Why is it .co.uk and not just .uk?

[RicoShay]

This has been buggin me for a while, how comes America has .us extension and so do most other countries - but the UK has .co.uk ? Why is it not just .uk?

 

[hey.co.uk]

.co.uk has been in existance since around 1994 and used fully since, whereas .us has only recently (2002) been open to fuller registrations in *.us .

The dot co dot uk is quite engrained into the psyche of brits much like .com.au is with auzzys.

 

[James]

auzzys.

aussies

I was about to mention .com.au

I think it'd be good if we just had .au and they had the idea of it? .uk would also be great, it makes everything alot shorter :]

 

[RicoShay]

Thanks for the info Rob. Yeah I have quite a few .co.uk domains and its fine with all the folks here in the UK everyones used to it I guess. Just wondered why it wasn't just .uk or if it will ever become just .uk ?

 

[hey.co.uk]

.org.uk and .co.uk are quite popular so if they launched .uk it would be a fight to see who gets first go on it

 

[Pred]

Thanks for the info Rob. Yeah I have quite a few .co.uk domains and its fine with all the folks here in the UK everyones used to it I guess. Just wondered why it wasn't just .uk or if it will ever become just .uk ?

we have all the branches coming of the main .uk domain

.co.uk
.org.uk
.me.uk
.gov.uk

etc.

granted, .uk would be a lot more atractive a domain, but i don't think is possible?

i know there is .in & .co.in etc. , so who knows???

like everyone has said, all the above extensions (okay maybe not .me.uk lol) are ingrained totally, so is too late to change

 

[italiandragon]

because UK are complicated, Aussies and Kiwis just copyed the Queen...

just.... DO.it

 

[gpmgroup]

The .us was even more structured than the co.uk it used to be name.county.state.us

mta.info used to be mta.nyc.ny.us

second level domains often have more appeal than 3rd or 4th level domains and several countries have followed the .us change in 2002 to allow second level domains. [nearlyanything.us]

including .cn (2004) .in (2005) & kr (2006)

 

[Kate]

Actually there are quite a few countries where 2nd level registrations are not available so the UK is not an exception
Examples: Turkey, Cyprus...
There are a few grandfathered .uk domains like nic.uk, parliament.uk, police.uk, mod.uk etc.

 

[bricio]

hey people, see the brazilian ones

AGR.BR
AM.BR
ART.BR
EDU.BR
COM.BR
COOP.BR
ESP.BR
FAR.BR
FM.BR
G12.BR
GOV.BR
IMB.BR
IND.BR
INF.BR
JUS.BR
MIL.BR
NET.BR
ORG.BR
PSI.BR
REC.BR
SRV.BR
TMP.BR
TUR.BR
TV.BR
ETC.BR
ADM.BR
ADV.BR
ARQ.BR
ATO.BR
BIO.BR
BMD.BR
CIM.BR
CNG.BR
CNT.BR
ECN.BR
ENG.BR
ETI.BR
FND.BR
FOT.BR
FST.BR
GGF.BR
JOR.BR
LEL.BR
MAT.BR
MED.BR
MUS.BR
NOT.BR
NTR.BR
ODO.BR
PPG.BR
PRO.BR
PSC.BR
QSL.BR
SLG.BR
TRD.BR
VET.BR
ZLG.BR
BLOG.BR
FLOG.BR
NOM.BR
VLOG.BR
WIKI.BR

 

[wurkanimal]

I like the .co.uk extension better, although if they do release a .uk domain, my credit card will be filled with new domains! lol

 

[Pound]

At the time of introduction it would have mainly been companies using the .uk extension so it made sense. Now, to be honest, it is the norm and a .uk extension would simply be unused. For someone in the UK, .co.uk sounds normal, .uk sounds bizarre.

 

[clocker24]

At the time of introduction it would have mainly been companies using the .uk extension so it made sense. Now, to be honest, it is the norm and a .uk extension would simply be unused. For someone in the UK, .co.uk sounds normal, .uk sounds bizarre.

I wouldn't be so sure. If they introduced it all the companies who couldn't get their domains in the .co.uk extension would jump for it, not to mention domain investors. It would quickly turn into the kind of mess we see with .co.in and .in, where they are competing directly in a fight to the death.

 

[RicoShay]

Personally I'd like to own some .uk domains - and I think .uk would overpower .co.uk should this happen to become available like with .in or .us

 

[TheBaldOne]

Who would be the firt one to register y.uk

 

[MadAboutDomains]

There used to be just .UK and the decided to use it for their systems it would appear.

http://www.bl.uk <-- The last remaining .UK name :tu:

================================
BAD JOKE WARNING
================================

They ought to have got http://b.uk

(British Library --> Library Books --> Book --> Buk)

 

[gpmgroup]

There are a few

bl.uk
icnet.uk
jet.uk
nls.uk
parliament.uk
police.uk

 

[Sleepys]

Has anyone ever registerred a successful typo of a .co.uk domain, that was missing the dots from .co.uk, similar to missing the (.) in .com?

 

[James]

There are a few

bl.uk
icnet.uk
jet.uk
nls.uk
parliament.uk
police.uk

none load for me. It looks weird seeing just .uk though when your used to .co.uk

 

[Gerrit]

Plenty more countries have 3rd level domains available only:

.co.il
.com.tr
.com.au
.co.nz
...

and a lot more offer the choice between 2nd level or 3rd level:

.ru / .com.ru
.fr / .com.fr
.es / .com.es
.cn / .com.cn
.hk / .com.hk
.br / .com.br
.ar / .com.ar
...


The .co or .com in front is tradition in a lot of countries, including the UK. I doubt if .uk would easily score a lot of fans, as people in the UK are really used to .co.uk (it is more popular than .com even in the UK)