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Discover the Allowed Characters for a Domain Name
This guide details the allowed and valid characters when you need to create a domain name (maximum of 63 characters) with Infomaniak.
International Standards
The characters permitted in a domain name are determined by the technical standards set by the regulatory body for domain names, typically the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) globally, and by national or regional regulatory bodies, such as the Domain Name Regulatory Authority in France (AFNIC) for .fr domains in France.
To understand the possibilities offered at the level of an email address itself (the distinct part coming before the @ symbol), read this guide.
In general, the allowed characters in a domain name include:
- letters of the alphabet (
atoz) - numbers (
0to9) - the hyphen (
-), but hyphens are allowed provided they are not placed at the beginning or end
There are also domain extensions that allow the use of accented characters or other special characters. These rules may vary depending on the specific domain extension (like .fr, .com, .net, etc.) and the policies set by the relevant regulatory bodies.
Accented Characters?
It is possible to purchase a domain name containing an accent on a letter from Infomaniak (é for example).
The encoding method that allows the inclusion of non-Latin characters, such as accented, Cyrillic, Chinese, etc., in domain names is called Punnycode. It transforms Unicode characters into a readable ASCII form for computer systems.
This means that a domain name containing non-ASCII characters is transformed into an ASCII string starting with xn--.
This transformation is reversible, allowing software to interpret and display the original domain name correctly.
And the Dot?
A domain name is structured into several labels separated by dots. For example: example.com, where com is the TLD (top-level domain) and example is the second-level domain.
Dots are reserved to separate different parts of a domain name, such as between the second-level domain and the TLD. You cannot purchase a domain with a dot at the beginning or end of a label, nor as an isolated character within a label.