What do you call the leftmost portion of a domain name?

[DomDB]

What is the best generic term for the foobar portion in domain names like foobar.com or foobar.co.uk?

Lots of folks in the industry refer to this as the SLD (second-level domain), which is correct for foobar.com, but technically incorrect in the case of domains with 3+ labels, like foobar.co.uk:

• uk: top-level domain (TLD)
• co: second-level domain (SLD)
• foobar: third-level domain (3LD)

So what is the best generic industry standard term? I don't think I've seen a consensus on this.

 

[Future Sensors]

Label.

 

[Hypersot]

I always called that part the 'name' of the domain but I did a bit of digging and, indeed, 'domain label' is the correct term.

Very good question btw.

 

[Future Sensors]

The clearest and most up‑to‑date definition of DNS labels and domain labels is found in RFC 9499: "DNS Terminology" (March 2024), which consolidates and updates earlier RFCs like RFC 8499. It explicitly defines a label as one element of a domain name (the dot‑separated parts), and a domain name as an ordered sequence of labels.

 

[DomDB]

The clearest and most up‑to‑date definition of DNS labels and domain labels is found in RFC 9499: "DNS Terminology" (March 2024), which consolidates and updates earlier RFCs like RFC 8499. It explicitly defines a label as one element of a domain name (the dot‑separated parts), and a domain name as an ordered sequence of labels.

So then "label" would be ambiguous, no? The foobar and com in foobar.com would both be labels.

I kind of like BLD (Bottom-level domain). And yes I just made that up

 

[Eric Lyon]

Umm, for me, I either call it "The Name", "The Phrase", "Left of the dot" or "First Name", Etc... depending on the context and combination with what's after the dot.

 

[Future Sensors]

So then "label" would be ambiguous, no? The foobar and com in foobar.com would both be labels.

Leftmost label

 

[Future Sensors]

Or maybe Registrable domain (the label immediately left of the public suffix).

 

[xwat]

I am not right but I call the name the name and the .whatever the extension. So the domain name would be the name.extension.

 

[vincew]

Left of the dot is the name. Right of the dot is the extension.

 

[cooljub]

I call it the leftmost portion.

 

[nicenic]

Many just call it the domain’s label because that stays accurate across every hierarchy.

 

[eyedomainous]

The Radical Left is the actual term (by populist demand).

 

[alcy]

lefttesty

 

[Bravo Mod Team]

For laypersons:

It's called the name.

Before that: subdomain(s).

After that: the extension (e.g., .co.uk).

 

[Akhilesh.Kumar]

A second-level domain or SLD is a part of a domain name found right before a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in bigrock.com, bigrock is the second level domain, and .com is the top-level domain.

Thank you Google and BigRock

 

[Future Sensors]

A second-level domain or SLD is a part of a domain name found right before a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in bigrock.com, bigrock is the second level domain, and .com is the top-level domain.

Did you read the first posting? See the reference to "third-level domain".

 

[Akhilesh.Kumar]

Did you read the first posting? See the reference to "third-level domain".

WoW

 

[URL Stream]

A second-level domain or SLD is a part of a domain name found right before a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in bigrock.com, bigrock is the second level domain, and .com is the top-level domain.

Thank you Google and BigRock

FYI your link displays BigRock.com, but the actual destination is BigRock.in.

 

[URL Stream]

For laypersons:

It's called the name.

Is there seriously no clinical term for all the muggles out there?

Tagging @Future Sensors