About .gb domains

About .gb domains

.GB is a country-code top-level domain (ccTLD) in the DNS root zone. It is designated for United Kingdom. The IANA root zone lists the registry manager as Reserved Domain - IANA. Registration policies (who may register, local presence, pricing) are set by the registry and its accredited registrars — not by IANA.

.gb is a reserved Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the United Kingdom, derived from Great Britain. The domain was introduced with RFC 920 in October 1984 that set out the creation of ccTLD generally using country codes derived from the corresponding two-letter code in the ISO 3166-1 list. However, the .uk domain had been created separately a few months before the compilation of this list. Consequently, .gb was never widely used. It is no longer possible to register under this domain. .gb was used for a number of years, mainly by British government organisations and commercial e-mail services using X.400-based e-mail infrastructure. This simplified translating between DNS domains and X.400 addresses, which used "GB" as a country code. With the demise of X.400 e-mail and IANA's general aim of one TLD per country, use of .gb declined; the domain remains in existence, but it is not currently open to new domain registrations. As of 2025, there are at least three subdomains resolving through DNS (although none serve a web page or use): hermes.dra.hmg.gb, delos.dra.hmg.gb, and dfhnet.dra.hmg.gb. They were originally owned by the Defence Research Agency, which became the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in 1995 and was split into QinetiQ and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory in 2001; the websites became defunct some time thereafter. As of November 2022, Central Digital and Data Office's intention was to inform ICANN early in 2023 that the UK wishes to retire the .gb ccTLD.

Who can register .gb domains?

Eligibility is defined by the registry operator and its registrars. Most gTLDs are open to anyone worldwide. Many ccTLDs are also open globally; some require local presence, citizenship, or trademark rights. Always confirm current policy with the registry or your registrar.

Registration restrictions

Character rules below follow common ICANN LDH conventions. Individual registries and registrars may impose extra eligibility, length, or residency rules.

Length

2 – 63 characters (label before .gb)

Can use

Letters (a–z), numbers (0–9), and hyphens (not first/last or consecutive in restricted cases)

Cannot use

Special characters (e.g. & # @) in standard LDH labels

IDNs

Varies by registry — check IDN support with the registry or your registrar

Features

Operational features (privacy, parking, protection) are registrar-level, not defined by the IANA root zone record.

Registry information

Sponsor / manager

Reserved Domain - IANA

Root zone registration

1985-07-24

Record last updated

2024-09-10