For the service, gmail is better than others. But the security of gmail is a big problem. If the hacker steals the password, then the password, recovery email addresses, mobile phone number, as well as security question, all can be changed without noticing the owner. Even the account can be easily deleted. If the account is lost, the owner can only depend on luck to file the recovery form with google. All the other services, like yahoo, hotmail are much better on the security features. Also, gmail doesn't recycle unsed or deleted IDs, making it very difficult to get a relatively better user name, although it is newer than yahoo and hotmail.
For name and services provided I would choose gmail.com. In terms of the name, hotmail sounds like hot male, live.ca and live.com could get confusing but I suppose its not a big issue, and well Yahoo IMO is harder to spell than gmail. In terms of service, gmail has lots of features which grow all the time, plus they've got one of the best spam filter around.
Don't forget you can still register for @msn.com email addresses. https://accountservices.passport.net/reg.srf?ns=msn.com&sl=1&lc=1033
Based on name alone, I prefer a purchased domain. For $10 a year (and hosting, free available), you can make unlimited emails at the domain of your choice. Of course, it takes a long time for your domain to become established and credible to recipients, but the free services are often spammy anyway...
I'm using GMail. Don't really know why, but I do. By the way, I can't believe people are still using hotmail. That is so... mid 90's.