---
title: "What Is a Domain Name and How Do You Get One?"
description: "A domain name is the address people type to reach a site, such as example.com. How its parts work with DNS, how to check if one is free and how to register it."
url: https://proxynet.io/blog/what-is-a-domain-name
date: 2026-11-15
author: "Acar Diveroli"
category: "Proxies"
lang: en
---

# What Is a Domain Name and How Do You Get One?

You are setting up a website for a small business, and the first form asks which domain you want. Or a supplier writes from an address that ends in its own company name rather than a free mail service, and you wonder how they got it. Both lead to the domain name: the address people type into the browser and the part after the @ in an email address.

This post explains what a domain name is, how its parts are read, how it connects to DNS, and how to check whether a name is free and register it. It also covers renewal and expiry, the difference between a domain, a URL and hosting, and who looks up the name when you connect through a proxy.

> **Note: Short answer**
>
> A domain name is the human-readable address of a website or email service, such as `example.com`, that DNS translates into the numeric IP address of a server. It is read from right to left: the top-level domain (`com`), the name someone registered (`example`) and any subdomains they create (`shop.example.com`). You do not buy a domain outright; you register it through an accredited registrar, usually for one to ten years at a time, and renew it before it expires. To see whether a name is free, search for it at a registrar or look it up in ICANN Lookup.

## What is a domain name?

A domain name is a registered, human-readable name that points to the servers behind a website, an email service or both. Computers find each other by **IP address**, a number such as `192.0.2.10` that identifies a device on the internet. A domain name gives that number a name people can remember and type.

Domain names live in the Domain Name System (DNS), which [RFC 1034](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1034) describes as a tree: an unnamed root at the top, endings such as `com` below it and registered names below those. Each part between the dots is a label of up to 63 characters, and a whole name may run to 255. Capital letters make no difference, so `Example.COM` and `example.com` are the same name.

The name also separates the address from the machine: a site can move to another server while visitors keep typing the same name, and only the record behind it changes.

## What are the parts of a domain name?

A domain name is read from right to left, from the most general part to the most specific, with a dot between the parts.

| Part | In `shop.example.com` | Who decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Root | An invisible dot after `com` | IANA, for the whole internet |
| Top-level domain (TLD) | `com` | The registry that runs the ending |
| Second-level domain | `example` | You, when you register it |
| Subdomain | `shop` | You, in your DNS settings, at no cost |

The **registrable part**, the name you actually register, is the second-level name together with its ending: `example.com`. Some country endings add a level of their own, as in `example.co.uk` or `example.com.tr`, and there the registrable part is all three labels. Everything to the left of it is a subdomain the holder creates without asking anyone, which is why `www.example.com`, `mail.example.com` and `shop.example.com` all belong to whoever holds `example.com`.

A label may contain letters, digits and hyphens but cannot start or end with a hyphen. Names with accented or non-Latin letters are stored in an ASCII form that begins with `xn--`, called punycode.

## What is the difference between a gTLD and a ccTLD?

A gTLD (generic top-level domain) is an ending not tied to a country, such as `.com`, `.org` or `.shop`. A ccTLD (country-code top-level domain) is a two-letter ending for a country or territory, such as `.de`, `.jp` or `.tr`, taken from the ISO 3166-1 list of country codes. The [IANA Top-Level Domain Registry](https://www.iana.org/domains/root/db), the official list of every ending in the DNS root, showed 1,436 active top-level domains on 15 November 2026: 1,126 generic, 309 country-code and `.arpa`, which is kept for internet infrastructure.

| Type | Examples | Who can register |
|---|---|---|
| Generic (gTLD) | `.com`, `.net`, `.org`, `.shop` | Usually anyone |
| Restricted generic | `.gov`, `.edu`, `.int` | Eligible bodies only |
| Country code (ccTLD) | `.uk`, `.de`, `.jp`, `.tr` | Set by each country's registry |
| Special use | `.example`, `.test`, `.localhost` | Nobody; reserved |

Generic endings follow ICANN's rules, so renewal and expiry work the same way at every registrar. Country endings follow their own registry's rules, and some accept only local residents or companies. `.eu`, for example, is open only to citizens, residents and organisations of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

Special-use names cannot be registered at all. The `.example` ending, and the name `example.com` that IANA holds, are reserved for documentation; that is why this post uses them.

## How does a domain name work with DNS?

Registering a domain adds it to its ending's zone with a pointer to your name servers; those servers hold the records that tell visitors where your website and email live.

1. **You register `example.com`** and name its name servers, the DNS servers that will answer for the domain. Registrars and hosting plans usually fill in their own by default.
1. **The registry adds a delegation** to the `.com` zone: for `example.com`, ask these name servers.
1. **Your name servers hold the records.** An A record gives the website's IPv4 address, an AAAA record its IPv6 address and an MX record the server that receives the domain's email.
1. **A visitor types `example.com`.** Their DNS resolver asks a root server, then the `.com` servers, which send it on to your name servers.
1. **Your name servers answer** with the address, and the browser connects to the server behind it.

Changes to a record do not reach everyone at once, because resolvers keep each answer for the time to live (TTL) set on the record. How the lookup itself runs, and how to change the DNS server your own device uses, is covered in [What Is DNS?](/blog/what-is-dns)

## How do you check if a domain name is available?

The quickest check is the search box on a registrar's website, which tells you whether a name is free under the endings it sells. To see who holds a taken name and until when, use [ICANN Lookup](https://lookup.icann.org/), ICANN's free tool that reads registration data straight from the registry and the registrar.

ICANN Lookup uses RDAP (Registration Data Access Protocol), the successor to the older WHOIS service and, since 28 January 2025, the official source of registration data for generic endings. We sent the same kind of query to the `.com` registry's RDAP server from our test PC: `example.com` came back registered on 14 August 1995, with its expiry date, its registrar and status codes such as `client transfer prohibited`, which blocks a move to another registrar. A made-up name that nobody had registered returned HTTP 404, not found.

Personal details are usually hidden: since data-protection laws such as the EU's GDPR, the public record shows the registrar, the dates and the status, but rarely the holder's name or address. A missing record is still no guarantee that you can register the name:

- **Reserved and premium names.** Registries hold some names back or sell them at a higher price; a registrar's search shows this.
- **Country endings.** Many country registries run their own lookup on their website.
- **Recently expired names.** A name in its grace period shows as registered for weeks before it is released.

## How do you register a domain name?

You register a domain through a registrar, a company accredited by ICANN or by a country registry to sell names under an ending; hosting companies and website builders often act as resellers for one. ICANN's guide to the registration process counts more than 2,000 accredited registrars.

1. **Pick the name.** Short, easy to spell when heard, without hyphens or digits that people forget, and not a copy of someone else's trademark.
1. **Pick the ending.** `.com` is the one many people type by habit; a country ending tells visitors where you work, but read its eligibility rules first.
1. **Search at a registrar** and compare the renewal price as well as the first-year price, which is often discounted.
1. **Enter accurate contact details.** ICANN's guide lists a name, postal address, email address and phone number; renewal reminders and transfer approvals go to that email.
1. **Choose the term and auto-renew.** Generic endings can be registered for one to ten years at a time; auto-renew prevents an accidental expiry while the payment method stays valid.
1. **Turn on privacy if offered.** A privacy service shows forwarding contact details instead of yours in the public record.
1. **Point the domain at your services.** Keep the registrar's name servers or enter your hosting provider's, then add the records for the website and email.

Register the domain in your own or your company's account, even when a web designer does the work. The registrant, the person or organisation named in the record, holds the rights to the name and is the one who can renew it or move it.

## What happens when a domain name expires?

An expired domain stops working first and is later released for anyone to register. For generic endings, the sequence follows ICANN's [renewal and expiration rules](https://www.icann.org/resources/pages/domain-name-renewal-expiration-faqs-2018-12-07-en):

1. **Reminders:** the registrar emails the registrant about a month and about a week before the expiry date, and once more within five days after it.
1. **Expiry:** the registrar has to interrupt the name before deleting it, so the website and email go dark; any page it shows instead must say that the registration has expired.
1. **Grace period:** some registrars still accept a late renewal for up to 45 days, often for an extra fee.
1. **Redemption:** after the registrar deletes the name, the registrant can restore it within 30 days, usually for a higher fee.
1. **Release:** five days after that, the registry frees the name, and the first person to register it gets it.

The risk does not end with a dark website. Whoever registers the name next receives the email sent to your old addresses and decides what the links still pointing to it show. Keep the contact email on a different domain from the one you are renewing, because reminders sent to `info@example.com` stop arriving once `example.com` stops resolving.

## What is the difference between a domain name, a URL and web hosting?

A domain name is only the name; a URL is the full address of one page or file, and web hosting is the server that stores the site.

| Term | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Domain name | The registered name | `example.com` |
| URL | The full address of one resource | `https://shop.example.com/cart` |
| Web hosting | Server space that holds the site | A rented server |
| IP address | The number the name resolves to | `192.0.2.10` |

You can hold a domain with no website on it, and a website can live at an address without a domain of its own, such as a subdomain of a website builder. The registrar and the hosting company can be the same firm or two different ones; the domain only has to point to the server. What a hosting plan includes and how to choose one is explained in [What Is Web Hosting?](/blog/what-is-web-hosting)

## What is a lookalike domain?

A lookalike domain is a name registered one typo or one similar-looking character away from a real one, such as `exarnple.com` with `rn` in place of `m`, so that people who mistype or skim land on a site the real owner does not control. The practice is called typosquatting, and it often carries phishing pages and fake invoices. Read the registrable part of an address letter by letter before you sign in or pay; the variants and how brands defend against them are in [What Is Typosquatting?](/blog/typosquatting)

## Who resolves the domain name when you use a proxy?

When you use a proxy, the domain name can be looked up by the proxy instead of your device, depending on the protocol and the app. A **proxy** is a server that connects to websites for you, so they see its IP address instead of yours.

With an HTTP or HTTPS proxy, the browser hands the proxy the name and the proxy does the lookup. With SOCKS5, the app decides. In curl, a proxy address that starts with `socks5://` makes curl look up the name itself and send the proxy an IP address, while `socks5h://` passes the name on. A small SOCKS5 test server on our PC confirmed it: `socks5://` delivered an IP address, `socks5h://` the name `example.com`.

The difference matters for two reasons. A lookup made on your side goes through your own network, so your internet provider's resolver still sees each name you visit. And large sites answer DNS queries with a server near whoever asked, so a lookup made at home can send a request leaving a proxy in another country to a server picked for your own location. If you route an app through our [SOCKS5 Proxy](https://proxynet.io/socks5-proxy), check which of the two forms it uses, because that decides where the lookup happens.

## Where do you see domain names?

- In the browser's address bar, between `https://` and the first `/`.
- After the @ in an email address, such as `name@example.com`.
- In the certificate behind the padlock, which is issued for specific domain names.
- In links inside messages, where the domain shows who really runs the page.
- In app and router settings that ask for a hostname or server address.

## Common mistakes

- **Registering the domain in someone else's account.** A designer or former employee who holds it can let it lapse or keep it.
- **Using an address at the same domain as the contact email.** Reminders stop arriving once the domain stops resolving.
- **Comparing only first-year prices.** The renewal price is what you pay every year after.
- **Letting the card on file expire.** Auto-renew fails quietly, and the domain expires with it.
- **Choosing a name that is hard to say aloud.** Hyphens, digits and doubled letters get mistyped.
- **Deleting old records when moving to new hosting.** Email stops when its MX record goes with the website.

## Decision guide

| Your need | What to do |
|---|---|
| Check whether a name is free | Search at a registrar; ICANN Lookup for who holds a taken name |
| Customers in many countries | A generic ending such as `.com` |
| A business serving one country | That country's ending, if you meet its rules |
| Your first choice is taken | Another ending or a short variation of the name |
| Keep the domain for years | Auto-renew, a valid card and a contact email on another domain |
| Email at your own name | The domain plus MX records from your email provider |
| Lookups through a SOCKS5 proxy | `socks5h://` or the app's remote DNS option |

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I buy a domain name forever?

No. A registration gives you the right to use the name for the period you paid for, up to ten years at a time for generic endings. There is no one-off purchase, but a name you renew on time stays with you for as long as you keep renewing it.

### What is a TLD?

A TLD (top-level domain) is the last part of a domain name, after the final dot: `com` in `example.com`, `uk` in `example.co.uk`. Each one is run by a registry and listed in IANA's root zone, which held 1,436 active endings on 15 November 2026.

### Is a domain name the same as a website?

No. The domain is the name; the website is the set of pages stored on a server, usually at a hosting company. A domain can exist without a website, for example to protect a brand or to receive email.

### Is a domain name case sensitive?

No. DNS compares names without regard to case, so `EXAMPLE.com` and `example.com` reach the same place. The part of a URL after the domain, the path, can be case sensitive on some servers.

### How do I find out who owns a domain name?

Look the name up in ICANN Lookup, or in the country registry's own lookup for a country ending. You will see the registrar, the dates and the status; the holder's name and contact details are usually hidden, and many registrars offer a contact form or forwarding address instead.

### Can I get a domain name for free?

Rarely as a registration of your own. Some hosting plans include a domain for the first year and charge for renewals; website builders offer a free subdomain of their own domain, which stays theirs. For a name you control, register it in your own account.

## Summary

A domain name is the registered, human-readable address of your website and email, read from right to left: the ending, the registered name, then any subdomains. DNS turns it into server addresses through the name servers the registry points to. You check a name at a registrar or in ICANN Lookup, register it with accurate contact details and keep it by renewing on time. If your work involves connecting from other countries and you want the name lookup to happen there too, see our [proxy services](/proxy).