DOMAIN NAME RULES

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 EXTENSIONS

.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

COUNTRY-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

.DE Domain Names

.DE - Germany, to be used for 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 64, not including .DE

.JP Domain Names

.JP - Japan, to be used for 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 63, not including .jp

.NZ Domain Names

.CO.NZ - New Zealand, intended organizations pursuing commercial aims & purposes
.NET.NZ - New Zealand, intended organizations or services providers related to the NZ internet
.ORG.NZ - New Zealand, intended for non-profit organizations
Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
Must have less than 23 characters, not including .CO.NZ, .ORG.NZ, and .NET.NZ

.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)

.WS Domain Names

.WS - WebSite, to be used for commercial and personal sites
Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
Cannot begin or end with a hyphen
.WS domains registered through Register.com must have as few as four and as many as 63 characters, not including the .WS 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

.CN Domain Names

.CN - China, to be used for commercial and personal sites
Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
Cannot begin or end with a hyphen and
Cannot not have a hyphen in the 3rd or 4th position
Must have at least 2 characters and less than 63 characters, not including .CN

.TW Domain Names

.TW - Taiwan, to be used for commercial and personal sites
Use only letters, numbers, or hyphen ("-")
Cannot begin or end with a hyphen and
Cannot not have a hyphen in the 3rd or 4th position
Must have at least 2 characters and less than 63 characters, not including .TW