---
type: "page"
canonical: "https://unique.domains/courses/name-your-company/check-the-handles-before-the-name"
---

Last updated: 2026-11-13
Version: 2.34

# Check social handles before the name is final

Your domain is an address you control, but you only rent a social handle. Search the handles the same minute as the name, and let a taken one tip the choice, not veto it.

Course: Name your company
Chapter 6 of 12, 14 min read
Published 2026-11-09, reviewed 2026-11-11.

You have a word you like for the company. It shows as free on the ending you want, and you are about to press Register. One more search belongs in the same minute: the same word as a handle, an account's name, on X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and YouTube, and in the two app stores. You do it once, before the name is final, and it takes two minutes.

A taken handle does not rule out a word, but you cannot ignore it either. By the end you can read what it says about the word. You can say why a platform controls a handle, while a domain stays yours as long as you renew it. You can let the handles decide a close choice, and you know what our checker covers and what it leaves to you.

## What you will be able to do

- You can check a word's handles and its app-store names in the same sitting as the name.
- You can say why a platform controls a handle, while a domain stays yours as long as you renew it.
- You can let a taken handle decide a close choice, and never let it rule out a good word.
- You can run your word through the checker and say what the checker leaves to you.

## A handle is the platform's, a domain is yours

A domain is registered to you in a public record. A registrar sells it to you under rules that come from the registry, the company that runs the ending. The domain stays yours as long as you pay the renewal.

A handle is an entry in one platform's private database, under terms that the platform writes and can change.

A platform's terms can bar the sale of a handle. Twitter's rules barred the sale of accounts, so Israel acquired the @israel handle through a loophole, according to press reports that Elliot Silver relayed on DomainInvesting on 14 September 2010.

The price of @israel was first reported in six figures in 2010, and a newspaper later put it at $3,000. A domain can be listed and sold in the open. The sale of that handle needed a loophole.

A username that sits idle can be recycled. Yahoo had begun handing recycled email addresses and usernames to people who asked for them, Silver reported on DomainInvesting on 26 August 2013. The post says that Silver had received one of those addresses.

A platform's rules change too. Facebook shows a page's posts to a subset of the page's followers, and it wants the business to pay to reach the rest (Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, 5 October 2021).

On 21 January 2025 Allemann described a weekend on which US visitors were shut out of TikTok for a few hours, and creators' businesses were shut out with them. Allemann's conclusion is this chapter's: build on a domain that no platform can take away. Point your handles at the domain, and never the other way round.

## Why the same minute

Little time passes between a word becoming known and its addresses being taken. Andrew Allemann told one founder's story on Domain Name Wire on 21 August 2011. The founder found a domain free, saw that the matching Twitter handle was free too, and registered only the domain.

When the founder came back a couple of days later, an unused account had taken the handle. The title of Allemann's article asked whether bots were reading new registrations, and the article could not say.

Allemann's article also noted that someone who downloads the registry's daily list of registered names sees a new name within about a day, and that watching DNS is faster. Its advice was to take the handle when you register the domain.

The same thing happens to domains. Instagram launched in October 2010 on instagr.am, Kevin Murphy reported on Domain Incite on 20 January 2016, from a court filing. At that time an investor held Instagram.com. Another buyer bought it about a month later, as the app neared a million users.

In January 2011 the company decided to pay $100,000 for Instagram.com. It had filed its US trademark application in September 2010, less than a month before the launch, and it had not secured the .com. Three months passed between the launch and a six-figure purchase, which shows how short that time is.

## Let a taken handle decide only close choices

A taken handle is a fact about the word, not a verdict on it. Elliot Silver wrote on DomainInvesting on 26 July 2018 of being asked twice by buyers, when selling a name, whether the seller also held the matching Twitter handle. Both times the answer was no, and that did not change the negotiation.

Silver's later post on DomainInvesting on 27 November 2019 added that a matching handle is a nice thing but not necessarily critical, and that the ones its author wanted were long gone. A matching handle makes life a bit easier for a buyer, the post said, but Silver does not chase one for most names. A founder need not wait for one either.

A handle has a cheap fallback: you add a short prefix or suffix to the word on the same platform. Many platforms let you rename the handle later, and each platform's help page says what a rename keeps. A domain has no such fallback. Changing a domain later means a new address, new email and a move for every customer.

So the handle decides between finalists that pass the other checks: the renewal, the trademark and the ending. On its own, a taken handle rules out nothing. It can still warn you. A word that active companies have taken on every platform has many namesakes, and the second case in this chapter shows one.

## Case: Twenty years on .net, then the .com and @sonic

- Founded on Sonic.net: 1994
- Sonic.com registered by another company: 1993
- Years before the rebrand: about 20
- Held at the rebrand: Sonic.com, then @sonic

In an article on Domain Name Wire on 12 February 2015, Andrew Allemann told how Sonic.net, a California internet provider, became Sonic. Its co-founder had settled on .net in 1994 because Sonic.com was taken. Another California company, Sonic Solutions, had registered Sonic.com the year before. Providers were on .net in those days, the co-founder said.

Over two decades the drawbacks showed. Some customers were confused, and an email was occasionally sent to sonic.com instead of sonic.net. The co-founder wanted the .com because of that confusion, and for the credibility of a short dictionary word.

Sonic Solutions was acquired, and its products were later sold on. The co-founder then wrote to the finance chief of the company that held Sonic.com, and a deal was struck. The article gives no price.

Sonic.net later acquired the @sonic handle as well. With the .com and the handle in its control, the company rebranded late in 2014 as simply Sonic. The arithmetic here is counted in years. The company was founded in 1994, the .com had been registered by another company in 1993, and the rebrand came about twenty years after the founding.

Twenty years on .net cost the company confusion and the occasional email, but not the business. The company rebranded when it held both the .com and the handle, and the handle was the last piece it collected, not the first.

Source: Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, "Why Sonic.net rebranded as Sonic, and how it got Sonic.com", 2015-02-12, https://domainnamewire.com/2015/02/12/why-sonic-net-rebranded-as-sonic-and-how-it-got-sonic-com/

## The domain first, then the handle to match

Many companies that buy a good domain take the matching handle too. As James Iles noted on Domain Name Wire on 2 September 2021, Owner, a restaurant software company, had acquired Owner.com in June 2021 and the @Owner handle as well. The same article says that many brands now do this alongside a premium domain purchase.

On 14 July 2021, the day after Remote announced $150 million in funding, James Iles reported on Domain Name Wire that the company runs on Remote.com and on @Remote on Twitter and Instagram.

The order can also run the other way. Andrew Allemann reported on Domain Name Wire on 5 January 2010 that MSNBC had bought BreakingNews.com, and that the purchase seemed to start from MSNBC's @breakingnews handle, which had over 1.5 million followers.

One platform has joined the domain and the handle. Bluesky lets a domain you own be your handle, Kevin Murphy wrote on Domain Incite on 18 November 2024. The handle is verified through a short record in your domain's DNS settings, so nobody else can claim it.

## What to look at, platform by platform

No register of handles exists, so you look at each platform yourself. Open the profile address that carries your exact word: x.com/word, instagram.com/word, tiktok.com/@word, youtube.com/@word and linkedin.com/company/word. Then search for the word in both app stores. The rules on names and idle accounts change, so read each platform's own help page. Write down the four things in this section's numbered list.

A handle can draw a trademark claim, as a domain can. An insurance company filed a federal lawsuit over a Twitter username carrying its name, Andrew Allemann reported on Domain Name Wire on 9 June 2011. The lawsuit added a cybersquatting charge, which means taking a name to profit from a brand. The suit did not ask for the username, and Allemann called it an attempt to stretch the law.

If a company trades under your word, search the US and EU registers, USPTO and EUIPO, for trademarks in force in your class, as the trademark chapter explains. Take your own case to a lawyer before you build. A register shows what is registered, never that you are safe.

1. Whether the handle is taken or free, first for the exact word, then for the variant you would settle for.
2. Whether a taken handle is alive or idle: write the date of the last post you can see.
3. Who holds the handle: a person, a fan page, or a company trading under the word, in which case it becomes a trademark question.
4. In the app stores, whether an app in your category is named with the exact word, and how many ratings that app has.

## Case: 63 companies named Cadence, 3 named Percent

- Companies named Cadence on Crunchbase: 63
- Companies named Percent on Crunchbase: 3
- Cadence.com and @Cadence: held by Cadence Design Systems
- Percent.com price: not disclosed

Percent is an investment platform founded in 2018. James Iles traced its names on Domain Name Wire on 23 September 2021. The company started as Cadence, on the domain WithCadence.io. Crunchbase listed 63 companies that used Cadence as their brand name, and LinkedIn returned 918 company results for the word.

Cadence.com belonged to Cadence Design Systems, which also ran the @Cadence Twitter handle. James Iles asked whether the crowd of namesakes and the two taken addresses were part of the reason for the rebrand, and the article left the question open. In April 2021 the company became Percent, and announced the name with $12.5 million in funding.

On Crunchbase, three companies used Percent as a brand name, and 30 more had the word inside their names. The company relaunched on MyPercent.com. By June 2021 it had moved to Percent.com, a domain that a brokerage had listed for sale. Neither side disclosed the price.

The arithmetic is short: Cadence had 63 namesakes, and Percent had 3. A look at the handles is a quick way to count namesakes. A word that active companies have taken everywhere is a word that others already use. Weigh that signal together with the .com and the trademark registers before the name is final.

Source: James Iles, Domain Name Wire, "Percent upgrades from MyPercent.com to Percent.com", 2021-09-23, https://domainnamewire.com/2021/09/23/percent-upgrades-from-mypercent-com-to-percent-com/

## What our checker covers, and what it leaves to you

Unique Domains checks endings, not handles. A handle is one platform's private record, and no public register exists that a scanner can read. So the availability checker reads registries and registrars, and it never reads a platform. The handle search stays yours to do by hand.

On the website, you type a word or a name. As a visitor you get one live check a day, after a test that you are human. A word typed alone is taken as its .com name. The answer gives the status, the price today and any renewal trap in words. After that, it shows the word on five other endings, and counts for the rest.

In Product, the checker comes with the Investor plan. It runs one word across the endings we track, and puts those with a sale in the last 12 months first.

In that checker, each ending reads Available, Premium, For sale or Taken, and comes with its first-year price, its seller and the renewal trap flag. The flag is raised when a renewal is at least twice the first year and ten dollars above it.

On the Founder plan, use Browse and type your word. Each row is a name on one ending, either your word or a related one, and it shows the name's status today, its price and its seller.

## The rule

Search the handles in the same minute as the name, and register them the day you register the domain. Let a taken handle decide a close choice, but never let it rule out a word that passes the renewal, the trademark and the ending. The domain is the address you control, and the handles send people to it.

## Before the name is final

- Search for the exact word on X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, YouTube and both app stores, in one sitting.
- For each taken handle, note the last activity you can see and who holds it.
- Pick the variant you would use if the exact handle stays taken, and make it the same one on every platform.
- If a company trades under the word, search USPTO and EUIPO for trademarks in force in your class.
- Register the handles on the same day as the domain, with the company's email and not a founder's.
- Read the platform's terms on selling or transferring accounts before you offer a holder anything.
- Point every profile link at your domain, and never point the domain at a handle.
- Let a taken handle decide only between finalists that pass every other check.

## Ask the holder of an idle handle

You send this to the holder of an idle handle on your word, through the platform's messages or the contact shown on the holder's profile, once your domain is registered.

> Hello,
>
> I run [company], at [domain]. I noticed that @[handle] has been quiet for a while, and it is our company's name. Would you release it, or rename your account so that we can take it?
>
> If you would rather keep it, that is no problem. A reply either way saves me waiting.
>
> Thank you,
>
> [your name]

Offer no payment before you have read the platform's terms on selling or transferring accounts, because they may bar a sale.

## The handle note to your team

You send this to your co-founders, in the message that proposes the final name, after you have run the checker and the handle search.

> Name: [word] on [ending]. It is available at [first-year price] and renews at [renewal price], with no renewal trap.
>
> Handles: X [taken or free], Instagram [same], TikTok [same], LinkedIn [same], YouTube [same]. App stores: [none, or the app's name].
>
> If we go ahead, our handle on every platform is @[handle or variant], and I will register the domain and the handles today.
>
> Please send me any objection by [day].

## Run your word and the handles

1. Open the availability checker on the website and type your finalist with its ending. You get one live check a day, and you need no account. On the Founder plan, type the word into Browse instead, then open your name. Write down the name's status, its price today, whether a renewal trap is named, and the other endings shown.
2. In a second window, search for the exact word on the five platforms and in both app stores. Write taken or free for each one. For a taken one, also write the last activity and who holds it.
3. Put the two lists side by side. If active companies hold every handle, the word has namesakes, so weigh that together with the trademark registers. If one handle is idle, note your variant and send the message above.

Do this in Unique Domains: Open the availability checker. The public page: https://unique.domains/availability

## Sources

- Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, "MSNBC Buys BreakingNews.com to Complement Twitter Handle", 2010-01-05, https://domainnamewire.com/2010/01/05/msnbc-buys-breakingnews-com-to-complement-twitter-handle/
- Elliot Silver, DomainInvesting, "Report: Israel Buys @israel Twitter Handle for 6 Figures, But Not Israel.com for 7 Figures When It Was Auctioned", 2010-09-14, https://domaininvesting.com/report-israel-buys-israel-twitter-handle-for-6-figures-but-not-israel-com-for-7-figures/
- Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, "Company Files Cybersquatting Claim Against Twitter Username", 2011-06-09, https://domainnamewire.com/2011/06/09/coventry-first/
- Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, "Are Bots Registering Twitter Handles Based on New Domain Registrations?", 2011-08-21, https://domainnamewire.com/2011/08/21/are-bots-registering-twitter-handles-based-on-new-domain-registrations/
- Elliot Silver, DomainInvesting, "Yahoo Begins Redistributing Email Addresses & Usernames", 2013-08-26, https://domaininvesting.com/yahoo-begins-redistributing-email-addresses-usernames/
- Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, "Why Sonic.net rebranded as Sonic, and how it got Sonic.com", 2015-02-12, https://domainnamewire.com/2015/02/12/why-sonic-net-rebranded-as-sonic-and-how-it-got-sonic-com/
- Kevin Murphy, Domain Incite, "Instagram paid Chinese cyberquatter $100,000 for instagram.com, Facebook lawsuit reveals", 2016-01-20, https://domainincite.com/19813-instagram-paid-chinese-cyberquatter-100000-for-instagram-com-facebook-lawsuit-reveals
- Elliot Silver, DomainInvesting, "Daily Poll: Do You Secure Twitter Handles to Match Domains?", 2018-07-26, https://domaininvesting.com/daily-poll-do-you-secure-twitter-handles-to-match-domains/
- Elliot Silver, DomainInvesting, "Check for Brand Match Twitter Handles", 2019-11-27, https://domaininvesting.com/check-for-brand-match-twitter-handles/
- James Iles, Domain Name Wire, "Remote becomes a Unicorn after raising $150 million using Remote.com", 2021-07-14, https://domainnamewire.com/2021/07/14/remote-becomes-a-unicorn-after-raising-150-million-using-remote-com/
- James Iles, Domain Name Wire, "ProfitBoss rebrands to Owner.com prior to $10.7 million funding round", 2021-09-02, https://domainnamewire.com/2021/09/02/profitboss-rebrands-to-owner-com-prior-to-10-7-million-funding-round/
- James Iles, Domain Name Wire, "Percent upgrades from MyPercent.com to Percent.com", 2021-09-23, https://domainnamewire.com/2021/09/23/percent-upgrades-from-mypercent-com-to-percent-com/
- Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, "The real reason to not rely on Facebook for your business", 2021-10-05, https://domainnamewire.com/2021/10/05/rely-on-facebook/
- Kevin Murphy, Domain Incite, "Twitter clone Bluesky has one feature domain people should like", 2024-11-18, https://domainincite.com/30549-twitter-clone-bluesky-has-one-feature-domain-people-should-like
- Andrew Allemann, Domain Name Wire, "Your TikTok moment is coming", 2025-01-21, https://domainnamewire.com/2025/01/21/your-tiktok-moment-is-coming/

This course explains how the trade works. It is not legal or financial advice.

## Related pages

- Check a name’s endings and what each costs to hold: https://unique.domains/availability
- See how founders go from a search to a shortlist: https://unique.domains/solutions/founders
- Read every domain word in plain English: https://unique.domains/glossary