10 Domain Name Extensions and What They Mean

Back in the days, you had to know the IP address of a website when searching for it online. Thanks to advancement in technology, you don’t have to do that. What we have are domain names which are a group of words which represents a string of numbers (IP address). With every domain names, there is an extension which covers a specific field, industry, geographical location etc.

Different Levels of Domain Name Extensions

Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD) 

Generic-restricted top-level domain name extensions are more like the generic top-level domain names, but special proofs and documents need to be registered. Domain names like this are restricted to entities that satisfy certain conditions.

Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD)

Country code top-level domain name extensions are those that are generally used for a particular country or territory. All ccTLD’s are two letters long.

Sponsored Top-Level Domains (sTLD)

These domain name extensions are requested/sponsored by particular entities to be used by them and those people in their field.

10 Most Popular Domain Name Extensions

1. .com
2. .net
3. .biz
4. .org
5. .ng
6. .info
7. .eu
8. .gov
9. .edu
10. .za

 

   1# .com

This is a generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) and the most used around the world. Derived from the word commercial, it was originally created to be used by commercial companies, but this is no longer the case as it can be used by other ventures as well.

   2# .net

This is also a generic Top-Level Domain (gTLD) that was created for the use of Internet service providers, but just like the .com domain, people no longer care about this. Lots of ventures and entities now use these domain name which was intentionally created for network-oriented sites.

   3# .biz

Curled from the first syllable of the word business. This Generic-Restricted Top-Level Domain name extension was designed for businesses. The fact that it is restricted means some conditions needs to be met before this extension can be used has kept people from using it unnecessarily.

   4# .org

Gotten from the first three letters of the world Organization. This Domain name extension was originally created for the Non-profit organization, but just as the .com and .net extensions, it can now be used by anyone who deems it fit.

   5# .ng

This is a Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLD) for Nigeria. It is used for all website that wants be recognized with Nigeria. Country Code Top-Level Domains are always 2 words.

   6# .info

This is used as a domain name extension for information sites. .info is gotten from the first 4 letters of Information.

   7# .eu

Gotten from the abbreviation of the European Union. .eu is a Country Code Top-Level Domain used by members of the union’s member states.

   8# .gov

This Sponsored Top-Level Domains (sTLD) is derived from the word Government which means it is restricted for the use of the government and its agencies alone.

   9# .edu

This is a Sponsored Top-Level Domains (sTLD) used for institutions of higher education. eg. www.academia.edu

   10# .za

Domain name extensions like this are used in South Africa. You are thinking why it’s not .sa instead of .za? Well, it’s because Saudi Arabia already use the extension .sa. The same domain names cannot be used for 2 different reasons.

 

These are 10 of the most used domain name extensions daily. Now you understand why a domain name extension is used instead of another.