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Single-letter second-level domains are domain names in which the second-level domain consists of only one letter, such as x.example. In 1993, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) explicitly reserved all single-letter and single-digit second-level domain names in the top-level domains com, net, and org, and grandfathered those that had already been assigned. In December 2005, ICANN considered auctioning these domains.
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Active single-letter domains
On December 1, 1993, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) explicitly reserved the remaining single-letter and single-digit domain names. The few domains that were already assigned were grandfathered in and continued to exist.
The assigned domains in this group are the following:
| Domain | 1993 Owner | Current Owner |
|---|---|---|
| i.net | INet Solutions Ltd | Future Media Architects |
| q.com | JG | Qwest |
| q.net | Privately owned | Privately owned |
| x.com | Weinstein & DePaolis | PayPal |
| x.org | The Open Group | X Window community |
| z.com | HomePage.com | Nissan Motors |
As of April 2009 only three domains, i.net, x.com and x.org host a web site. q.com is active but redirects to qwest.com.
Two-letter domain names
Two-letter domain names are also reserved to prevent confusion with country-codes. However, since this restriction was enacted long after domain names became popular, there are many existing registrations in the original top-level domains. In most of the new TLDs such as info, two-letter domains are not available. Several notable examples are un.org (United Nations), ba.com (British Airways), dj.com (Dow Jones & Company), lg.com (LG Group), st.com (STMicroelectronics), pg.com (Procter & Gamble), ti.com (Texas Instruments) ge.com (General Electric) and sf.net (SourceForge.net) HP.com, GM.com, AA.com (American Airlines) and American Eagle Outfitters' AE.com.
In some new TLDs, special exceptions were made to permit two-letter domains for particular purposes; for instance, in the aero domain the domains are reserved for airlines identified by their two-letter codes, such as aa.aero for American Airlines.
Controversy
With the 2005 announcement that registration of the remaining single-letter names might become available, some companies have attempted to establish a right to the names by claiming to own trademark rights over single letters used in such a context. U Magazine, a college oriented publication, has gone so far as to re-brand its Web site as "U.com", with a ™ sign, in online logos and captions http://www.colleges.com/Umagazine/ even though it does not operate a web site at that URL and they have sent a letter[1] to ICANN attempting to gain priority for registration of this name.
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