October 2009 Archives

ICANN, the internet's governing body, yesterday officially announced the introduction of Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) extensions for nations and territories. This means that a full web address including the domain suffix can contain non-Latin characters such as Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew or Greek in the future.

"The coming introduction of non-Latin characters represents the biggest technical change to the Internet since it was created four decades ago," said ICANN chairman Peter Dengate Thrush. "Right now Internet address endings are limited to Latin characters - A to Z. But the Fast Track Process is the first step in bringing the 100,000 characters of the languages of the world online for domain names."

Watch the video with people from around the world explaining how localized domain names will help them using the internet in their native language:

The introduction of internationalized country domains is an important step towards a global internet and we would like to congratulate ICANN and everybody involved in achieving this long-awaited milestone.

At iWantMyName we strongly believe in an open and inclusive internet for all people on this planet. Hence we are always happy to support new technical developments that move us towards a truly internationlized web. We are making a special effort to roll out new services that enable multi-lingual functionality across the global web infrastructure, as these services become available.

Although it may still take a while until we will see localized versions of the .COM, .NET or .ORG suffixes, ICANN is making steady progress in pursuing changes to introduce internationalized country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) such as .РФ (.RF - Russian Federation) or .бг (.bg - Bulgaria) with a possible start date as early as 2010.

.NAME introduces IDN registration

As a further step to tear down language barriers on the web VeriSign, the domain registry for .NAME, enables the registration of internationalized web addresses with non-latin characters beneath this domain extension. From Nov 7th, you will be able to search and register domains in the same language scripts (e.g. Arabic, Greek, Cyrillic, Chinese or Japanese) as it is already possible for .COM and .NET web addresses.

IDN resources & domain tools:

• Online IDN Keyboard for other languages
• FlipMyName - create mirrored domain names

Get your own name domain in your local language as soon as they become available.

The last part of our Domain Statistics & Numbers article series shows the ranking of country code top-level domains:

1. How many top-level domain name extensions exist in total?
2. How many domains are registered worldwide?
3. What are the Top 10 global domain extensions?
4. How big are the generic top-level domain (gTLD) namespaces?
5. What is the ranking of my country code top-level domain (ccTLD)?

.DE Takes Lead Again in ccTLD Race

Ever wondered where your country domain extension sits in the global marketplace? It's a little bit like Formula One, with nations jockeying constantly for supremacy. Recently German suffix .DE pipped China's .CN domain to a pole position with slightly more registrations. That's good news for iWantMyName because we are about to launch a German language version of our highly successful domain management platform.

Below is a handy reference list showing which ccTLDs are most popular:

1. .DE (Germany) - 13.05 million
2. .CN (China) - 12.54 million
3. .UK (United Kingdom) - 7.83 million
4. .NL (Netherlands) - 3.51 million
5. .EU (European Union) - 2.98 million
6. .RU (Russia) - 2.31 million
7. .TK (Tokelau) - 1.97 million
8. .AR (Argentina) - 1.85 million
9. .BR (Brazil) - 1.81 million
10. .IT (Italy) - 1.72 million
11. .US (USA) - 1.63 million
12. .PL (Poland) - 1.53 million
13. .FR (France) - 1.5 million
14. .AU (Australia) - 1.47 million
15. .CH (Switzerland) - 1.31 million
16. .CA (Canada) - 1.26 million
17. .ES (Spain) - 1.22 million
18. .JP (Japan) - 1.11 million
19. .KR (Korea) - 1.04 million
20. .DK (Denmark) - 1 million
21. .BE (Belgium) - 942,000
22. .SE (Sweden) - 895,000
23. .AT (Austria) - 876,000
24. .CZ (Czech Republic) - 591,000
25. .IN (India) - 510,000
26. .HU (Hungary) - 450,000
27. .NO (Norway) - 439,000
28. .TW (Taiwan) - 425,000
29. .NZ (New Zealand) - 366,000
30. .MX (Mexico) - 353,000
31. .PT (Portugal) - 314,000
32. .CL (Chile) - 257,000
33. .FI (Finland) - 200,000
34. .HK (Hongkong) - 178,000
35. .TR (Turkey) - 133,000

Source: DomainesInfo Statistiques

Part 4 of our Domain Statistics & Numbers article series breaks down the size of generic top-level domain (gTLD) namespaces:

1. How many top-level domain name extensions exist in total?
2. How many domains are registered worldwide?
3. What are the Top 10 global domain extensions?
4. How big are the generic top-level domain (gTLD) namespaces?
5. What is the ranking of my country code top-level domain (ccTLD)?

4. How big are the generic top-level domain (gTLD) namespaces?

A useful resource for these domain name statistics is the ICANN Dashboard which provides an interactive timeline on the growth of generic TLDs.

.AERO - .MOBI interactive timeline or click for larger view:

.MUSEUM - .TRAVEL interactive timeline or click for larger view:

Further information about the fluctuation in these graphs can be found directly on the ICANN Dashboard.

The number of registered gTLDs and their ranking is as follows:

1. .COM: 82.01 million
2. .NET: 12.42 million
3. .ORG: 7.79 million
4. .INFO: 5.24 million
5. .BIZ: 2.03 million
6. .MOBI: ~ 850.000
7. .NAME: ~ 300.000
8. .TEL: ~ 220.000
9. .ASIA: ~ 210.000
10. .TRAVEL: ~130.000
11. .CAT: ~38.000
12. .PRO: ~37.000
13. .JOBS: ~16.000
14. .AERO: ~6.500
15. .COOP: ~5.800
16. .MUSEUM: ~550

Total number of generic domain extensions (September 2009): 111.3 million

Sources: DomainesInfo Statistiques, ICANN Dashboard

Afilias, the registry of the .INFO domain extension is currently running an award for the best .INFO website 2009. The .INFO web address was launched in 2001 and is one of the top 10 domain extensions worldwide.

You can win the following cash prizes:

1. First place: US $7.500
2. Second place: US $ 5.000
3. Third place: US $3.000

Submissions close on October 23, 2009. All further information on the awards site.

If you don't already own a .INFO domain, we currently have them on special at only US $6.90.

During the last two weeks we added the .MX internet suffix of Mexico and the Dutch .NL web address. Today, the expansion of country code top-level domains (ccTLDs) at iWantMyName continues with the Peruvian .PE domain extension.

According to a recent announcement (spanish only), the Peruvian telecommunications company, Red Cientifica Peruana (RCP), is aiming to help one million people to establish an online identity with .PE domain names in the next 3 years. The South-American Republic of Peru has a population of 28.8 million people with approx. 8-9 million internet users.

As .PE domains can be registered by anybody worldwide, you can also use them in domain hacks such as overhy.pe, stereoty.pe or giusep.pe. And even better, the registration of short domain names for your personal URL shortener is possible as well.

We have included some available domain hack ideas using the .PE domain name extension below:

• airsca.pe
• antilo.pe
• autoty.pe
• biosco.pe
• bioto.pe
• bioty.pe
• cana.pe
• cinemasco.pe
• cyclo.pe
• electrosco.pe
• giusep.pe
• linoty.pe
• logoty.pe
• magnetosco.pe
• moonsca.pe
• overhy.pe
• panpi.pe
• penelo.pe
• radioisoto.pe
• reta.pe
• rety.pe
• stereoty.pe
• subty.pe
• townsca.pe
• windpi.pe

This blog post showing the top 10 list of domain extensions is part 3 of our Domain Statistics & Numbers article series:

1. How many top-level domain name extensions exist in total?
2. How many domains are registered worldwide?
3. What are the Top 10 global domain extensions?
4. How big are the generic top-level domain (gTLD) namespaces?
5. What is the ranking of my country code top-level domain (ccTLD)?

Top 10 global domain name extension list

The ten largest domain extensions unite a whopping 150 million registrations:

1. .COM: 82.01 million
2. .DE (Germany): 13.05 million
3. .CN (China): 12.55 million
4. .NET: 12.42 million
5. .UK (United Kingdom): 7.83 million
6. .ORG: 7.79 million
7. .INFO: 5.24 million
8. .NL (Netherlands): 3.5 million
9. .EU (European Union): 2.98 million
10. .RU (Russia): 2.31 million

Source: DomainesInfo Statistiques

.COM is by far the the largest namespace worldwide, followed by the German .DE internet code, the Chinese .CN country domain extension and the generic .NET web address. It is very likely that .CN will surpass .DE again shortly (they recently changed positions). However, it will be interesting to see which impact the introduction of a suffix with Chinese characters such as .中国 (.CHINA) might have on the future growth of the .CN address.

These numbers also show how strong country domain extensions are in Europe with .UK, .NL and .EU taking further positions after .ORG and .INFO in the international Top 10 ranking.

After the recent addition of .MX (Mexico) domains, we are introducing another country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for you at iWantMyName.

The Dutch .NL domain extension can now be registered at only $19.00 USD / year. With 3.5 million total registrations, the web address of the Netherlands is one of the top 10 domain extensions worldwide and the second biggest country code domain in Europe after Germany's .DE suffix. More information can be found at the official .NL registry website.

Of course, the .NL domain search and registration is also available through our iPhone DomainApp.

Short domain names that are still available

1. aa.ht
2. ah.ag
3. aj.tc
4. ak.ag
5. am.ht
6. am.vg
7. ap.gs
8. ap.mu
9. as.ht
10. au.ht
11. aw.mu
12. ay.ag
13. az.ht
14. az.tl
15. ba.mu
16. bb.mu
17. bc.vg
18. bc.gs
19. bi.mu
20. bj.ms
21. bl.cx
22. bm.ms
23. bo.mu
24. bt.tl
25. bu.tl
26. by.ht
27. by.mu
28. by.tl
29. ca.ag
30. ce.gs
31. ce.ht
32. ce.mu
33. ci.tl
34. cu.gs
35. cu.mu
36. cy.gs
37. da.ag
38. db.ht
39. db.mu
40. dc.tl
41. dg.gs
42. dj.tc
43. dj.vg
44. dr.mu
45. dr.vg
46. dy.gs
47. eb.ag
48. ee.mu
49. en.ag
50. en.tl
51. ev.vg
52. ex.ag
53. ex.vg
54. ey.gs
55. ff.ht
56. ft.gs
57. fw.vg
58. fw.tc
59. gp.tl
60. hb.ag
61. hq.gs
62. hu.mu
63. ia.gs
64. ib.ag
65. if.cx
66. im.ht
67. iq.gs
68. jj.ag
69. ki.gs
70. mr.tl
71. ob.ag
72. oo.mu
73. ow.gs
74. oz.gs
75. pa.mu
76. qa.gs
77. ra.gd
78. sr.vg
79. te.gs
80. ub.ag
81. ug.gs
82. ui.cx
83. ui.gs
84. ui.tc
85. uu.tl
86. ux.gs
87. vv.ht
88. vv.ag
89. wi.mu
90. wu.gs
91. xb.ag
92. xo.gs
93. xs.mu
94. xx.ht
95. xy.gs
96. yo.tl
97. za.mu
98. zx.ag
99. zy.gs
100. zz.ht

Also read the following related articles:

• 10 Tools To Run An URL Shortener On Your Own Domain
• How You Can Own Your Online Identity With Domains

As of today you can register .MX domains (Mexico) at iWantMyName. The domain registration requirements are similar to .COM domains so there are no restrictions or local requirements. Our introduction price is $99.00 USD for all new registrations.

The Mexican country code domain extension was only opened for registration earlier this year. Before that Mexico's web address could only be registered under the second-level .COM.MX domain (.NET.MX, .ORG.MX and others are restricted).

More information about .MX and Mexico:

• Population: 111 million
• Language: Spanish
• Total domains: approx. 300k
• Official registry: nic.mx