Shorter, smarter, and so British. What are we talking about?
This summer, another significant event occurred in the domain world, comparable to the launch of the New gTLD: for the first time in the history of the UK, free registration of second-level domains in .UK was opened.
Nominet, the administrator of the British domain, announced this on June 10, 2014, and within the first 24 hours of its launch, more than 50,000 .UK domains were registered.
Throughout the history of the .UK domain, only third-level domains have been registered in the United Kingdom—.CO.UK, .ORG.UK, .ME.UK, .NET.UK, and others. However, this hasn't stopped the domain from becoming one of the four most popular domains in the world, and ranking second among all national domains.
The most popular domain was .CO.UK, non-profit organizations mostly registered .ORG.UK, and for personal purposes, a blog or website, people created a .ME.UK domain.
How was the .UK domain launched?
Shortly before the official opening of .UK domain registrations, Nominet placed a giant banner with the inscription "welcometothe.uk" on the lawn near London Heathrow Airport. This message was visible to everyone landing or departing from London.
Ten years ago, renowned actor, writer, and comedian Stephen Fry criticized the British domain registration policy, saying he couldn't understand how the British had offended the internet so much. After all, the French, Germans, and Italians had long been using their national domains without issue. So, in protest, he registered his blog under the .COM domain.
And on June 10, 2014, Stephen Fry became the first person to register the .UK second-level domain. "If I do the math, I wasted hours typing three extra keystrokes that I could have avoided when typing .CO.UK. Well, that's over. .UK is finally here!" Stephen said that day.
Rumor has it that even Prince Charles is considering changing princeofwales.gov.uk to princeofwales.uk. A great way for the British to stand out, right? :)
Who can register a .UK domain?
For all existing .CO.UK, .ORG.UK, .ME.UK, .NET.UK, .PLC.UK and .LTD.UK domains, the .UK domains of the same name are reserved until June 10, 2019. This means that the owners of such domains have priority rights to register a British second-level domain with the same name.
In addition, if existing domains .CO.UK, .ORG.UK, .ME.UK have the same name, then the first priority for registering this name in .UK remains with the .CO.UK domain, the second - with .ORG.UK, and the third - with .ME.UK.
In other cases, if the domain is available, you can safely register it for yourself, your project, or your company. The only requirement is that you must provide a valid address for an individual or legal entity in the UK.
Next generation domains as an alternative
If you want to show your warm feelings towards the UK, but for some reason cannot register a .UK domain, use the new domains.
For example, the website addresses black.cab, british.holiday, england.today, or british.voyage are all excellent ways to highlight your connection to this wonderful country with its traditions, love of tea, and changeable weather.
Fantasize andRegister new domains →
