Further resources, a few tips for registrants, and things I've learned
I'll probably never register a dot com, org or net again. There are too many cool words to play with, at least if the domain you register is something to play with. Registering a fun domain for a real business may be questionnable :)
Some regional registrars have strict policies on whether the registrant must be a resident of the country. In such case, getting a domain with their TLD will be difficult, if possible. Hopefully, many are open to any netizens, which is a good thing in my opinion since establishing frontiers in the internet, other than the language, is not really relevant. Well, at least that's what I think :)
Don't look for a registrar from the ICANN or IANA, their lists are completely outdated. You'd rather search something like "ac domains" in any search engine.
Unfortunately, some top level domains have to be prefixed. For example, you cannot get something.py, but have to chose from this.com.py, this.net.py or this.org.py. This is major suckage and I cannot see any clever reason for such a requirement. Too bad. This also probably makes some of the domain suggestions here impossible to register, but well, I didn't want to check with every registrar on earth :)
To use a "multi dot" domain such as del.icio.us, you have to register the main domain icio.us. The rest is then a matter of setting up a subdomain, which is either done in your webserver config or in your DNS servers, depending on the situation.
The ideal multi dot domain would be something you could read at different levels, with or without TLD, with or without subdomains, and even with different subdomains.
Consider the following : heart.break.er
Makes sense as heartbreaker, heartbreak, break, and can be re-used with other combination (jaw.break.er etc…)
Keep it short : i.will.hax0r.your.com.put.er looks more like a useless IRC bouncer virtual host than something you really want to type in the location bar of your web browser.
Keep it simple. Remember the first time you wanted to come back to del.icio.us : "de.licio.us ? deli.cio.us ? Damn what was it again ?"
I'm not giving you any registrar link because I have no reason to promote this or that (unless of course someone has an offer to make ;), however I'll mention that Zone Edit is an awesome and free DNS service. It offers domains and unlimited subdomains DNS and forwarding, mail forwarding and a lots of stuff. I've been using it for a couple of years now, and I'm loving it.
By the way, did you know there were domain names to sell on EBay ? Might be something to check if you want something special (3 characters for example)
I played a lot with OneLook, an online dictionnary that allows word searches with wildcards. Extremely useful if you want to brainstorm a bit about a particular top level domain.
There might be a few errors in the flags assigned to each country. Feel free to correct me if I gave your nation or island a wrong one :)
Have a word to say ? You registered something unusual ? You have a wicked idea for your next registration ? Go ahead, comment !
Page: #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8Shorter URL
Want to share or tweet this page? Please use this short URL: http://ozh.in/l5
burkina faso: ihate.my.bf
cameroon: cooking.with.cm (its an actual website, well almost)
jamaica: ytse.jm
latvia: fall.in.lv
moldova: john.doe.md medical doctor, duh
maldives: d.mv
ober.kam.pf could be for the new flickr gallery thingy
pakistan is for gamers too: fags.who.pk
pitcairn island more fun for gamers at i.pn (short of pwn)
palau is for when you lose.your.pw
chad is a place where you'll never get an s.td
gamers and more gamers in French Southern Territories love to play.c.tf
i hear you can get good plas.tk in tokelau
Dude, I'd love to take a hike in your mind for a couple of weeks and grab some ideas ;-)
This really is a superb post!
Heh thank you BOK :)
Registering Non Dot Com Domain Names
Forget the old .com ! Suggestions for a new type of domains : from .ac to .zw…
so cool
Just a note about .pt TLD: you must own a company or trademark with a name which is coherent with the domain name. Therefore, to own those .pt suggestions, one had to be the owner of a company called "SCRI, Ltd." or something. It is, though, still available, so there is still the chance that some company is founded in order to sell "scri.pt" hosting… ;)
Non Dot Com Cool Domain Names
Non Dot Com Cool Domain Names…
Non Dot Com Cool Domain Names
Here are 249 suggestions for your next site or weblog domain, from .ac to .zw!
Again another Usefull Article here ;)
I am reading Pages !
Nice adn interesting to read :D
Oh, pretty good list! However another drawback for therse domain are prices… just check the price of the Spanish .es and you fall backwards.
Yes, I've checked a few registrar from time to time and some TLD are just ridiculously expensive, or too strict on their policy (must own a company in the country or stuff like that)
Too bad :)
.be from belgium, another word can be: tu.be :)
Cool Domain Names
These are very interesting
Yeah echa, there in fact used to be a famous Belgian chat server called chat.to.be (now place.to.be), and I'm talking +- 1995 here.
Jeeeezzz
Great lists… great names… funny too!
This will be the new naming era.
how cool is it?!?!
Domain hunting: 220,000+ domain ideas
Yes, you've read it right – I am about to give you more than 220,000 ideas for domain names. And no secrets too…
I stumbled upon this blog entry, which talks about del.icio.us and how the domain name was a part of the success of that site…
.bw (Botswana) : alot.of.bw for bandwidth providers ?
.dk (Denmarkà : je.bois.du.dk
[…] in fact im so bored ill give you a link. crazy cool dot coms […]
Check out this search: domainhacks
Check it out: wikipedia domain hack (Ozh, I've been meaning to private email you, but I have found no email.)
Thanks for the link on wikipedia Matthew, actually I've just found it earlier today when checking my logs. And thanks for the info about your search engine, it's really cool ! Too bad I didn't know about it when I wrote this article, it would have saved me a few hours for sure :)
(as for my email, it's right under every post title, but I'm going to add it into the About page, maybe it's not visible enough :)
Ah, I see your email now! :) I knew it was here somewhere. Usually I view source and search "@", but your blog commenting satisfied me enough I guess. Cool article, if I have not said so already. Thanks for updating the wiki page, too.
di.ge.st
unfortuneatly ge.st costs 999EUR for two years!!! bu you could get d.ige.st, not as good.
Ozh, similar to Leonid's effort, I made a suggestion tool using the Moby List. I added different filtering methods to help users search through the massive number of results (over 300,000). The more common words are also highlighted to ease the search effort further. (Perhaps you'd like to take a look and fill in some of the gaps you have in your list?)
http://www.xona.com/domainhacks/suggestions/
[…] You can find inspirations on how to use 249 alternative domain names on Ozh blog
Maybe I missed it but you left out ".us", under which my domain falls "prete.ntio.us"!
You missed it :)
[…] At the very least, this bookmarking site has taught us that even if all the cool domain names are taken, an exercise in creativity can bag even cooler ones. […]
[…] Her er en gut som har gjort et forsøg pÃ¥ at finde alternative navne til samtlige 249 tld'er. Men for Danmark kunne han ikke finde et. […]
[…] Non Dot Com Cool Domain Names […]
I was going to register pl.ug (so my site would be un.pl.ug), but 2 letter domain names (the pl part) aren't allowed. Unpl.ug was registered, and it also costs me $60 ish for 2 years.
I'll be going with a .com >_
1. thanks for the great info (that should be 1, sorry)2. consider also the ease of input on a cel phone key pad. you know, how 1 push for a, d g… 2 pushes for b, e, h …did you know you can spell pajama with only 6 pushes!?
3. all porn sites should be required to use .cum
How do you like pea.gs ;) Scroll to the bottom for the definition!
hi this is spambot.
your simple question of 10 + 7 is not gonna stop me from spamming.
——–
Actually wanted to tell that it is actually impossible to get a registration für .tr TLDs with something like feeds.tr, fri.ends.tr or re.gis.tr. Since only registrations like .org.tr, .com.tr, .k12.tr, etc. are accepted. Just like UK will only give away .me.uk, .co.uk or .org.uk. ..
i've got options:
>CY13.ORG / cyl3.org : a l33t domain hack!
>pl.usmin.us/zero : also min.usmin.us, or possible roman characters from asterix comics… urs.usmin.us etc
Another barrier to some of these, besides cost and requiring a local presence, is the lack of top-level names. Some countries, such as Australia, only allow .com.au – there's no .au available.
What about mmor.pg? [LOL]
Sadly the PNG authorities say that in most cases the domain name must resemble the company name.
For .pt, to register directly at second-level requires forking over an extra €100 once to trademark the name; .com.pt is available to anyone.
Minimum length varies widely; many places have a three-character minimum or charge a hefty premium for the shortest names. The CoCCA.cx domains are minimum two-characters, as is .lv and .gs, but don't bother trying to get ca.ca in Canada as that registration merely craps out. An individual Unicode character as a name works in some places and not others; .com will let you register anything but many of the best picks are taken.
The situation with Spanish .es is unfortunate; there are many words that pluralise with -es terminations but it looks like the linkspammers have registered most of the English-language dictionary there already and posted one page of useless pay-per-click advertising on each name.
Pity there's no second-level .Au available, it would be gold. :)
Looks like mmor.pg is a no-go, as according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.pg these require local presence for Papua New Guinea and registrations are third-level beneath .com.pg, .net.pg, .ac.pg, .gov.pg, .mil.pg, and .org.pg.
Maybe you should tack an -s onto the end of that, which would land you in some completely different country. :)
[…] of my most popular entries here is Non .com Cool Domain Names, where I go through 249 top level domains (from .ac to .zw) to suggest fun or interesting […]
I've got a page just for this (Delicious Domain Names)
I'm right there with you buddy!
I love playing with words and have also come up with some really cool domain names. Some have the coveted dotcom extension, others use various other extensions that make the result into a real word, like
computerpho.be
jetl.ag
dropf.at
I've heard this called hacking, but don't really understand what the problem is. All the above site have some pretty good traffic stats.
Check out my website where you'll find some other top notch domain names for sale, you can list your own domain names for sale, and pick up my free Special Report "How To Turn Domain Names Into Dollars"
Thought of this back in mid-nineties when I was registering my first domain. Ones I thought of then were:
fish.net
torn-fish.net
butterfly.net
full-butterfly.net
hair.net
gar.net <- semi-precious stone
You forgot the Cook Islands: .co.ck
E.g. monster.co.ck, a recruitment company :-)