1. What exactly is a Domain Name?
2. Are there various types of Domain Names?
3. What are the registering rules for Domain Names?
   Registering a Domain Name
4. Pricing
5. Can I move the domain from ElectricNames?
6. Has my Domain Name already been registered?
7. Can I register more than one Domain Name?
8. How long does it take to register a domain name?

• OK, I've registered the name - now what?

  ElectricNames Support
  Resellers
  Re-delegation and Pointing
  ElectricNames - Domain Name Costings

  Domain Names within the UK

  1. Rules for co.uk domain.
  2. Rules for org.uk domain.
  3. The ac.uk domain.
  4. The gov.uk domain.
  5. The lea.sch.uk domain.
  6. The .mod.uk domain.
  7. The nhs.uk domain.
  8. Naming Administration for the .NET.UK Domain.
  9. Rules for the ltd.uk and plc.uk domains.

   

    

What exactly is a Domain Name? 

 

• Domain names are unique names used for identifying and locating computers on the Internet. They are part of a system called Domain Name System (DNS) which provides you with an easy-to-remember address. The DNS converts the domain name (e.g. electricnames.co.uk) into an Internet Protocol (IP) number (e.g.195.89.164.131) and vice versa. A domain name is simply a label that represents a domain, which is a subset of the total domain name space.

  Registering a domain name on the Internet is the equivalent of registering a company name at Companies House. Once registered, no-one else can use that name. As there are many companies with similar names, it is important to register a suitable domain name for your company as soon as possible.

  Registering a suitable domain name is advisable to ensure your clients can easily remember the address of information you provide on the Internet. Our business name is ElectricNames, our domain name is electricnames.co.uk, our web site http://www.electricnames.co.uk and our email addresses are of the form joe@electricnames.co.uk. Using domain names makes it easy for people to find you on the Internet.

  Once registered and as long as the owner pays for the NIC annual administration fees the domain name can be hosted free of charge on the ElectricNames servers until the name is used for either e-mail or a web site.

   

  Are there various types of Domain Names? 

  Yes. The differences lie in the country designation of the name (ie. <.fr>, <.nz>, <.com>, <.uk> etc) and in many cases, especially with the UK domain names, the status of that name is shown (ie. <.co>, <.ltd>, <.plc> etc). The most commonly used domain suffixes for UK businesses are .co.uk and .com. The .com is often chosen by firms with a more international presence. For example the address mycompany.ltd.uk shows the following (working from right to left):

   

  uk - Location is assumed as United Kingdom

   .ltd - The name shows a registered UK Ltd Name

   mycompany - The company, trading or personal name.

  What are the registering rules for Domain Names? 

  Different countries have different rules. See below for information on registering names in the United Kingdom.

  Registering a Domain Name. 

  This is a very quick and easy process. To register a domain name through us, simply complete the form.

•  
  • Pricing 

    In summary, we are the most competitive registrar in the UK in that we make NO REGISTRATION CHARGE for uk domains. All you pay are the yearly Nominet fees. Nominet is the central UK body that maintains the database of all domains ending in .uk. See prices page for more details.

  • Can I move my Domain Name from Electric Names? 

    We will allocate the name to the Name Servers of any Service Provider you nominate at your request and at no extra charge. However, we still remain the billing contact. If, in the case of .co.uk .org.uk .ltd.uk domains you wish to transfer the IPStag, there will be a £25 charge. If you transfer the ownership of the name to another person or organisation, we will charge £25 to cover the administration costs.

   

  • Has my Domain Name been registered? 

    Many names have already been registered. You can use our search page to check if your preferred name is still available.  
    

   

  • Can I register more than one Domain Name? 
    
    You can register an unlimited number of Domain Names in quantities of 10 per transaction.

   

  • How long does it take to register a domain name? 

    Once you have submitted your Domain Name Registration Agreement, your registration request will be processed immediately and you will be notified via e-mail when processing is complete. This generally takes less than 3 days.

     

•  

  OK, I've registered the domain. Now what? 

  As soon as the Domain Name has been cleared by NOMINET it is "delegated" the ElectricNames DNS server. This is a technical procedure which transfers the name to our servers, where it can remain indefinitely at no extra cost. Once we have received confirmation of delegation you will receive:

   

  1. An invoice for the registration.
  2. A certificate of registration for the name.

  Once the name is held on the ElectricNames server you are able to use the other facilities which we offer. Storage of the name is indefinite so that you are able to set up further facilities in your own time.

  •  

  Re-delegation and Pointing 

  Re-delegation. The Domain name is held on the ElectricNames server but is ultimately the property of the applicant. The owner / applicant is quite at liberty to move the name from ElectricNames. Please ask for a DNS change form.

  Pointing the Name. ElectricNames is able to point a DNS at another virtual server, so if you require myname.co.uk andmyname.com to go to your virtual server, this is quite possible.

   

  UK Domain Names  

  • A Commercial Zone - co.uk
  • A Zone for non-commercial organisations - org.uk
  • A Limited Company - .ltd.uk
  • A Public Limited Company - .plc.uk
  • An Academic Zone - ac.uk
  • A Governmental Zone - gov.uk
  • A Zone for Schools - lea.sch.uk
  • The Ministry of Defence - mod.uk
  • The National Health Service - nhs.uk
  • UK Internet Networks - net.uk
  • Other zones under .uk

     

  Rules for co.uk domain 

  1. Any person may own any number of names with the .co.uk suffix as long as they continue paying for the administration of the name.
  2. Names can have a minimum of three characters.
  3. Two authoritative name servers must be working such that a zone transfer be possible from each within 24 hours of the request reaching the SOA (taken care of by ElectricNames)
  4. First-come, first-served subject to above.

  Rules for org.uk domain 

  The org.uk domain is intended to be a domain for those organisations which do not satisfactorily 'fit' into any of the other sub-domains of UK. This includes:

   

  1. Charities
  2. Trades unions
  3. Political parties
  4. Community groups
  5. Educational councils
  6. Professional institutions, etc

  Rules for org.uk domain names are:

   

  1. Only 1 domain per organisation/body name.
  2. The name should reflect the name of the requesting organisation.
  3. Minimum of three characters without human intervention.
  4. At least 2 nameservers serving the name within 24 hours of the request (taken care of by ElectricNames)
  5. Subject to the above criteria, first come first served.

  The ac.uk domain 

  The .ac.uk domain is used by organisations providing education at tertiary level and above along with organisations historically associated with higher education such as the Research Councils.

   Rules for .ac.uk domains:

   1. An institution may have an entry in .ac.uk provided it satisfies at least one of the following statements.

   

  • a. A degree awarding institution.
    b. Institutions that teach at tertiary level (including sixth-form colleges) and above, i.e. do not normally accept students below the age for compulsory education.
    c. Institutions that conduct research where a reasonable proportion of the results are placed in the public domain.
    d. Learned societies.
    e. The UK further and higher education funding councils and the UK research councils.

     

  2. The method of determining what name an institution may adopt shall be.

   

  • a. No two character names.
    b. One domain per trading name of the institution will be allowed.
    c. Name requested shall reflect the legal name or trading name of the institution.
    d. The chosen name shall minimise the risk of confusion with other similarly named institutions and avoid the risk of inadvertent masquerading.
    e. First come first served subject to above.

  The gov.uk domain 

  The .gov.uk domain is used by all UK government departments (except Defence), local government bodies and associated government funded organisations. The usual rules about approval apply with the added exception that the SOA and/or its advisors may reject an application.

   Registration is limited to:

•  
  1. UK government departments.
  2. Local government bodies.
  3. Associated government funded organisations.

  The lea.sch.uk domain 

  Naming Administration for schools.

   Schools are registered using a third-level sub domain as there will be numerous cases of schools having the same name. The method used within England and Wales is to use the local education authority area as the sub domain name. For example:

   

  (School name).(Local Education Authority). sch.uk

  St-davids.bromley.sch.uk

  Scotland is undergoing a reorganisation and at present a mixture of the region names and the new local authority names is being used. In Northern Ireland it is proposed to use the names of the counties and county boroughs.

  The mod.uk domain 

  The .mod.uk domain is used by all Ministry of Defence establishments. Applications for names are approved by DRA Malvern acting on behalf of MOD. It should be noted that this domain has not been delegated.

   

  The .nhs.uk domain 

  The .nhs.uk domain is provided for National Health Service organisations.

   nhs.uk
  National Health Service.

   This is sub-domain according to the following list. Individual organisations will sit at the 4th level.

  swest.nhs.uk
  South and West Region

   sthames.nhs.uk
  South Thames Region

   nthames.nhs.uk
  North Thames Region

   anglox.nhs.uk
  Anglia and Oxford Region

   wmids.nhs.uk
  West Midlands Region

   trent.nhs.uk
  Trent Region

   northy.nhs.uk
  North and Yorkshire Region

   nwest.nhs.uk
  North West and Mersey Region

   exec.nhs.uk
  NHS Executive

   supplies.nhs.uk
  NHS Supplies

   wales.nhs.uk
  NHS in Wales

   scot.nhs.uk
  NHS in Scotland

   n-i.nhs.uk
  NHS in Northern Ireland

   nbs.nhs.uk
  National Blood Service

   dpb.nhs.uk
  Dental Practice Board

   nhscr.nhs.uk
  NHS Central Register

   nhscs.nhs.uk
  NHS Clearing Service

   ccmg.nhs.uk
  NHS Central Communications Management Group

  Naming Administration for the .NET.UK Domain 

  The <.net.uk> domain is provided as an alternative to registering in the .net domain.

   This domain is intended to hold only the computers of network providers, that is the NIC and NOC computers, the administrative computers, and the network node computers. The customers of the network provider would have domain names of their own (not in the NET TLD).

   The same rules will be applied to requests to register in .NET.UK. This means customer email address should not appear in any <.net.uk> sub-domain.

  ltd.uk and plc.uk domains 

   

   The ltd.uk and plc.uk domains are intended to allow a unique mapping between company names registered under the Companies Act with Company's House and a DNS name. Although it was envisaged by the Naming Committee that only ltd.uk was required, Nominet UK's legal advisors have said that a public limited company registering within ltd.uk would be committing a criminal offence. Therefore the additional plc.uk is required.

   Note: Within these rules all references to ltd.uk should be taken to apply equally to plc.uk.

   Note: Unlimited companies registered under the Companies Act, unincorporated bodies, partnerships and bodies incorporated under other legislation are not eligible for an entry in ltd.uk or plc.uk.

   The only characters from a registered company name allowed in a DNS name are the letters A to Z, a to z, the numbers 0 to 9 and hyphen. These will be known as the "allowable" set.

   Certain words will be removed from the registered company name before the DNS name is generated, these are known as the "reserved" words. They are "limited", "public limited company" and the Welsh Language versions along with the abbreviations of these words, e.g. ltd, plc, ccc. There are believed to be other "reserved" words such as "International".

   

  The rules are: 

  1. One name per company name registered at Company's House.
  2. The name shall correspond exactly to the registered name save for characters not in the "allowable" set which shall be interpreted as below and the "reserved" words.
  3. White space between words shall either be ignored or replaced by a single hyphen "-" (see below for how the interpretation is made).
  4. All other characters shall be removed.
  5. Company names written in a non English character set are not allowed in this version.

  Note: It is believed that these rules represent the way that Company's House interpret names in order to produce a unique match. In the event that they do not and/or that Company's House rules change in the future, the first successful applicant for a name will be assigned the name.

   There is the possibility that applications will contain characters that are treated as significant and are not in the "allowable" set.

   This version of the rules will not allow these applications to be allocated a name.

   It is envisaged that applications will be made using an automated procedure. The requester of the name will be responsible for acquiring proof of incorporation. The application must state the full name of the company as registered along with the company registration number. The automated procedure shall determine the form of the DNS name and shall delegate the name as soon as possible after application and at worst within 3 working days. ElectricNames reserves the right to check a sample or all of the requests for accuracy (before or after delegation) and, pending resolution, may remove a registration, if the rules have been violated.
  
  

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