A domain name has a number of components.
For example, this domain name:
www.address.com.cn
has the following components:
www indicates it is a worldwide web address
address is the domain name that you register
com indicates the category of domain name you have registered, and is called a top level domain name
cn indicates the country of origin (also known as a country code top-level domain), namely Mainland China in this example.
Other top level domain names include:
- biz indicates a business
- edu indicates an educational institution
- gov indicates a government department
- org indicates a non-profit organisation
In Hong Kong it is not unusual for a domain name to be registered without any top level domain name. In that case, the domain name could be registered as:
-
www.address.hk
It is not necessary for every domain name to indicate the country of origin. Domain names that originate in the United States do not have a country of origin component in the domain name.
The following domain name for example does not show a country of origin:
-
www.address.com
Anyone can register a domain name without a country of origin, not just applicants in the United States.