But if you’re asking about buying your own domain name (firstname-lastname.com) vs. using a subdomain from your hosting provider (myblog.wordpress.com) then it comes down to preference. Having your own domain will make you look more professional and get you more clicks on average.
Mainly the latter, and you cover the reasons for that, so appreciate it! For a more casual approach (and according to one’s preferences), it sounds like you’d be alright to stick with the subdomain-from-host approach, which is how I was leaning but I wasn’t sure if there might be more to it than that within the more managed hosting space.