With the rising demand for LLLL (letter, letter, letter, letter) domain names in China, I wanted to find out if other four-character patterns, such as LLNN (letter, letter, number, number), LLLN, NLLL, and NNLL were also being used to develop websites in China. To explore that, I studied the use of LLNN domains on the .cn extension.
There are 67,600 possible .cn domain names with the pattern LLNN. I used a computer program to generate a list of all 67,600 names starting from AA00 to ZZ99. Because of time constraints, I chose to focus on a small sample of the possible names. I used Microsoft Access
Once I had the sample, I used GoDaddy’s bulk search to count how many domains in my sample were registered. Then I visited each domain name and noted which domains had websites on them, ignoring those with only parking or sales landing pages. Finally, I studied the relationship between each domain name and the website developed on it. Below are the results.
Survey Results
GoDaddy bulk search revealed that 170 of the 676 domain names (16%) in the sample are registered. I found that 105 of the registered names (62% of registrations) have been developed into websites.
Among the 105 developed domain names:
Domain Case Studies
Let’s investigate the matches between some of these LLNN domain names and the companies that use them. As you may know, most Chinese companies have a long legal name and a short trading name. Some companies may use their domain to match their short, trading name, as several on this list have done. One can find a well-known company’s trading name via a Baidu search, but it is harder to get the trading names of lesser known entities. It was difficult to find and verify the trading names of the companies on this list, so in the interest of time, I’ve made my best guess as to what they might be.
FD99.cn is a domain name on the above list that takes full advantage of the LLNN format, meaning that both the LL and NN parts match the company’s name and its offerings. Looking at this domain shows us a way that Chinese companies can use LLNN domain names to create meaningful connections to their businesses.
The company that owns FD99.cn has a long legal name: Fu Jian Feng Da Jiu Ye You Xian Gong Si. However, the company’s trading name is simply “Feng Da,” making FD a perfect acronym for it. Two-character LL domains are frequently used this way in China. However, two-character domain names are rare and adding easy to remember numbers to a domain can preserve the two-letter match to a company’s trading name while keeping the domain name short.
Feng Da takes further advantage of the LLNN format by using the numbers in their domain to create an even stronger connection between their domain name and company. When pronounced in Mandarin, “99” sounds similar to “Jiu Jiu,” which means “wine,” an apt description of Feng Da, which is a wine brewing company. As FD99.cn shows, LLNN domain names provide an opportunity for Chinese companies because they can match their trading name with the relevant two letters and use a meaningful pair of numbers to help customers remember their business.
BU88.cn is owned by Shen Zhen Bu Ba Ke Ji You Xian Gong Si, a company that offers services to add money to prepaid game and calling cards online. “Bu Ba” is probably its trading name. From their domain, “Bu” is a Pinyin word and “8” rhymes with “Ba,” which would make BU8.cn a perfect match. However, BU8.cn is already taken, so the use of the repeating 88 in BU88.cn maintains the association with the company name and makes the name easy to recall.
OF98.cn is owned by Shanghai Jin Guang Office Furniture Co., Ltd., an office furniture company. OF98.cn has a connection to the English name of the company, because “OF” is an acronym for “Office Furniture.” I do not see a connection between “98” and the company name.
Conclusion
ThIs study shows the current state of the market, but I think that it may change with time if more executives choose to take advantage of the benefits of using a domain name that is more closely related to their company’s name.
As the demand for short domain names continues to grow, it seems likely that more companies will develop websites on LLNN .cn domain names. Similarly, since .com is a preferred domain extension in China, the demand for LLNN .com domain names will likely grow as well. I have attached an Excel file containing the data used in this study for those who are interested in it.
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Follow me to learn more about Chinese domain names. Special thanks go to the NamePros editing team for their great support.
There are 67,600 possible .cn domain names with the pattern LLNN. I used a computer program to generate a list of all 67,600 names starting from AA00 to ZZ99. Because of time constraints, I chose to focus on a small sample of the possible names. I used Microsoft Access
rnd() to randomly generate a sample of 676 names (1% of the total possibilities).Once I had the sample, I used GoDaddy’s bulk search to count how many domains in my sample were registered. Then I visited each domain name and noted which domains had websites on them, ignoring those with only parking or sales landing pages. Finally, I studied the relationship between each domain name and the website developed on it. Below are the results.
Survey Results
GoDaddy bulk search revealed that 170 of the 676 domain names (16%) in the sample are registered. I found that 105 of the registered names (62% of registrations) have been developed into websites.
Among the 105 developed domain names:
- 28 names contain one or more so-called non-CHIP characters (a, e, i, o, u, v, 0, 4). For example, SB47.cn is a betting site and the name contains a "4" which many domain investors don't like. However, this study shows that a significant number of end users (27%) don't mind using a domain name containing such “non-premium” characters.
- In my study, certain numbers appeared more frequently than others, indicating their popularity. The number “8” is present in thirty-one names, and seven names end with “0.” Repeating numbers were popular as well, such as “99” with seven appearances and “11” with six. 46% of developed domains in the sample contain at least one of the above mentioned numbers/patterns.
- 82 of the 105 developed LLNN domain names (78%) have no direct relationship to the company’s name that is shown on the website, suggesting that many Chinese companies use domains in a different way than simply matching a domain name to their company name.
However, the other 23 domains (22%) partially or fully match the name of the company that uses them. There might be added value in these domains because someone can more easily associate the domain with the company using it, which would hopefully make it easier to remember.
The companies with matching domains are listed below, with the bold part of the company name indicating the portion that matches the domain.
Matched Domain Company Pinyin NN DG39.cn 商巨网络 Shang Ju Wang Luo NN WZ11.cn 壹壹电脑店 Yi Yi Dian Nao Dian LLNN TA29.cn 他二舅的博客 Ta Er Jiu De Bo Ke LLN BU88.cn 深圳布巴科技有限公司 Shen Zhen Bu Ba Ke Ji You Xian Gong Si LLN FD99.cn 福建丰达酒业有限公司 Fu Jian Feng Da Jiu Ye You Xian Gong Si LL DJ02.cn 点睛SEM Dian Jing SEM LL DJ13.cn 点睛SEM Dian Jing SEM LL HK95.cn 深圳市华科企业管理 Shen Zhen Shi Hua Ke Qi Ye Guan Li LL HS80.cn 航胜传媒 Hang Shen Chuan Mei LL HX33.cn 深圳市鸿效节能 Shen Zhen Shi Hong Xiao Jie Neng LL LV73.cn 泸沽湖旅游 Lu Gu Hu Lv You LL MR68.cn 广州敏睿企业管理服务 Guang Zhou Min Rui Qi Ye Guan Li Fu Wu LL OF98.cn 上海进光办公家具有限公司 Shanghai Jinguang Office Furniture Co., Ltd. LL RZ66.cn 容斋 Rong Zhai LL SB47.cn 申博娱乐城 Shen Bo Yu Le Cheng LL SG16.cn 深圳深钢金属 Shen zhen Shen Gang Jin Shu LL SW64.cn 申威社区 Shen Wei She Qu LL TZ51.cn 台州网络 Tai Zhou Wang Luo LL WH80.cn 武汉微堂园艺生活馆 Wu Han Wei Tang Yuan Yi Sheng Huo Guan LL WX32.cn 网迅网络科技 Wang Xun Wang Luo Ke Ji LL YO10.cn 游.食 You Shi L DN99.cn 当当网 Dang Dang Wang L NA87.cn 宁波市鄞州博灿商贸 Ning Bo Shi Yin Zhou Bo Can Shang Mao
Domain Case Studies
Let’s investigate the matches between some of these LLNN domain names and the companies that use them. As you may know, most Chinese companies have a long legal name and a short trading name. Some companies may use their domain to match their short, trading name, as several on this list have done. One can find a well-known company’s trading name via a Baidu search, but it is harder to get the trading names of lesser known entities. It was difficult to find and verify the trading names of the companies on this list, so in the interest of time, I’ve made my best guess as to what they might be.
FD99.cn is a domain name on the above list that takes full advantage of the LLNN format, meaning that both the LL and NN parts match the company’s name and its offerings. Looking at this domain shows us a way that Chinese companies can use LLNN domain names to create meaningful connections to their businesses.
The company that owns FD99.cn has a long legal name: Fu Jian Feng Da Jiu Ye You Xian Gong Si. However, the company’s trading name is simply “Feng Da,” making FD a perfect acronym for it. Two-character LL domains are frequently used this way in China. However, two-character domain names are rare and adding easy to remember numbers to a domain can preserve the two-letter match to a company’s trading name while keeping the domain name short.
Feng Da takes further advantage of the LLNN format by using the numbers in their domain to create an even stronger connection between their domain name and company. When pronounced in Mandarin, “99” sounds similar to “Jiu Jiu,” which means “wine,” an apt description of Feng Da, which is a wine brewing company. As FD99.cn shows, LLNN domain names provide an opportunity for Chinese companies because they can match their trading name with the relevant two letters and use a meaningful pair of numbers to help customers remember their business.
BU88.cn is owned by Shen Zhen Bu Ba Ke Ji You Xian Gong Si, a company that offers services to add money to prepaid game and calling cards online. “Bu Ba” is probably its trading name. From their domain, “Bu” is a Pinyin word and “8” rhymes with “Ba,” which would make BU8.cn a perfect match. However, BU8.cn is already taken, so the use of the repeating 88 in BU88.cn maintains the association with the company name and makes the name easy to recall.
OF98.cn is owned by Shanghai Jin Guang Office Furniture Co., Ltd., an office furniture company. OF98.cn has a connection to the English name of the company, because “OF” is an acronym for “Office Furniture.” I do not see a connection between “98” and the company name.
Conclusion
ThIs study shows the current state of the market, but I think that it may change with time if more executives choose to take advantage of the benefits of using a domain name that is more closely related to their company’s name.
As the demand for short domain names continues to grow, it seems likely that more companies will develop websites on LLNN .cn domain names. Similarly, since .com is a preferred domain extension in China, the demand for LLNN .com domain names will likely grow as well. I have attached an Excel file containing the data used in this study for those who are interested in it.
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Follow me to learn more about Chinese domain names. Special thanks go to the NamePros editing team for their great support.
