The restrictions placed on domains vary depending on the extension being registered and the country the domain is associated with.
Domains can be formed using only letters and numbers from the ASCII character set, for example, (az) (AZ) (0-9). Hyphens are also allowed, but they must be between characters, so they cannot be at the beginning or end of the domain. Special characters (such as '#*%') and spaces are not allowed.
General rules
- Your domain must be unique, that is, a domain name that is not already in use.
- .com, .net, .org and .info domain names cannot exceed 67 characters.
- .info and .biz domains must be at least 3 characters long, not including .info or .biz.
- Other domain names cannot exceed 22 characters, not including the extension.
- Domain names are not case-sensitive.
- 2-letter domains are not allowed.
Common extensions
- .com - used for commercial or personal sites
- .net - recommended for companies related to internet infrastructure.
- .org - recommended for non-profit organizations
- .info - used for commercial or personal sites
- .biz - restricted to commercial and business purposes
- .mobi: implies that the website is designed for use on mobile devices.
Common country-specific extensions
- .ca - websites with a Canadian presence as defined by CIRA (Canadian Internet Registration Authority).
- .cc - Cocos (Keeling) Islands, to be used for commercial or personal sites.
- .co.uk - United Kingdom for commercial or personal websites
- .de - Germany, to be used for commercial or personal sites.
- .eu - websites with a presence in the European Union
- .org.uk - United Kingdom for charities and non-profit organizations.
- .jp - Japan, to be used for commercial or personal sites.
- .us - United States, to be used for commercial or personal sites.
