.name Domain: The 2001 Ending Built for Personal Names
.name entered the root zone on 17 August 2001 and is among the oldest extensions in this catalogue. The ICANN agreement in force is dated 1 December 2012, and the contracting party according to the IANA record is VeriSign Information Services, Inc. The extension has been reserved for personal names from the outset, and an appendix to the agreement sets out in detail what that means.
That appendix keeps the notion of a personal name broad: a legal name, a name by which the person is commonly known such as a nickname, a pen name or a stage name, a number by which a person identifies themselves, and other personal identifiers such as a screen name. The extension also permits third-level registrations and defensive registrations. Try candidates on the .name domain search screen, and see the .mobi page for another survivor of the same era.
The appendix ties registration to three categories: a person's own personal name; the personal name of a fictional character where the applicant holds trademark or service mark rights in it; and forms with digits added at the start, inside or at the end to distinguish one person from another. The same appendix then says it plainly: the registry will not review, monitor or otherwise verify eligibility. Enforcement runs only on third-party challenge, through the eligibility and trademark dispute procedures. A successful challenger who meets the requirements can have the name transferred; one who does not is instead offered a defensive registration blocking it.
.NAME Domain at a Glance
- Registry operator VeriSign Information Services, Inc.
- Root zone entry 17 August 2001
- Registration forms Second and third level, plus defensive registrations
- Eligibility A personal name rule applies; the registry does not verify it
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .name domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.name 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
$10.22 /year -
Transfer
$10.19 /year -
Renewal
$10.99 /year -
Restore
$153.00 -
Late Renewal
$2.20
Included With Every .name 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.
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Free WHOIS privacy
Your name, address and phone stay out of public WHOIS records, which cuts down spam and scam calls.
.name Domain Lifecycle
What happens day by day after it expires
Day 0 is the domain's expiry dateIn short: your .name 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 .name 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 .name 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 $2.20 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 .name 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
.name Domain Specifications and Registration Rules
Registration conditions, supported features and the registry's own timelines in a single table.
.name Domain Registration
- Document Requirement No documents are required to register a .name domain
- Character Length 3 - 63 characters
- Registration Period 1 - 10 years
- Name Server Count 1 - 13 servers
.name Domain Support
- IDN Support Yes
- Transfer Support Yes
- Late Renewal Support Yes
Frequently Asked Questions About .name Domains
The questions people actually ask before registering — answered plainly.
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The extension accepts registrations at the second level as name.name and at the third level as first.last.name. That means you can hold an address under a surname even when the surname itself belongs to someone else. Which forms are actually offered varies by registrar. Check a name's status on the .name search page.
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Yes. The agreement's appendix does not confine a personal name to the legal name; a name by which the person is commonly known is covered too, and the text gives a nickname, a pen name and a stage name as examples. A number by which a person identifies themselves and other personal identifiers such as a screen name are listed as well. Adding digits to distinguish one person from another is expressly permitted.
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Only if you hold trademark or service mark rights in that name. The appendix defines this category separately and states the rights condition explicitly; an application without those rights can be met with an eligibility challenge. Where you hold no such rights, choosing a form of your own name is both compliant and easier to defend.
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Two challenge routes exist. If the registration does not meet the eligibility rule, the eligibility dispute procedure applies; win it while meeting the requirements yourself and the name is transferred to you, or if you do not meet them, you gain the right to a defensive registration blocking it. If the name infringes your trademark, the trademark dispute procedure applies instead. Start by seeing who holds it via whois search.
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Yes, the extension follows gTLD transfer rules. Obtain the authorisation code, lift the transfer lock and start the request at the new provider. On names held for a long time the contact details are often stale and the authorisation code goes to that very address, so update the email record before you begin. Run it from the domain transfer page.
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A personal page is a small site, and the gain comes from restraint. A single page with a short biography, a way to reach you and links to your work covers most cases and brings the maintenance cost close to zero. Do not skip serving the address over HTTPS: compare certificate options on the SSL certificate page and environments on the hosting page.
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