A domain name, signifies your own address on the Internet. As no two parties may ever hold the same domain name at the same time, it is a truly unique identifier of you or your company. It is how your customers will remember you and find you among the millions of other Web sites on the Internet.
The following is a list of rules of each registry. Please note that this list may not be a complete list and that each registry may adopt additional rules from time to time.
General:
- A domain name can only contain the letters A-Z, the digits 0-9 and hyphen (-), in addition to one punctuation (.) used for grouping the domains in hierarchies.
- A domain name must contain between 2 and 63 characters before the punctuation.
- A domain name is not case sensitive, making Domainnameshop.Com the same as domainnameshop.com.
- Prefix "www." is not usually a part of the domain name applied for. For a website named www.example.com, the domain name is solely example.com. www.example.com is only one of many possible sub domains under example.com
.COM, .NET and .ORG Domain Names
- .COM - to be used for commercial and personal sites
- .NET - recommended for companies involved in Internet infrastructure
- .ORG - recommended for not-for-profit organizations
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Must have less than 63* characters, not including .COM, .NET and .ORG
* .com, .net and .org domain names exceeding a total of 26 characters are supported by most web browsers. However, certain web browsers, email programs and other Internet related applications may not support domain names over 26 characters.
.INFO Domain Names
- .INFO - to be used for both commercial and personal sites
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Must have at least 3 characters and less than 63 characters, not including .INFO
.BIZ Domain Names
- .BIZ - sites restricted to commercial and bona fide business purposes
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Cannot have two hyphens in a row
- Must have at least 3 characters and less than 63 characters, not including .BIZ
.MOBI Domain Names
- .MOBI - implies that the website is designed for mobile usage
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Must have at least 3 characters and less than 63 characters, not including .MOBI
SPECIFIC EXTENSIONS
.CA Domain Names
- .CA registrants must meet Canadian presence requirements as defined by CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority)
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Length. Domain names must be not less than two (2) and not greater than fifty (50) characters long.
.CC Domain Names
- .CC - Cocos (Keeling) Islands, to be used for commercial and personal sites
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Cannot contain all numbers
- Must have at least 3 characters, but less than 47, not including .CC
.CO.UK and .ORG.UK Domain Names
- .CO.UK - United Kingdom TLD used for both commercial and personal sites
- .ORG.UK - United Kingdom TLD used for both commercial and personal sites
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Must have at least 3 characters, but less than 23, not including .CO.UK and .ORG.UK
.TV Domain Names
- .TV - Tuvalu, to be used for commercial and personal sites
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Must have less than 63 characters, not including .TV
.US Domain Names
- .US - to be used by U.S. citizens and residents, U.S. corporations and other U.S. organizations and organizations with a presence within the United States
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Domain names cannot begin or end with a hyphen
- Domain names must be longer than 2 characters and cannot exceed 63 characters (this does not include the extension)
.EU Domain Names
- .EU - European Union
- Owner must reside in one of the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Great Britain (UK), Greece, Guadeloupe (Fr.), Guyana (Fr.), Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Martinique (Fr.), Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Reunion (Fr.), Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, or Sweden.
- Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
- Must have at least 2 characters and less than 64 characters, not including .EU