Approved .GOV.UK Registrar
We are an approved registrar for .gov.uk domains which is operated by Nominet on behalf of the Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO), a part of the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology.
We can advise and register your .gov.uk domain on behalf of your Community, Parish or Town Council.
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
- use the full name of your organisation, government initiative or an appropriate suffix or abbreviation
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
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 gov.uk domain names
- A central department can use hmrc.gov.uk
- A county council can use northamptonshire.gov.uk or northyorks.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