Before I chose a name, I'd make sure that I could get a top level domain with that name, like .com, .net, and .org -- preferably all three -- because if you can't, you'll always lose in the search engine battle to that website. Then, of course, I'd buy the domain names, because nothing stays available forever. Unfortunately, domain name ownership is a bit like an albatross. The first year or so is usually pretty cheap, and then after that, it can get expensive ($20 a year, every single year forever, so if you have all three TLDs, $60 or more every year) -- and even more so, if you don't want your personal name and details to be viewable to everyone who types in a whois.

But if you want to be searchable -- and to land at the top of the search -- having a TLD (with a site and some content on it) is one way to do it. TLDs get priority in just about every search engine.

---

PoserPro 2014, PS CS5.5 Ext, Nikon D300. Win 8, i7-4770 @ 3.4 GHz, AMD Radeon 8570, 12 GB RAM.