Verisign reverses plan to cancel third-level .name domains
The gist
Verisign scrapped plans to terminate 22,000 third-level .name domains and will grandfather existing ones.
Registrants who fought the change keep their sites and email redirects.
How it unfolded
- Sep 3, 2026Verisign announced plans to terminate third-level .name domain registrations, arguing few people used them; ICANN agreed to the request.
- Oct 14, 2026Domain Name Wire published a piece arguing ICANN and Verisign should reverse course on third-level .name domains.
- Nov 5, 2026A letter from Kane to Fessenden, posted on itp.cdn.icann.org, set out Verisign retracting its plan to terminate 22,000 domain names and email redirects.
Key terms
- third-level .name domains
- A string of characters that identifies a realm of administrative control on the Internet, used to name websites and services.
- registry
- A database of domain names and registrant information for a top-level domain, enabling third parties to request administrative control.
- ICANN
- Nonprofit organization that coordinates the Internet's domain name system, IP address allocation, and related technical registries.
Source: Wikipedia