In search of my domain

Choosing domain names is always challenging. It affects how people perceive, remember, or find you online. That's why I wanted my domain name to be short and memorable. I started looking for a domain name in 2018-ish when I decided to create an "online presence". Some criteria in mind: Relevancy to my name, catchiness, memorableness, length, etc.

I tried various combinations of my name, initials, and suffixes, but most were either taken or too expensive. But in the end, I was reassured that I should use either sunghyun or cho without any adjectives or nicknames.

I really did not want to use .me .blog or .name TLDs -- it was okay, but something was off... .coms were too expensive, and .net felt like I chose it because the .com version was already registered. .co.kr or .us did not represent me correctly because I want to be geographically independent and free. .org was for domains and didn't match me. I liked cho.pro but couldn't register it somehow; cho.co was too expensive & felt too much like a joke, and .xyz felt like I ran out of ideas and picked the most available one. A year later, Google made the .dev domain GA, and I also tried cho.dev, but ① the prices were too expensive (~$800), and ② I wanted to be more than a developer.