith@domain.com
- jsmithceo@domain.com
Instead, include your job position in your email signature and have your email combine your name and initials. It’s also shorter and easier to read.
Numbers
There are 4.37 billion email users worldwide as of 2023, so the chance of finding a unique email address is pretty slim.
So, you’re probably tempted to include numbers in your email address, but adding numbers can actually do more harm than good.
When creating email addresses, avoid the following:
- janedoe95@domain.com
- jdoe813@domain.com
- janedoe1408@domain.com
Usernames like the above are often considered unreliable and untrustworthy. They can set off spam filters and send your emails to the recipient’s junk folder.
You can opt to use periods or underscores, but do so sparingly because too many punctuations or symbols can trigger spam filters.
The following formats are acceptable for a professional email:
- jane.doe@domain.com
- jane.a.doe@domain.com
- jane_doe@domain.com
Use only one or two punctuation marks or underscores in your email address if you choose to use them.
Professional Email Address Ideas and Examples
Now that you know how to set up your business email and what to avoid when crafting an address, let’s review some ideas and examples to help you choose your naming conventions.
Combine your names.
- First name + last name = cliffordchi@domain.com
- First name . last name = clifford.chi@domain.com
- First name . middle name . last name = clifford.douglas.chi@domain.com
- First initial + last name = cchi@domain.com
- First initial + middle name + last name = cdouglaschi@domain.com
- First initial + middle initial +last name = cdchi@domain.com
Shorten your names.
- cliffchi@domain.com
- cliffdougchi@domain.com
- cliffdouglaschi@domain.com
- clifforddougchi@domain.com
Combine your name with your profession, city, or degree.
- cliffordchiwriter@domain.com
- cliffchiwriter@domain.com
- cchiwriter@domain.com
- cliffordchiboston@domain.com
- cliffchiboston@domain.com
- cchiboston@domain.com
- cliffordchimfa@domain.com
- cliffchimfa@domain.com
- cchimfa@domain.com
Email Name Generators
If you’re still struggling to develop a professional email address, the following email name generators can craft the right one for you:
1. Romarto
Just enter your first and last name, and the generator will come up with different combinations you can use for your address. You can also add your profession or city to get more options.
2. 4MeNearMe
4MeNearMe’s free email address generator works similarly to Romarto’s, except you can also add your email host.
3. GetMara.com
GetMara.com allows users to add their company’s domain to craft the right business email address.
Key takeaways when creating your professional email address are:
- Stick to a variation of your real name, and avoid nicknames.
- Don’t use numbers because they can result in your email going to the junk folder.
- If you must use punctuation and symbols, do so sparingly and only use periods and underscores
- Keep your professional and personal life separate.
Choosing a professional email address can be challenging since you can’t spice it up like you can with your personal one.
Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways to choose a solid professional email address, and hopefully, we helped you find one.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
