# Minimum Length for Domain Name



## Lulu01

Hi

I have read online that the minimum length is 2 characters, eg xx.co.uk. However, when I check whether a two character domain is available, I keep getting advised that the name is invalid.

I have tried various two character names out of interest and get the same message for each, on a variety of domain websites.

Can I get round this and, if so, how?

Many thanks.


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## cwwozniak

A company called Nominet (http://www.nic.uk/) is responsible for registering all domain names ending in .uk, including .co.uk.

Here is some information from their rules page:


> 5.2 The Third Level Domain may only contain the following thirty-seven characters ("Characters") or a combination thereof:
> 
> -- 5.2.1 the twenty-six unaccented Roman letters (i.e. a-z inclusive);
> 
> -- 5.2.2 the ten western digits (i.e. 0-9 inclusive); and
> 
> -- 5.2.3 hyphens.
> 
> *5.6 *For the SLDs co.uk, me.uk, org.uk, and net.uk, a Third Level Domain may not consist of only two letters. For example, an application to register ie.co.uk, -a.co.uk or e-.co.uk would be rejected. For the avoidance of doubt Third Level Domains containing a letter and a number or two numbers are permitted thus 2a.co.uk, a2.co.uk, or 22.co.uk are acceptable.
> 
> *5.7 *Until further notice, the Domain Name (e.g. internet.co.uk) may not be more than sixty-four Characters long in total, including the SLD and TLD. We intend to allow longer domain names, where the third level domain has a maximum of 63 Characters. This change will be brought in when possible and the amended limit shall take effect when announced on Nominet's website.


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## Lulu01

Thanks, Chuck. Much appreciated.


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## cwwozniak

You're welcome.

You can mark this topic as being solved if you have figured out a domain name you can use.


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## etaf

i noticed a lot of the domain provides do not allow you to search for 2 letter names


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## Lulu01

It's solved in the sense that I shall probably go for another name. However, purely by coincidence, I was looking at a currency converter site last night called xe.com. I'm guessing that this means that different internet registry providers have different 'rules'. So, for example, if I wanted to call my site xx.org that might be possible (if the name was not already taken)?


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## etaf

theres quite a few around
BT
IT
FT 
HP

so you can have 2 letter names,have a read here - two letter names are reserved http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single-letter_second-level_domain


> Two-letter domain names
> 
> Two-letter domain names are also reserved to prevent confusion with country-codes. However, since this restriction was enacted long after domain names became popular, there are many existing registrations in the original top-level domains. In most of the new TLDs such as info, two-letter domains are not available. Several notable examples are un.org (United Nations), db.com (Deutsche Bank), ba.com (British Airways), bn.com (Barnes & Noble), bt.com (British Telecom), dj.com (Dow Jones & Company), lg.com (LG Group), st.com (STMicroelectronics), ca.com (CA, Inc), pg.com (Procter & Gamble), ti.com (Texas Instruments) ni.com (National Instruments) ge.com (General Electric) , sf.net (SourceForge.net), hp.com (Hewlett-Packard), ea.com (Electronic Arts), gm.com (General Motors), aa.com (American Airlines), 3i.com (3i Group), ae.com (American Eagle Outfitters), ms.com (Morgan Stanley), vk.com (VK.com), gs.com (Goldman Sachs), dq.com (Dairy Queen), and dq.ca (Dairy Queen).
> In some new TLDs, special exceptions were made to permit two-letter domains for particular purposes; for instance, in the aero domain the domains are reserved for airlines identified by their two-letter codes, such as aa.aero for American Airlines.


give nominet a call http://www.nic.uk/about/contact/


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## Lulu01

Thanks, etaf. It seems that .com allows for 2 character names, and one or two others, but not .co.uk. I was going to go with .org, but the 2 character name I had in mind is already in use (


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