The 1,930 “strings” include brand names, famous place names, and generic words.

ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has published the list of 1,930 “strings” people around the world have requested for new top level domain names. On “Reveal Day,” June 13, the Internet Community paused for a moment from its busy activities to stop and look at the nearly 2,000 new words and letters submitted by companies and organizations as possible additions to the Internet’s global nomenclature. None have yet been accepted, but the formal process of evaluation and objection has begun.

At 8:15 a.m. ET, ICANN sponsored a press and public event in London with its CEO Rod Beckstrom and Senior VP Kurt Pritz, featuring a big-screen scroll through the requested names, followed by questions from the press. The list has brand names, including .DELOITTE and .NOKIA, famous place names, including .ISTANBUL, .PARIS, .OSAKA and .LONDON, and generic words, including .RUGBY, .VIP and .KETCHUP.

I’ve been intimately involved in helping to negotiate the rules of new generic top level domain names for four years. What I will remember most about this event is the non-English new gTLDs that jumped off the screen, written in Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, and Cyrillic.  These foreign script new gTLDs represent a range of companies, geographic regions, and generic uses – such as BAZAAR.  Although they are only 116 of the 1,930 new applications, they represent a huge step forward, because they open the previously English-oriented Internet domain name system to a range of languages and to a majority of the world — a key reason many of us worked so hard on this process.

The formal objections – based on legal rights, public interest, and possible confusion – will soon fly.  Some will involve fights among those who spent money in applying for the same new gTLDs, including seven applicants for .WEB, five for .FREE, and four for .RADIO. 

But before that happens, it’s good to take a moment to pause and celebrate. ICANN issued an invitation to the world to apply for new gTLDs. They were expensive, and the application process was difficult. Frankly, we weren’t sure who would show up. But the world responded. Just as many of us suspected, there is a global need for growth and innovation in domain names.

To celebrate Reveal Day, I’ll share some of the strangest new gTLDs that I found. The rest are posted on the ICANN website:

.FOO      .BOO     .GOO

.VIVA    .BABY    .LOVE

.PLAY     .POKER .FISH

.AND     .ARE       .OOO

.PARTY .FUN      .ONE