New Top Level Domains (nTLDs)

A few years ago if you wanted a new domain name, you had to be quick. You had the choice of .com, .co.uk, .org, .biz, .net, .info, .gov and .edu. Everyone wanted .com and .co.uk so any of the others were seen as second best or the left overs. This forced you to add hyphens or even numbers in order to get a .com or .co.uk.

For a long time, these few TLDs were considered enough to cover all areas of the internet. But, of course, as the internet expanded, so increased our requirements for new TLDs.

Finally, back in 2012, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to allow businesses to apply for new top level domains. Some of the earliest TLDs included:

  • .rest
  • .app
  • .bar
  • .post
  • .bike

Since then, more than a thousand new TLDs have entered the public domain.

Click here to view the official ICANN list.

Who are ICANN?

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a non-profit organisation that helps control the Internet Domain Name System (or DNS). It is also responsible for the decision to expand the number of internet domains, by allowing new TLDs to be used.