I don't remember the first one I use but the only one I use now is Google. Google is king, My favorite saying is just "google it" I tell my 11 year old that all the time when she asks me a question about a school project that I can't answer
I think yahoo is my first. because the first time I use yahoo, every computer in the internet cafe has been set to use yahoo as default start page. but now, google is my fav. search engine. never tried any other search engine beside. google.
Back in 97/98 I used altavista, yahoo, excite, lycos and some others I can't remember. Google wasn't around then. I used to look for arcade emulator sites to download roms and stuff!