I just went through the same process and did a lot of research. I'm somewhat tech savy but don't have any experience with domains, etc. Knew I wanted a Wordpress.org install and wanted something affordable and beginner friendly, but something that would be good enough to grow into.
Read a lot of reviews saying to stay away from anything owned by Endurance International Group which is snapping everybody up and turning them into ####. (Includes Hostgator, Bluehost, etc)
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneu...hat_have_been/
Ended up registering the domain with
Name Silo and hosting with
Siteground (that's a referral link, feel free to ignore, or use)/