.gov Domain Naming Conventions

The following section summarizes the naming conventions for the following:

1. States/Commonwealths

2. Cities/Townships

3. Counties/Parishes

4. U.S. Territories

5. Native Sovereign Nations

States and Commonwealths
To register any second-level domain within .gov, state government entities must register the full state name or clearly indicate the state postal code within the name.

• Examples of acceptable names include:
  1. virginia.gov
  2. tennesseeanytime.gov
  3. wa.gov
  4. nmparks.gov
  5. mysc.gov
  6. emaryland.gov
  7. ne-taxes.gov

• Use of the state postal code should not be embedded within a single word in a way that obscures the postal code. For example, Indiana (IN) should not register for win.gov, or independence.gov.

• Where potential conflicts arise between postal codes and existing domain names ("va" for the Commonwealth of Virginia and U.S. Veteran's Affairs), states are encouraged to register URL's that contain the full state name.

• Use of spaces and underscores within the domain name is prohibited. Dashes may be used, except at the beginning or end of the domain name.

• States are encouraged to make second-level domains available for third-level registration by local governments and state government departments and programs.

  For example, the State of North Carolina could register nc.gov as a second-level domain and develop a system of registration for their local governments. The state would be free to develop policy on how the local government should be registered under nc.gov. One possibility might be to spell out the city, thus raleigh.nc.gov could be a resulting domain name. In such a case, local governments would request their domain name from the state rather than this site.

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Cities and Townships
Cities and townships are encouraged to register for a third-level domain under a state's second-level domain to the extent such an option is available. When this option is not available, cities and townships may register a second-level domain. To register a second-level .gov domain name, cities and townships must follow the guidelines below:

• Cities and townships may ONLY register for a domain name representing their city or township.

• The domain name must include the city (town) name and a clear reference to the state in which the city (town) is located.

• Abbreviations of the city name are not preferred.

• Inclusion of the word "city" or "town" within the domain name is optional and may be used at the discretion of the local government.

• Cities and townships may NOT register a local program/initiative, such as a local fire department, police department, library, etc. Therefore, no other characters (beside the city and state name and possibly the word "city" or "town") may appear in the domain name.

• Cities and townships should denote the state postal code after the city or township name, preferably separated by a dash. Examples of domain names include:

1. chicago-il.gov
2. cityofcharleston-sc.gov
3. charleston-wv.gov
4. townofdumfries-va.gov
• Use of spaces and underscores within domain names is prohibited. Dashes are encouraged, but may not be used at the beginning or end of a domain name.

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Counties and Parishes
If third-level domain naming is available from the state government, counties or parishes are encouraged to register for a third-level domain name under a state's registered second-level domain (e.g., richmondcounty.ga.gov).

To register any second-level domain within .gov, counties or parishes must follow the guidelines below:

• At this time, counties and parishes may only register for one domain name and it must represent their entire county or parish.

• The domain must be registered with:

1. The county's or parish's name

2. The word "county" or "parish" (because many counties have the same name as cities within the same state)

3. A reference to the state in which the county or parish is located by including the two-letter state postal code.

• Counties and parishes may NOT register local programs/initiatives, such as local fire departments, police departments, libraries, etc. Therefore, no other characters (beside the county/parish and state name plus the word "county" or "parish") may appear in the domain name.

• Abbreviations of the county name are not acceptable.

• The word "county" or "parish" must be spelled out in full.

• The format for counties or parishes is to denote the state postal code after the county or parish, preferably separated by a dash. Examples of acceptable domain names include:

1. richmondcounty-ga.gov
2. countyofdorchestor-sc.gov
3. loudouncountyva.gov

• Use of spaces and underscores within domain names is prohibited. Dashes are encouraged, but may not be used at the beginning or end of a domain name.

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U.S. Territories

To register any second-level domain within .gov, U.S. territories must register their full territory name or clearly indicate the territory postal code within the name.

Examples of accepatable names include:

1. puertorico.gov
2. pr.gov

Cities within a U.S. territory should follow the naming conventions for Cities and Townships.

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Native Sovereign Nations
Native Sovereign Nations may register any second-level domain name provided that it contains the registering NSN name followed by a suffix of "-NSN.gov" (case insensitive).