What’s In A Domain Name?

It takes quite a few pieces of tech to create and publish a website. One of the first considerations will probably be the domain name.

Usually the domain name is your business or organization’s name. As time progresses it’s harder to get the exact name you desire. Most of the “standard” names have already been registered. The first domain name registered was Symbolics.com. It’s now sort of an online museum of early tech. It took a while to register the over 350 million domains that are registered as of today. For example in the whole month of August 1987 only 2 domain names were registered, quick.com & toad.com.

So if all of the good names are taken, what should I do? Well good news, you still have options. If your business is your name, and it’s not a common name like Jim Smith or Mark White 😉 you still have a chance. Using a combination of initials, additional words and dashes can get you pretty close to what you want. I’ve heard that most of the 2 letter domains are taken, so good luck trying to get QT.com.

In the past we only had a few Top Level Domains (TLDs) like .com, .org, and .net. TLDs are maintained by ICANN (read more about them here). Over the years more have been added like .online, .agency and .media. These can come at a higher cost. One reason? The cost to start a new TLD as of 2025 is $185,000, and it’s not a guarantee it will be approved.

So what would your domain name be for your new business?

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