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When I started my "internet career" not long ago, I just did not know what a Domain Name was. So, I write this article for the benefit of those who are like me when I first started. Be sure to look out for more of my articles under this topic.

A domain name is really just your address on the Internet. It's where people can find you, and it serves as your online identity. Businesses typically register domain names with their company name and sometimes also register their product names. Individuals often register family names or names that have a personal interest to them.

The term domain name has multiple meanings:

Domain Name System

- a name that is entered into a computer (e.g. as part of a Web site or other URL, or an e-mail address) and then looked up in the global Domain Name System which informs the computer of the IP address(es) with that name.

- the product that registrars provide to their customers.

- a name looked up in the DNS for other purposes.

- They are sometimes colloquially (and incorrectly) referred to by marketers as "Web addresses".

- The authoritative definition is that given in the RFCs that define the DNS.

- Domain names are hostnames that provide more easily memorable names to stand in for numeric IP addresses. They allow for any service to move to a different location in the topology of the Internet (or another internet), which would then have a different IP address.

- Each string of letters, digits and hyphens between the dots is called a label in the parlance of the domain name system (DNS). Valid labels are subject to certain rules, which have relaxed over the course of time. Originally labels must start with a letter, and end with a letter or digit; any intervening characters may be letters, digits, or hyphens.