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interviews Domain Name Symbolics.com Turns 40 — Meet The Owner, Aron Meystedt

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Imagine owning the very first .com domain name registered! The first .com domain name, symbolics.com, was registered 40 years ago, on March 15, 1985. The domain name is currently owned by Aron Meystedt, who also happens to be a long-time NamePros member.
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Photo on left courtesy of Aron Meystedt. The image on right was created by Aron using Grok.​

Why Symbolics?

Symbolics Inc., based in Massachusetts, manufactured what we would now refer to as workstations. Symbolics produced a number of different models that ran the Lisp programming language.

Symbolics Inc. was a spinoff from the MIT AI Lab, so the company has roots in early artificial intelligence efforts. I presume the name stems from the field of Symbolic artificial intelligence, which was active up to the 1990s. Read much more about the company Symbolics here.

Other Early Domain Name Registrations

The second registered .com domain name, BBN, was registered just over a month later. Think.com, MCC.com, DEC.com and Northrop.com were also registered in 1985.

A number of familiar names are among the fifty-four1986 registrations including Xerox, SRI, HP, IBM, Sun, Intel, and ATT, all within the first 15. The rate of registrations picked up starting in February 1986, since prior to that only organizations with access to ARPA, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, could register domain names. ARPA later became DARPA, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The following article provides the full list of the first 100 .com that have been continuously registered.

Strictly Speaking, Nordu.net Older

While Symbolics.com is commonly considered the first domain name registered, the first domain name was a few months earlier, with Nordu.net created on Jan. 1, 1985. That domain name is still in active use. See The History of Nordunet for more information. Nordu.net is also a very early domain name hack, as was mentioned in Gaze At Domain Hacks With DomainGaze.

Who Is Aron Meystedt?

At the Napkin.com site Aron introduces himself this way:
Hi, I’m Aron Meystedt, an investor and startup founder. I acquire high-end and hard-to-locate domain names for startups, investors and entrepreneurs. I am also working on a few startup concepts.
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Aron has been a NamePros member for more than 15 years, with the handle @Napkin.com. I reached out to him for more information on the acquisition and plans for the name.

Previously in NamePros Blog

Over the years, Aron Meystedt has been mentioned a number of times in the NamePros Blog. This Expert Exchange interview with @James Iles covers how Aron started in domain names in 2005 with an initial investment of less than $1000.

That interview covers a lot, from his best names, to views on the domain industry and what is needed. He offered this tip to investors:
Value is about supply and demand. Buy something that is short in supply but could have high demand.
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In 2017 Aron sold a pair of 2-letter .com domain names, and those sales were covered in Breaking: Aron Meystedt Sells XF.com and OC.com.

The Symbolics Acquisition

The Symbolics.com domain name was acquired by Aron in 2009 from the original owners for an undisclosed amount as the transaction was subject to a non-disclosure agreement. The company Symbolics was still in operation at the time of the sale, and moved their website to www.symbolics-dks.com after the sale.

I reached out to Aron for more information on how the sale came about.
How the purchase came to be was a matter of amazing timing. A lot of people had inquired to the Symbolics Computer Corporation about the domain name prior to my phone call. But, the company was restructuring and literally had just come out of a meeting about their future when I called them. The cash for the domain gave them a little bit of time to regroup and figure out the future.
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What it is Like to Own Internet History?

Aron went on to comment on owning an important part of domain name and Internet history:
I feel very honored to own the name. People feel very strongly about Internet history and this domain name, which carries a bit of expectations on how it should be used. I feel the same way -- it's a piece of Internet history, and marks the beginning of the Internet revolution.
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The true pioneers are the Symbolics Computer Corporation, of course. They had amazing foresight to grab this domain name once registration opened up. It even predated the world wide web as we know it - so, again, true pioneers. I'm just a fortunate guy that has the honor of holding this 1 of 1 digital asset.
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Domain Quality Reports at Symbolics.com Now

If you visit symbolics.com today, as well as a contact form and a bit about Aron, the site provides free domain name quality reports – there is a limit of 3 reports per day. I tried it out on a few names. As well as an overall score out of 100, there are numerical ratings on multiple aspects. One of the more interesting is a memorability score out of 20.

The site also checks history and reputation, if relevant, and whether the term is commonly used, and if it has negative connotations in some languages. The first part of the report provides a discussion on strengths and weaknesses, and probable end use, for the name. I found these quality reports informative and valuable, based on the handful of names I checked.

Aron said that the domain scoring system was developed as a proof of concept, and to gauge interest in this sort of tool. He left open the possibility of developing something bigger down the road.

Internet Museum

There is also an Internet Museum hosted at Symbolics in the form of an annotated timeline. Here is a sample.

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Screen capture of one entry from the Internet Museum that is hosted at symbolics.com/museum/.​

I learned a number of things in browsing the museum, including about Paul Otlet the Belgian lawyer and librarian who is credited with the concept of the web in 1934:
Paul Otlet realized that the wires and radio waves connection the world could be used for more than just entertainment. He dreamt of a ‘mechanical collective brain’ and developed ides whose application we see today in infrastructures such as the semantic Web and browsers. Otlet is regarded as the father of information science.
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Aron pointed out that the museum is a partnership:
We partnered with a company called The Big Internet Museum, who was gracious enough to allow us to host their Internet history museum on our site.
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What Is Ahead for Symbolics.com

Aron has grander plans for symbolics.com in the future:
I still think there is a much greater use for the name — it's just a matter of time before it's put into development. I envision a site that honors the legacy of the early Internet, but also involves the Internet/digital asset community a bit more.
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Validator AI

One of the main things Aron is working on now is ValidatorAI.com. The user enters an idea for a startup, and the site uses artificial intelligence to provide insights on marketing and development, along with a competitor analysis. Validator AI currently has more than 250,000 active users.
Image-ValidatorAI Box.png

Aron indicated that something new is launching there in the next week or two, and went on to say:
I'm super passionate about helping people move startup ideas forward -- and what we're making is really going to help a lot of people put their ideas into action!
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My sincere thanks to Aron Meystedt for answering all of my questions completely within a tight timeframe for this article being published. As well as @Napkin.com here at NamePros, Aron has an appropriately named X handle: FirstDomain.

If interested in the early days, see also the NamePros Blog interviews Meet Dr. Paul Mockapetris: Inventor of the Domain Name System and Simon Higgs: Internet Pioneer.


Updates:
Mar. 12, 2025 The date was corrected to say 1985, not 1885!
Mar. 12, 2025 Clarified that the 100 list linked is for the oldest .com that have been continuously registered.
Mar. 14, 2025 Corrected that while Nordu.net was created on Jan. 1, 1985, it was not used as a root server at that time. Added a reference link for Nordunet history.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
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Bill36 said:
Great write up as always, Bob!


My math might be off but that seems slightly older than 40 years lol
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It is an aged domain name, but I guess not as old as I said! :oops: Thanks for catching that, and I have now corrected it. Thanks for pointing it out quickly.
-Bob
 
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Strictly Speaking, Nordu.net Older

While Symbolics.com is commonly considered the first domain name registered, the first domain name was a few months earlier, when Nordu.net was put into use as a root server on Jan. 1, 1985.
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Nordu.net is the oldest, that has never dropped.

Another from that date was Darpa.net 1/1/1985 (since dropped).

There were lots of early .EDU regs also -

1April 24, 1985berkeley.eduUniversity of California, Berkeley
1April 24, 1985cmu.eduCarnegie Mellon University
1April 24, 1985purdue.eduPurdue University
1April 24, 1985rice.eduRice University
1April 24, 1985ucla.eduUniversity of California, Los Angeles
6April 25, 1985rutgers.eduRutgers University
7May 23, 1985mit.eduMassachusetts Institute of Technology
8June 27, 1985harvard.eduHarvard University
9July 5, 1985columbia.eduColumbia University
10July 15, 1985cornell.eduCornell University
11July 18, 1985uiuc.eduUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
12July 24, 1985udel.eduUniversity of Delaware
13July 31, 1985umd.eduUniversity of Maryland, College Park
14August 13, 1985utexas.eduUniversity of Texas at Austin
15August 20, 1985usc.eduUniversity of Southern California
16September 30, 1985wisc.eduUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
16September 30, 1985uci.eduUniversity of California, Irvine
18October 4, 1985stanford.eduStanford University
19October 7, 1985umich.eduUniversity of Michigan
20December 9, 1985ucsd.eduUniversity of California, San Diego
 
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Bob Hawkes said:
It is an old domain name, but I guess not as old as I said. Thanks for catching that, and I have now corrected it. Thanks for pointing it out quickly.
-Bob
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You’re welcome!
 
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My domain turns 38 later this month. It's still a young whippersnapper compared to Symbolics.com.

:ROFL:

Brad
 
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bmugford said:
My domain turns 38 later this month. It's still a young whippersnapper compared to Symbolics.com.
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Congratulations on owning one of the 100 oldest .com domain names, @bmugford! Other than Aron and Brad, are there any other NamePros members who own a name in the first 100 list?

Also, thanks for the list with many .edu names registered in 1985 as well, and pointing out that there was another early .net name.

-Bob
 
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bmugford said:
Nordu.net is the oldest, that has never dropped.

Another from that date was Darpa.net 1/1/1985 (since dropped).

There were lots of early .EDU regs also -

1April 24, 1985berkeley.eduUniversity of California, Berkeley
1April 24, 1985cmu.eduCarnegie Mellon University
1April 24, 1985purdue.eduPurdue University
1April 24, 1985rice.eduRice University
1April 24, 1985ucla.eduUniversity of California, Los Angeles
6April 25, 1985rutgers.eduRutgers University
7May 23, 1985mit.eduMassachusetts Institute of Technology
8June 27, 1985harvard.eduHarvard University
9July 5, 1985columbia.eduColumbia University
10July 15, 1985cornell.eduCornell University
11July 18, 1985uiuc.eduUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
12July 24, 1985udel.eduUniversity of Delaware
13July 31, 1985umd.eduUniversity of Maryland, College Park
14August 13, 1985utexas.eduUniversity of Texas at Austin
15August 20, 1985usc.eduUniversity of Southern California
16September 30, 1985wisc.eduUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
16September 30, 1985uci.eduUniversity of California, Irvine
18October 4, 1985stanford.eduStanford University
19October 7, 1985umich.eduUniversity of Michigan
20December 9, 1985ucsd.eduUniversity of California, San Diego
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That's right Nordu.net is not only the first gtld ever created but also the first domain hack as it was registered by Copenhagen-based Nordunet which as @bmugford pointed out still thrives today.

Please @Bob Hawkes consider a post on it. You can find my own research via @Xdomains.
 
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ty Mr. Bob. :)
 
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Very interesting, thanks.
 
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Bob Hawkes said:
That said, the earliest domain hack can be traced even further back. The domain name NORDU.net was registered Jan 1, 1985, prior to the first .com, Symbolics.com, registered March 15, 1985. NORDUnet is still in operation on the domain name. The name enea.se can also be considered a hack, and is even older, with a Whois creation date of April 7, 1983.
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Mountain.Top said:
Please @Bob Hawkes consider a post on it. You can find my own research via @Xdomains.
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Thanks for suggestion. No doubt more could be added, but I did cover that Nordu.net was older, that it is still in active use, and it is a very early domain hack in my 2022 article for the NamePros Blog: Gaze at Domain Hacks With Domain Gaze, see quote from article above. Thanks to @DomainGaze.com for that article.

-Bob

PS Based I have slightly expanded the coverage on Nordunet in the article, and added a link outlining the history Nordunet in detail.
 
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I could be just stupid but who can explain to me why someone faced with choice of regging 1st or one of first com names would pick such low quality trash?
 
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alcy said:
I could be just stupid but who can explain to me why someone faced with choice of regging 1st or one of first com names would pick such low quality trash?
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While different people can view the same names differently, and just speaking personally, but I find names like 'think' and 'symbolics' beautiful and powerful. The preponderance of 3L mainly acronyms have the advantage of being short and their limited number gives them prestige. Most of the companies that branded on those many decades ago in these early domain name registrations are still active today.

But I think the answer to your question is that at that time in order to register a name you needed to be an existing business/organization operating with that name, and, in 1985 the further stipulation that you needed to be connected to ARPA. That is why the big research universities were so well represented in the 1985 registrations, and the businesses on the .com list were research intensive.

The idea of registering names because they are strong terms that might in future have great value to a new business, or one rebranding, came much later when the rules were loosened. My apologies, as the article could have more clearly stressed this point.

-Bob
 
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Bob Hawkes said:
While different people can view the same names differently, and just speaking personally, but I find names like 'think' and 'symbolics' beautiful and powerful. The preponderance of 3L mainly acronyms have the advantage of being short and their limited number gives them prestige. Most of the companies that branded on those many decades ago in these early domain name registrations are still active today.

But I think the answer to your question is that at that time in order to register a name you needed to be an existing business/organization operating with that name, and, in 1985 the further stipulation that you needed to be connected to ARPA. That is why the big research universities were so well represented in the 1985 registrations, and the businesses on the .com list were research intensive.

The idea of registering names because they are strong terms that might in future have great value to a new business, or one rebranding, came much later when the rules were loosened. My apologies, as the article could have more clearly stressed this point.

-Bob
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all good points as always.
I was obviously viewing it from modern perspective and as reseller. so inthat sense my view would apply and to anyone here. but 40 years ago quality of names was a non issue.

but I still so maintain that symbolics and think are world apart.

when deciding name quality I often like to go by... tell me how many times I used this word in a conversation in past year or few years.

for most of us.. symbolics.. answer is literally... never ;)
 
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Ah man I'd love to own a really old name. Those first 100 are history.
 
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alcy said:
all good points as always.
I was obviously viewing it from modern perspective and as reseller. so inthat sense my view would apply and to anyone here. but 40 years ago quality of names was a non issue.

but I still so maintain that symbolics and think are world apart.

when deciding name quality I often like to go by... tell me how many times I used this word in a conversation in past year or few years.

for most of us.. symbolics.. answer is literally... never ;)
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I'm extremely the opposite of your point of view, The more the name is creative, smart, charmful, or obscure the more I like it.
Dump name like coming with an easy idea like dictionary word without a story or imagery or even work!! behind it don't fascinate me!!!
 
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I'm so happy to own the newest domain many time 😆
 
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Thank you, Mr. @Bob Hawkes , for another excellent article!

Regarding Symbolics.com, I have been using the service regularly since I read about it on one of your posts, to have an assessment on the quality of domain names that I acquire or that somehow catch my attention. I find it really interesting and useful.
 
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itsmeIori said:
I'm extremely the opposite of your point of view, The more the name is creative, smart, charmful, or obscure the more I like it.
Dump name like coming with an easy idea like dictionary word without a story or imagery or even work!! behind it don't fascinate me!!!
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sounds cool
I'm all for cool too
and original
but to most here its bout reselling. and the fact always was and will be that popular 1word names will always be 1000 times more sellable than unique original stuff

hotel.com will always sell easier than symbolics
 
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alcy said:
sounds cool
I'm all for cool too
and original
but to most here its bout reselling. and the fact always was and will be that popular 1word names will always be 1000 times more sellable than unique original stuff

hotel.com will always sell easier than symbolics
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the high demande of most of dictionary word come from the rarity, how money dictionary domains we have!! and Hotels.com is expensive because of the first thing and the luxurious industry behind it.
Symbolics also a rare asset, the first registred domain !!
 
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why didnt they get apple or dictionary or spy.com? ty
 
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alcy said:
sounds cool
I'm all for cool too
and original
but to most here its bout reselling. and the fact always was and will be that popular 1word names will always be 1000 times more sellable than unique original stuff

hotel.com will always sell easier than symbolics
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Symbolics is a dictionary word!!
 
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