.cymru Domains: Wales Under Its Own Welsh Name
.cymru entered the root zone on 31 July 2014, and the IANA record names Nominet UK as the sponsoring organisation. Cymru is the Welsh name for Wales, so the ending carries a choice of language as much as a place. The nTLDstats page accessed on 11 August 2026 shows 10,878 names in the zone, of which 8,633 appear in the zone file.
Despite carrying a place name, this zone asks nothing about where you live. So the rule reads — if you address a Welsh-speaking audience, trade in the country or want to be read as Welsh, the address states that outright. If you simply want a short name without making a claim of belonging, this is the wrong shelf; visitors arrive expecting a connection. Try candidates with a domain name search.
The registration policy Nominet publishes for .cymru and .wales, in its version of 20 March 2024, runs to three sections only: an introduction, the registry's expectations, and how to report abuse. The document sets out no residence, trading or Welsh-connection requirement at all; the grounds the registry lists are confined to unlawful use, inaccurate registrant data and comparable abuse. The address therefore makes a cultural association rather than opening a legal gate. What that means for you: registering is easy, but readers expect the content to live up to the association.
.CYMRU Domain at a Glance
- Sponsoring organisation Nominet UK
- Root zone record 31 July 2014
- Eligibility condition Not defined in the registration policy
- Meaning of the name Cymru is Welsh for Wales
- Registered names 10,878 (nTLDstats, 11 August 2026)
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .cymru domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.cymru Domain Prices — No Surprise Fees
Registration, transfer and renewal fees are listed separately. The renewal price can differ from the first-year price, so you see both up front.
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New Registration
$19.90 /year -
Transfer
$19.99 /year -
Renewal
$21.99 /year -
Restore
$44.16 -
Late Renewal
$4.40
Included With Every .cymru Domain
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Free DNS management
Change A, MX, TXT and CNAME records yourself from the panel — no waiting on anyone when you move a site or mailbox.
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Domain lock
While the lock is on, nobody can move your domain to another registrar without your approval.
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Domain forwarding
Point the domain at your existing site, a campaign page or a social profile — at no extra cost.
.cymru Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .cymru domain is put on Client Hold on its expiry date, so the site and e-mail stop that same day. You can still renew during the first 20 days, but from this point a late renewal fee is added on top of the renewal price. On day 20 the registration is deleted and until day 50 only a paid restore brings it back. Nothing at all can be done in the 5 days that follow, and on day 55 the name is open to anyone. There is exactly one way never to enter this chain: keep auto-renewal on.
Domain Is Available (Available)
A .cymru address at this stage has not been taken yet, and it goes to whoever registers first. Check the name you have in mind — if it is free, it can be yours within minutes.
Domain Is Active (Active Period)
Once registration is complete, the domain is registered to you for the term you selected. You can renew at any point before it expires to keep it active, or switch on auto-renewal so you never have to watch the date.
Renewal Window (Client Hold)
On its expiry date your .cymru domain is put on Client Hold: the site and e-mail go down that day, but the registration is still yours. A single renewal within these first 20 days brings everything back exactly as it was — nothing is lost. The only difference is that a $4.40 late renewal fee is now added to the renewal price; renewing before the expiry date avoids that fee entirely.
Redemption Period (Redemption / RGP)
On day 20 the registration is deleted and the 30-day redemption period that ICANN requires of every gTLD registry begins. The name is not released to anyone during this time; only you can take it back, by paying the restore fee, until day 50. That fee is far higher than a renewal — renewing on time is always the cheaper route.
Pending Delete (Pending Delete)
Once the redemption window closes too, the domain enters its final 5 days and there is no way back. Neither renewal nor restore works here; nobody — your registrar included — can return the name to you. The registry uses this window as the last hold before the name goes back into the pool.
Open to Anyone Again (Released)
On day 55 the name .cymru returns to the pool and anyone can register it. Sought-after names are often gone within seconds, and there is no guaranteed way to get one back. Yet staying out of this timeline is entirely in your hands: leave auto-renewal on and the expiry date will never catch you off guard.
The timeline above is the schedule Atak Domain applies and publishes. The ICANN chart you will find elsewhere shows a renewal window of up to 45 days after expiry; ICANN's policy on expired registrations (section 2.2.1) lets registrars delete an expired domain at any time, provided they disclose their policy in advance. We apply that window as 20 days and publish it here in plain sight. Full text of the policy: ICANN Expired Registration Recovery Policy
.cymru Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.cymru Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .cymru domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 2 - 10 servers
.cymru Domain Support
- IDN Support No
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .cymru Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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No — the registration policy defines no residence or connection requirement.
Nominet's document of 20 March 2024 governs only abuse and the accuracy of registrant data. Nothing in it asks you to show a Welsh address when you apply. To see whether the name you want is free, run a domain name search.
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Look at the language you speak: one name is Welsh, the other English.
The same registry runs both on identical terms, so the difference is linguistic rather than a matter of policy. If you publish in Welsh or lead with local identity, the Welsh name is the more consistent choice. Bilingual organisations often take both and redirect one to the other.
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It is not required, yet the address promises it and visitors arrive expecting it.
The registration policy sets no language condition at all, so this is a question of consistency rather than law. Running an entirely English site under a Welsh address leaves local visitors with an association that goes unanswered. Keeping at least the home and contact pages bilingual closes that gap.
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The zone holds 10,878 registrations, which counts as mid-sized, and names are not hard to find.
That figure comes from the nTLDstats page accessed on 11 August 2026, with 8,633 names published. Place names and organisation names remain widely open. To try several candidates together, use the bulk domain name search.
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Because their registries wrote different policies; being geographic imposes no restriction by itself.
.corsica requires a tie to the island, evidenced in the case of diaspora applicants. .cymru contains no such clause anywhere. A place name in an ending says nothing about whether it is restricted, so the registry's own document has to be read every time. The comparison sits on the .corsica domain page.
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Begin by getting the authorisation code from your current registrar.
The transfer lock must be open, sixty days must have passed since registration, and your administrative email address has to work. On corporate records the address is often held in an agency's name, so confirm through whois search that the record is yours, then go to the domain transfer page.
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