As we’ve already noted, most of the top YouTube users have usernames that are identical to their brand names. But this doesn’t really help if you’re not sure what you should call yourself or your online identity in the first place.

In this follow up article, we pick 37 interesting names from that list and take a look at the different ways that a uniquely catchy name can be created.

Although these are actual YouTube usernames, the naming strategies can be applied to create a name for Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr or any other username you need.

Note: Just for reference, the user’s name has been included in brackets () so that you can compare it with the actual (bolded) username.

How to Come Up with an Awesome Username

1. emilynoel83 (emilynoel83) – Adding your year of birth to the end of your name is a popular way to create a unique name for yourself. You can use your name in full, or any combination of your first, last or middle name, as well as only initials if you prefer.
2. itnnews (ITN) – An obvious way to name your YouTube presence is to add a relevant descriptive keyword to your brand’s name (ie ‘news’) if the exact match for your brand name’s username is taken already, or if the brand name is not intuitive enough on its own.
3. DNewsChannel (DNews) – Another ideal way to make a YouTube name is to add the word ‘channel’ to your main brand. It instantly creates a meaningful username or the name for your channel.
4. ShaneDawsonTV (Shane Dawson TV) – Appending ‘TV’ to your personal name or brand is the simplest way to create a YouTube name. It’s short, memorable and as relevant as you can get.
5. passengermusic (Passenger) – Brands that use dictionary words as their names can append a descriptive word to their usernames (ie ‘music’) to make it easier for people to understand what they offer.
6. CenturyMedia (Century Media Records) – Brands with long names can consider dropping a word or two to form shorter usernames that are more memorable and not such a mouthful to say out loud.
7. D0MICS (Domics) – Exchanging O’s for zeroes, 3’s for e’s, 1’s for L’s or I’s is a common way to try and get a short or perfect looking username. It’s a pain to explain how to spell it verbally, but if you expect most of your audience to come from clicking a link, it should be no problem.
8. officialtiesto (Tiesto) – For celebrities and famous people who have plenty of potential impersonators or confusingly similar usernames to contend with, prepending a word like ‘official’ before your name is a good way to tell people it’s officially you.
9. ScottHermanFitness (Scott Herman Fitness) – For topically focused content, just add the most relevant keyword to the end of your name and you’ll instantly have a username that’s relevant and meaningful.
10. DigitalRevCom (DigitalRev TV) – For web-based businesses, adding a ‘com’ to the end of your brand name is a nifty way to indirectly communicate your website url, assuming you have a .com domain name of course. Another option is to append ‘dotcom’.
11. RTAmerica (RT America) – If your content has a specific geographic focus, use that to make your username unique and meaningful to your audience.
12. COOP3RDRUMM3R (COOP3RDRUMM3R ) – If you’re going to be get creative with the spelling of your username, make sure your underlying brand name is spelled the same way. This follows the rule that whenever possible, your username should be the same as your name.
13. JoyofBaking1 (Joy of Baking) – If you’ve got a common name or a brand that uses a popular phrase, chances are, the matching username is not available. Just put a ‘1’ at the back of it to get the next best thing.
14. SpinninRec (Spinnin’ Records) – In an online world where there are character limits for messages, shorter is always better and this applies to usernames too. Try to balance the trade off between a short name and a meaningful one.
15. TheEllenShow (The Ellen Show) – Just like TV, the word ‘show’ is a natural fit when it comes to suffixes for a YouTube username or channel. Append it to your name, add the definite article ‘the’ in front of it and stake your claim to be the only one of its kind.
16. CaptainSparklez (CaptainSparklez) – Replacing s’s with a z is a common way to turn a regular word into a brandable name. This normally works best when the s is at the end of a word and preceded by a vowel.
17. Jaclynhill1 (Jaclyn Hill) – Revealing your year of birth or any other specific information about your birthday may not be the best idea for privacy reasons or if you’d rather keep your age to yourself. In which case, add any number to the back of your name to make up a username.
18. UltraRecords (Ultra Music) – The username for your brand is taken and you don’t want to modify it by adding a number? Consider replacing the descriptive element of your name with another word.
19. bakerXderek (bakerXderek) – Use a big X to separate your names or a 2-worded brand name. It may seem strange, but it’s visually memorable and passes the radio test.
20. WWEFanNation (WWE) – When choosing the right words to combine with your brand name, always have your target audience in mind to create something that will resonate with them deeply.
21. EricTheCarGuy (EricTheCarGuy) – You can be a car guy or a makeup girl, just append your expertise to your first name to create a username that’s unique, descriptive and pretty cool.
22. yogayak (YogaYak) – Alliterative, short and only 3 syllables – all the makings of a great brand name, especially since ‘yak’ has multiple word playing dimensions to it.
23. MrSuicideSheep (MrSuicideSheep) – Can a name get any quirkier? Have you come across any suicidal sheep? Powerful names always make you want to know more about them.
24. simonscat (Simon’s Cat) – Descriptive names can be too boring but sometimes, if you keep it quirkily simple, it can be memorable and have it’s own appeal.
25. movieclips (Movieclips) – Descriptive phrases used in their literal sense are special, albeit boring and unimaginative. But they are unique in their own way though.
26. TipsyBartender (TipsyBartender) – Good names normally have words that are relevant to each other. This one works because bartenders are not normally the ones that are tipsy so it gets us to take notice instantly.
27. GameGrumps (GameGrumps) – If you can find a 2 syllable name that is made up of 2 highly relevant words that both start with the same letter, you’re on to a winner.
28. CuteGirlsHairstyles (Cute Girls Hairstyles) – If you’re focused on a unique niche and can’t think of a cool name, then just keep it super simple and say it as it is in your name.
29. MondoMedia (MondoMedia) – It just can’t be overemphasized enough how alliteration and syllable matching almost guarantees the making of a fabulous name.
30. RoosterTeeth (Rooster Teeth) – It’s probably fair to say that everyone who comes across this understands what it refers to but has never ever given the subject matter any thought. Do rooster’s have teeth?
31. passion4profession (passion4profession) – Rhyming words that make sense when combined together give any name a natural advantage if you can come up with a good one.
32. laurenbeautyy (Lauren Curtis) – That double y instantly transforms an ill-fitting and awkward 2 word combo into a visually unique name. Misspellings can work well, but only if the underlying words are composed well. This one isn’t.
33. BeFit (BeFiT) – The perfect example of as fine a name as you can get. Short, intuitive, memorable and full of meaning. Namers all strive for this but end up having to compromise.
34. fastingtwins (FastingTwins) – There are some things that automatically pique people’s interest and twins are one of them, but only if they’re identical. This one makes you wonder whether one would lose more weight when fasting.
35. FueledByRamen (Fueled By Ramen) – Weird names that don’t pretentiously try too hard and are simple enough to understand will often stand out from the crowd.
36. AndroidAuthority (Android Authority) – What better way to establish yourself as an authority on something than to use the most relevant word you can. This works for plenty of other areas too.
37. SuperSimpleSongs (Super Simple Songs) – Wow, 3 meaningful words all starting with the same letter, where the first 2 even have the same number of syllables to make the pronunciation even more rhythmical. Perfect.

Bottom Line

So, what can we conclude?

• There are many ways to create a great name
• Alliteration is a popular and effective naming technique
• Quirkiness makes people stop to take notice of a name
• When in doubt, keep it nice and simple
• Make your name highly relevant to what your brand offers

If you want more examples of how top YouTube users named their accounts, you can view the entire list of 387 names in the original article.