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.
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:
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:
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.
What it is Like to Own Internet History?
Aron went on to comment on owning an important part of domain name and Internet history:
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.
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:
What Is Ahead for Symbolics.com
Aron has grander plans for symbolics.com in the future:
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.
Aron indicated that something new is launching there in the next week or two, and went on to say:
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.
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:
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:
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.
What it is Like to Own Internet History?
Aron went on to comment on owning an important part of domain name and Internet history:
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.
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:
Aron pointed out that the museum is a partnership:
What Is Ahead for Symbolics.com
Aron has grander plans for symbolics.com in the future:
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.
Aron indicated that something new is launching there in the next week or two, and went on to say:
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.
Last edited:
Thanks for catching that, and I have now corrected it. Thanks for pointing it out quickly.
