.name: ICANN's Personal Namespace That Never Scaled—and Verisign Is Ending the firstname.lastname.name Era

Open cavin.name. HTTP 200—a Swiss engineer's personal site still running on a home-grown CMS, exactly the "real name on the internet" pitch Global Name Registry sold in 2001. Open james.name. Mid-2026 DNS checks return a for-sale or parked lander—yet the old guide cited voice.name at $2,500, james.name at $1,500, and photo.name at $1,000 as NameBio comps without receipts, listed about.me as ".name adoption" (wrong suffix—about.me is Montenegro's ccTLD), and recycled AIO boilerplate about AI personal assistants "aligning with the TLD's personal nature." Same charter, opposite evidence quality. The thin daily-TLD stub this guide replaces never made that distinction. Unaudited, delete-on-sight.

The story worth telling is not "the personal branding TLD." It is how ICANN's only gTLD chartered for individuals built a third-level surname architecture (john.smith.name) that confused registrars and users— peaked at ~232K names under Verisign in 2012, shrank to ~96K by 2026—and is now entering a controlled demolition: Verisign filed 2026 RSEP requests to terminate third-level registrations and discontinue legacy tiered WHOIS unique to .name (ICANN RSEP, Apr 2026). Personal namespace, never personal default.

Two layers: "individuals only" charter vs ghost-zone reality

In IANA, .name is a restricted generic top-level domain (gTLD)—one of seven approved in ICANN's November 2000 first new-gTLD round alongside .aero, .biz, .coop, .info, .museum, and .pro (ICANN new gTLD history). Delegated 17 August 2001 (IANA .name record). Intended use: individuals registering their real names.

In 2026 user culture, .name means "I remember this existed in 2003." The suffix lost the personal-branding war to .me (~1.1M names, pronoun marketing, messenger deep links—see .me guide), link-in-bio platforms, and plain .com. .name remains the only ICANN gTLD whose charter says "individuals"—but charter text does not create traffic.

Google adds nuance, not a bonus. John Mueller's standing guidance: keywords in the TLD are not a ranking signal. A .name page ranks on content and links; the suffix does not whisper "trusted person" to the algorithm.

Who runs it: Verisign's smallest legacy sibling

Registry operator (2026): VeriSign Information Services, Inc. (Reston, Virginia)—same contracted operator as .com and .net per IANA delegation data. RDAP: https://tld-rdap.verisign.com/name/v1/. WHOIS: whois.nic.name. Registry portal: nic.name.

| Era | Operator | Notes | |-----|----------|-------| | 2000–2007 | Global Name Registry Ltd. (GNR) | UK-based; won ICANN selection for personal namespace (ICANN application summary) | | 15 Aug 2007 | GNR–Verisign deal | ICANN Unsponsored Registry Agreement signed (ICANN .name renewal comment, 2012) | | 28 Feb 2009 | Verisign | Assignment and Assumption; Verisign operates day-to-day (ICANN assignment PDF) | | 2012–present | Verisign | Registry Agreement renewals; DNSSEC, redemption grace period added via RSEP | | 2026 | Verisign | RSEP to discontinue 3LD registrations and legacy WHOIS tiers |

Verisign routes 175M+ .com/.net names and processes ~600B DNS transactions/day (Verisign registry page). .name is portfolio tail inventory—stable operator, negligible strategic attention, no Identity Digital-style wholesale hikes because Verisign already owns the contract.

The GNR architecture—and why third level never won

Global Name Registry's original design was structurally unlike any other gTLD:

Registrations were third-level only: firstname.lastname.name (e.g., john.smith.name).
GNR controlled second-level surnames (smith.name, murphy.name) and delegated only the third level—an anti-squatting bet that Smith and Li could each have personal space without one buyer owning smith.com (GNR DOC-E proposal).
A parallel email-forwarding product let users receive [email protected] without owning the second level—the registry held the DNS.
Tiered WHOIS (Summary / Detailed / Extensive) was unique to .name—password-gated contact disclosure no other TLD copied.

The model was intellectually elegant and commercially fragile. Registrar support for third-level flows was thin; users found firstname.lastname.name long and confusing compared to firstname.me. Daniel Gnoutcheff's unofficial registrar list (hosted at daniel.gnoutcheff.name) still documents the pain: many registrars sell only second level; 3LD-capable registrars are "very hard to find" (registrar list).

2009 policy shift: ICANN and Verisign amended the registry agreement to allow direct second-level registration (yourname.name) without the first.last requirement—fourteen years after launch, the original product thesis was already optional.

Zone size: ~232K peak, ~96K now—a shrinking personal TLD

| Metric | Source / date | Figure | |--------|---------------|--------| | Verisign reported DUM | ICANN public comment, Mar 2012 | 232,408 | | Monthly transaction reports | Domain Incite, 2026 | ~96,000 DUM (2LD/3LD mix undisclosed) | | Passive DNS census | tb0hdan/domains STATS, 2026 | 211,749 .name labels | | Resolving A records | bgp.he.net, Mar 2026 | 63,875 unicast | | Resolving AAAA records | bgp.he.net, Mar 2026 | 12,331 unicast | | Old guide fiction | Prior stub | No sourced volume; implied steady "niche but stable" growth — wrong direction |

Read the shrink honestly. ~232K → ~96K over fourteen years is negative brand momentum, not a sleeper pick. Passive DNS (~212K labels) exceeds registry DUM because census methodology counts historical DNS traces, not paid renewals—plan on ~96K–100K active registrations, not quarter-million folklore.

For macro TLD context, see Popular Domain Extensions in 2026.

Pricing: $6.60 wholesale, thin aftermarket

.name sits on Verisign's legacy shelf—cheaper wholesale than .com, more expensive than promo .xyz, almost no aftermarket liquidity.

| Tier | Typical range (USD, mid-2026) | |------|------------------------------| | Verisign wholesale (2LD) | $6.60/year initial and renewal (.name RRA Exhibit A, Jan 2022) | | Retail new registration (1 yr) | $7–$15 (registrar-dependent; many still list .name) | | Retail renewal (1 yr) | $10–$20 | | Transfer | $8–$15 | | Third-level / email-forward SKUs | Legacy products—Verisign RSEP seeks discontinuation (RSEP 2026013) |

Delete the old guide's unverified NameBio table (voice.name $2,500, james.name $1,500, etc.) and "$500–$10,000 aftermarket tiers" without Sedo/DNJournal receipts. Most .name sales never happen—investors should treat the suffix as end-user utility, not a flip market. Model three-year renewal at retail, not year-one promo banners. For cross-TLD economics, see How Much Do Domains Cost?.

Verified roofs—and the brochure names to delete

Skip Mad Libs (jane-photography.name, about.me as ".name proof", [email protected] without verifying the specific name resolves). These mid-2026 checks return mission-aligned personal surfaces on .name itself:

cavin.name — Personal site ("Cavin dot Name"); home-grown CSE CMS; HTTP 200. Textbook individual .name use since the GNR era.

lemire.name — Denis Lemire's personal domain; page documents second-level vs third-level .name mechanics and offers *.lemire.name subdomains to other Lemires—living documentation of the surname-controlled architecture (lemire.name).

jarekq.name — Personal site on Google Sites; explicitly asks "Why .name?" and links Wikipedia. HTTP 200.

daniel.gnoutcheff.name — Third-level registration hosting the only maintained public registrar-support list for .name—meta-infrastructure, not a consumer brand, but proof 3LD still exists pre-sunset.

nic.name — Verisign registry marketing portal (nic.name).

Counterexamples to delete: james.name, photo.name, art.name, voice.name — mid-2026 checks return parking/for-sale landers, not the "notable sales" the old guide invented. about.me — .me ccTLD, AOL-acquired profile service; zero .name involvement.

2026 sunset: third level, email forwards, tiered WHOIS

Verisign's 2026 Registry Services Evaluation Policy (RSEP) filings mark the end of the original GNR product stack:

Third-level registrations discontinued — No new firstname.lastname.name; existing 3LDs terminated after approval (RSEP 2026013, filed 15 Apr 2026). Rationale: declining usage and limited registrar support—the same registrar-list pain Gnoutcheff documented years ago.
Legacy WHOIS tiers discontinued — Summary, Detailed, and Extensive WHOIS—services no other TLD offers—superseded by Registration Data Policy / RDAP (RSEP 2026012, filed 1 Apr 2026).
Email forwarding service — GNR's [email protected] alias product (registry-held SLDs) also slated for removal per Domain Incite reporting—MX records deleted; affected SLDs may become registrable after a cooling period.

If you hold a third-level .name or rely on registry email forwarding, treat 2026–2027 as a migration deadline—not a renewal autopilot. Second-level yourname.name survives; the first.last grammar does not.

Personal branding reality: charter without default

.name marketing still says "Your name defines you" (nic.name). The 2026 market decided otherwise:

.me won the pronoun — t.me, about.me, join.me; ~1.1M names vs .name's ~96K.
Link-in-bio won the format — linktr.ee, Beacons, *.com microsites beat firstname.name for creator GTM.
Second level beat third level — even .name natives like lemire.name explain that registering lemire.name blocks *.lemire.name third-level sales—a UX tax users never wanted to learn.
Email on @name.name works technically, but enterprise gateways favor .com; registry forwarding sunset adds vendor lock-in risk for legacy 3LD mail users.

If personal SEO is the goal, consistency beats suffix—matching site, handles, and bylines matter more than ICANN charter text. No audited evidence shows ChatGPT Search or Perplexity prefer .name over .com when content authority is equal.

SEO and AI search: standard gTLD, shrinking mindshare

Google does not penalize .name by suffix. cavin.name ranks when the site earns links—not because .name whispers "individual" to Search.

For AI surfaces (ChatGPT Search, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews): models cite pages with authority and freshness, not gTLD semantics. No audited AIO preference layer exists—delete schema-template paragraphs expecting citation dividends from a .name label. The old guide's "AI-powered personal assistants on ai.name" line is registrar-fiction, not adoption evidence.

For naming mechanics, see Does Your Domain Name Affect SEO?.

One routing question—not a who-should matrix

Skip symmetric columns. Ask:

Are you buying the only ICANN-chartered personal gTLD because the literal .name string matters—or because firstname.com is taken and you have not checked .me yet?

Choose .name when yourname.name is available at standard retail, you want explicit "this is my real name" DNS semantics for a portfolio, speaker page, or academic CV you'll hold 5+ years, you prefer Verisign registry stability (same operator as .com) over ccTLD political tail risk, or you are documenting DNS history before the 3LD sunset.

Skip .name when you need mass-market recognition (say ".name" aloud to non-DNS audiences—confusion is common), when .me pronoun grammar fits better (call.me, firstname.me), when third-level first.last.name is your plan (product is being terminated), when email deliverability is revenue-critical (keep SMTP on .com), when aftermarket resale matters (liquidity is near zero), or when you want creator-fashion signal without legacy baggage (→ .me, .bio).

Alternatives worth comparing:

.com — Institutional default; buy when you can.
.me — Montenegro ccTLD marketed as pronoun; ~1.1M names; gccTLD search treatment.
.pro — 2000 cohort sibling; once credential-gated, now open; ~1M zone.
.info — Same ICANN round; larger zone, heavier spam stigma.
.blog — Publishing intent without personal charter fiction.

FAQ

How many .name domains exist in 2026?

Verisign monthly reports cited by Domain Incite show ~96,000 domains under management—down from 232,408 reported in March 2012. Passive DNS census lists 211,749 labels (tb0hdan STATS); bgp.he.net counted 63,875 resolving unicast A records in March 2026.

Who operates .name?

VeriSign Information Services, Inc. since 28 February 2009—via acquisition from Global Name Registry. Same operator as .com and .net.

Can I still register firstname.lastname.name?

Not for long. Verisign's April 2026 RSEP seeks to stop new third-level registrations and terminate existing ones after ICANN approval. Plan on second-level yourname.name only.

Was .name the first personal TLD?

It was ICANN's only gTLD chartered for individuals in the 2000 round—but .me (2008) and link-in-bio tools became the practical personal defaults. Charter ≠ adoption.

What is the wholesale price?

$6.60/year for second-level domains per Verisign's .name Registry-Registrar Agreement. Verisign must give registrars six months' notice before any increase.

Is .name good for SEO?

No special algorithm bonus. Indirect disadvantage: low user recognition vs .com/.me may hurt CTR—not suffix penalties.

What happens to tiered WHOIS?

Verisign's April 2026 RSEP discontinues Summary, Detailed, and Extensive WHOIS—services unique to .name—in favor of standard RDAP/RDDS under the Registration Data Policy.

Did about.me prove .name works?

No. about.me is a .me ccTLD property (Automattic/AOL history)—a pronoun hack that succeeded where .name's first.last grammar failed.

Testing whether yourname.name beats yourname.com for a decade-long CV—or whether you are holding a third-level name facing Verisign's 2026 sunset? Our domain search checks .name availability, premium tiers, and matching .com status in one pass—or read Brand Name vs Domain Name before you treat a shrinking legacy suffix as permanent identity.