A long time ago, I created a Google mail account. I fell for a trap that was common back then (not sure how it is nowadays) and ended up with two Google accounts—one for Gmail (using the Gmail email address I would like to use) and one for everything else (using an email address at an external mail provider).
Hoping that I could associate my Gmail and my actual Google account, I deleted my Gmail account only to discover that deleted account names cannot be used again. So basically my old Gmail account along with the Google email address I would like to use is gone.
My main Google account got assigned a different Gmail account in the mean time.
Do you know if it is possible to re-use my preferred Gmail address? If possible, I would like to assign it to my main Google account. But I'd also be happy to have it as a second Google account, anything is better than the current situation.