A typical domain name looks like www.domainname.com, where the first part (in current example) is WWW (World Wide Web), second part (between the two dots) is the actual name of the domain and the last part (also called Domain Suffix) is to categorize the type of the website. The domain suffix is also known as TLD (Top Level Domain) and there are over 10 TLDs available to choose from. The concept of TLDs came into existence in 1985 with .COM being the first TLD which was then launched. The entire domain name registration process is currently under the supervision of ICANN.

» Take a look at the picture below for a better understanding of how a domain name is addressed.

» For example, consider www.amazon.com. The actual domain name in this address is Amazon and since its a .COM domain, it could be commercial website in nature. Similarly consider www.google.com and www.microsoft.com, both of these website offer commercial services and hence a TLD or a domain suffix of .COM suits best in their cases. On the other hand there are universities like Stamford having their website address as www.stamford.edu and .EDU is a TLD. There are no rules around who can register what type of domain and everyone is free to register any type of domain name they like to.

» Popular Top Level Domains (TLDs) are .COM, .NET, .ORG, .EDU, .INFO, .NAME, .BIZ, .US, .TV, .WS, .CC, .DE, .JP, .BE, .AT, .UK, .IN, .NZ, .CN, .TW, .JOBS, .EU, .AG, .FM, .MS, .NU, .TC, .VG and .MOBI