A recent spate of domain name purchases appears to confirm that Google does have a new Google-branded tablet in the works. What’s more, the domain names may even tell us the name of the new tablet: Google Play.

According to a report posted early this morning on Fusible, Google has purchased eighteen domain names all related to the word “Play” and most containing the phrase “Google Play.” The domains were purchased through MarkMonitor, a company devoted to “protecting brands in the digital world.” Many companies – Google included – use MarkMonitor to prevent squatters from taking domains related to the names of their products. The full list of domains is below:

appsonplay.com
booksonplay.com
gamesonplay.com
googleplayapps.com
googleplaybooks.com
googleplaydownloads.com
googleplaygames.com
googleplaymagazines.com
googleplaymovies.com
googleplaymusic.com
googleplaynewspapers.com
googleplaynewsstand.com
googleplaytv.com
googleplayvideos.com
magazinesonplay.com
moviesonplay.com
newspapersonplay.com
tvonplay.com

At the moment none of the domains actually go anywhere. As the Google Play nears release, it’s a safe bet that they’ll redirect to Google’s official site for the device (just as ipod.com and iphone.com take you to Apple’s site for those devices).

While it’s possible that “Google Play” is something other than the rumored tablet, the timing is a little too convenient for that. Last year Eric Schmidt announced that Google was working on their own tablet, to be released within six months (i.e., by May or June of 2012). Last week industry analyst Richard Shim said that Google was preparing a 7-inch tablet, and that the device would be going into production in April.

Both Shim’s prediction and this domain name purchase fit well in Schmidt’s six month time frame, so it’s a pretty good bet that we’ll be seeing the Google Play within the next couple months. We’ll bring you more news as it becomes available.

Would you buy a Google-branded Android tablet? What do you think of the name “Google Play”? Let us know in the comments.