European .Net Domain Older Than .Com – The Real Oldest Domain Names
December 23, 6 Comments - Author: Simon Johnson
Given the recent PCWorld article on the Internets Oldest 100 Domain Dot Com Domain Names, I thought I’d bring up a little known fact that is often overlooked by many people. Symbolics.com might be the oldest currently registered dot com, but its not the oldest domain. In fact, there is a .NET that’s older.
According to whois, Nordu.Net was registered on Jan 1, 1985. Don’t believe it? Well…as a nice little Christmas present, I’ve included a PDF version of a hardcover book titled The History of Nordu.Net. Consider it bedtime reading for Internet / networking geeks.
I’d also note another interesting bit of information. RFC 921 states on 15 Jan 85 under “Begin New Domain Registration” -”New domains may register according to the procedures and restrictions described in RFC-920 [5].” Perhaps they didn’t ask the Europeans?
This is how the list should look – the top 5 currently registered, oldest domain names are:
1. Nordu.Net – Jan 1, 1985
2. Symbolics.com – March 15, 1985
3. BBN.com – April 24, 1985
4. Think.com – May 24, 1985
5. MCC.com – July 11, 1985
If you know of any older domain names please let me know and I will update the list.
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Facebook comments:
Technically, nordu.net was not registered. It was created by the registry to be used as the first root server. In order to register a domain name, you needed a root server/name server for that name. Kinda like the chicken/egg question though.
Wow, nice find.
That depends on your definition of “registered”.
If policy wasn’t in place, then technically nordu.net stands as the oldest.
Nordu.net is the oldest by far..
Good to know! Never thought about which domain is the oldest one… nice info, especially for me, i’m working day for day with domains.
[...] I pointed out years ago, nordu.net has a creation date of [...]