How famous companies got their domain names
The stories behind famous domains: Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and X, Instagram, Tesla, Dropbox, Uber, Airbnb and Zoom, and the lessons for choosing yours.
Almost every famous website started with a compromise domain, a funny backstory, or both. Here's how the biggest names on the internet got their domains, and what you can learn from them.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin's search engine started at Stanford as BackRub, named for how it analyzed backlinks. They renamed it after "googol", the number 1 followed by 100 zeros, to suggest organizing a huge amount of information. The spelling "Google" stuck, and google.com was registered in September 1997.
Lesson: a playful, unique word can become a brand, and even a verb.
Yahoo
Yahoo began in 1994 as "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web", a list of links made by Stanford students Jerry Yang and David Filo, hosted on university servers. They renamed it Yahoo, later explained as "Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle", and yahoo.com was registered in January 1995.
Lesson: "Jerry and David's Guide" was descriptive. "Yahoo" was memorable.
Amazon
Started as Cadabra, which sounded like "cadaver" on the phone, then became Amazon, named after the world's largest river. Read the full Amazon.com domain story.
eBay
Pierre Omidyar's auction site began in 1995 as AuctionWeb. His consulting company was called Echo Bay Technology Group, but echobay.com was already taken, so he shortened it to ebay.com. The site was eventually renamed after its own domain.
Lesson: when your first choice is taken, a shorter version can be even better.
Mark Zuckerberg launched in 2004 on thefacebook.com. In 2005, the company bought facebook.com for a reported $200,000 and dropped "the". Years later it also bought fb.com for a reported $8.5 million for internal use.
Lesson: start with an available variation and upgrade when you can afford it.
YouTube
youtube.com was registered on February 14, 2005, just before the site launched. The name, "you" plus "tube" (slang for TV), says exactly what it does. It later added the clever short link youtu.be, a domain hack.
Twitter, now X
Twitter started in 2006 as twttr, a vowel-less five-character name that fit text-message shortcodes. The team soon got twitter.com. In July 2023, after Elon Musk's takeover, Twitter rebranded as X, and in May 2024 the site completed its move to x.com, one of only three one-letter .com domains in use. Musk had first owned X.com in 1999 for an online bank that merged into what became PayPal, and bought the name back from PayPal in 2017. See one-letter domains.
Instagram launched in 2010 using the domain hack instagr.am, with Armenia's .am ending. It later moved to instagram.com.
Lesson: hacks are fun for a launch, but most giants end up on .com.
Tesla
For years Tesla used teslamotors.com, because tesla.com belonged to Stu Grossman, who had registered it in 1992. Tesla bought it in 2016 for $11 million, a price Elon Musk confirmed in 2018, and dropped "Motors" from its name.
Lesson: adding a word like "motors" works until you can get the exact name.
Dropbox
Dropbox started on getdropbox.com, adding "get" because dropbox.com was taken, then acquired dropbox.com in 2009.
Lesson: "get", "try" and "hq" are proven ways to start without the exact .com.
Uber
Uber launched as UberCab on ubercab.com. In 2011, after San Francisco regulators objected that it wasn't a licensed taxi company, it dropped "Cab" and moved to uber.com.
Airbnb
Airbnb started in 2008 as AirBed & Breakfast on airbedandbreakfast.com. In 2009 it shortened the name to Airbnb, which was easier to say, spell and remember.
Lesson: if your name is long, shorten it before it's too late.
Zoom
Zoom built its brand on zoom.us, using the United States country ending, which is still the address many people see in their meeting links.
Lesson: a great product can succeed on a non-.com ending, as long as the name itself is short and memorable.
The patterns
- Start with what's available: thefacebook.com, getdropbox.com, teslamotors.com, ubercab.com.
- Upgrade to the exact .com once you can afford it.
- Short and spoken-friendly wins: Cadabra, AuctionWeb and AirBed & Breakfast all got simpler.
- Don't box yourself in: "Motors", "Cab" and "Books" all got dropped.
Ready to choose yours? Start with how to choose a domain name and the free domain search.
Questions
How much did Facebook pay for facebook.com?
A reported $200,000 in 2005, after starting on thefacebook.com.
Why did Twitter change to x.com?
After Elon Musk bought Twitter, it rebranded as X in July 2023 and moved fully to x.com in May 2024.