Choosing a domain for a brand name beginning with "The"

[Anlina]

I'm in the process of planning a social media site which will function primarily as a community and resource to users and secondarily as an online shop.

I've given a fair bit of thought to the branding, and I'm fairly settled on the brand name being structured as "The Adjective Noun", which includes my generic keyword but adds and element of unique branding.

I'm not sure what to do with my domain name though.

Does it make sense to keep the "the", drop it or register both domains?

www.adjectivenoun.com
www.theadjectivenoun.com

What do users expect when typing in a domain - do they expect to type "the" if the company name starts with "the" or do they expect that it will be dropped? (Especially in names where the "the" is less essential ie "The Keg" relies heavily on both elements of the name, "The Davinci Code" might reasonably be referred to as "Davinci Code")

If I register both, what would be the best strategy for using them?

Or is this something that is going to cause me untold headaches down the line and rethinking the brand to eliminate "the" is the best solution at this point (I'm really quite content with the brand beyond this domain question.)

[Receptional Andy]

A good starting point would be to do some keyword research and see whether using "the" is more popular with users when searching. This is certainly the case for certain searches.

Even if there's only a small volume doing one or the other, you're best advised to register any combinations your users might use, and then permanently redirect them to you final choice. So, if "the widget" seems to be preferred by most users, get that name and redirect the alternatives there.

That way, you retain all the traffic, protect your brand name and keep everyone happy :)