Creating an email account for a user when the name already exists

Question

Looking for some suggestions/best practices.

I have an employee, let's say "John Smith" with an email address of "jsmith@domain.com". His son just came on board as an employee, and his son's name is also "John Smith". Is it common practice to have "jsmithjr@domain.com" or is there some other practice that I am not thinking of?

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Update - I agree with tchalvak - I asked it it would be ok to use his middle initial and last name, which he agreed to.

mh, I'm surprised there isn't a best practice for this - there seems to be a best practice for everything computer related. heh.

Answer 1

Ask the employee if there is another shortening that he would prefer. I would hate to be tagged with an email address like jsmithjr@whatever.com without being asked, as I happen to value my individuality.

Answer 2

There is no common practice. Some people add an alphanumeric suffix, some differentiate by middle initial, some let the person choose. So pick the naming convention that you feel meets your requirements best, and stick to it.

Answer 3

Ask the employee if there is another shortening that he would prefer. I would hate to be tagged with an email address like jsmithjr@whatever.com without being asked, as I happen to value my individuality.

Answer 4

It's far more common practice to name him jsmith1 or have some such numbering scheme.

Answer 5

At my office we use JSmith@email.com as the 1st John Smith, for the second John Smith, we give them JoSmith@email.com. Seems to be working out fairly well for us. In the rare instances where we have used those up, we'll add a period between first and last name/initial. John.Smith@email.com or j.smith@email.com