Choosing a gov.uk domain name
Your proposed domain name must clearly describe your organisation or government initiative you’re providing. Think about users of the domain name and make sure the name is not too long or complicated.
Your domain name must:
- be between 3 and 63 characters long
- contain only alphanumeric characters (0-9 and a-z) and the ‘-‘ (dash) symbol
Your domain name must not:
- be the same or substantially similar to an existing .gov.uk domain name
- use ‘&’ (ampersands) or ‘_’ (underscores)
- include abbreviations like ltd, plc and gov
- include a postcode
You must use the full name of your organisation, government initiative or an appropriate suffix or abbreviation.
If you apply for an acronym, initialism, or abbreviation this must be descriptive, unique and clear to avoid user confusion. Applications for these terms will need approval from the Naming and Approvals Committee. Commonly-used abbreviations like DWP, HMRC or DVLA are acceptable as are abbreviations that are well-known to your users.
Example
A central department can use hmrc.gov.uk.
A county council can use northamptonshire.gov.uk.
A town council can use biggleswadetowncouncil.gov.uk, biggleswadetown.gov.uk or biggleswade-tc.gov.uk
A parish council can use bonbyparishcouncil.gov.uk, bonbyparish.gov.uk or bonby-pc.gov.uk.
A geographical identifier your users will recognise.
Example
northyorks.gov.uk is acceptable.
Responsibilities of gov.uk domain holders
Those wishing to register and operate a gov domain have certain responsibilities. the CDDO require that you read and subscribe for updates on the following pages.
