Can't speak for anyone else, but I remember trying to snag a funny or hard-to-get name during the invite period but they were all taken. For a short time I used my common "screen name" of the time but soon after switched to [email protected].

I was in my mid-late 20's and If I'm being honest with myself, I think I looked at Gmail as the webmail provider that more "savvy" or professional people used. I wanted something I could use for both personal stuff and professional contacts so the old [email protected] wouldn't cut it.

Later on this would shift to using my own domain to express professionalism but I still have my first.last@gmail address as the account all of my friends and family use.