There’s no question it can be very confusing choosing a domain host.

Personally I don’t believe in using the domain hosting services provided by my web host.

They are usually more expensive;

They are usually not very well-specified when it comes to functionality;

If your web host has any issues (this has happened 3 times to me with 3 different hosts) then you can simply point your domain to different nameservers at a new host withing minutes.

Who do I recommend?

I use http://www.fxdomains.com/ – they are a GoDaddy reseller, so you get the useful management functions of GoDaddy – but i find they have consistently cheaper deals.

Oh – if you want to play around with domains and get some inspiration?

Try http://www.nameboy.com/ for some name-spinning – and also http://domain-suggestions.domaintools.com/

As always, feel free to ping me with any questions!