# How long is too long for a domain name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 8, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309 "2011-07-08T14:04:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/1 "2011-07-08T14:04:57Z")
My mom is starting a business this fall. Unfortunately the domain for the business name is parked by some dude that wants way too much money for it. The company name is already 6 syllables long, so we figured we would add a keyword related to her business that was a single syllable. Unfortunately the best fit, was also taken, by yet another domain park and wait dude asking for thousands. The next relevant keyword was two syllables long, making it 8 syllables and 4 words long. And the key word doesn’t flow as well, so it kinda feels tacked on. Which means most people might simply type the first 3 words (the company name) and get the parked domain we don’t own instead. So how long is too long for a domain name? I think we might go with the 8 syllable 4 word domain, and add an acronym + single syllable domain that redirects for promotional materials, which might actually be a bit confusing for clients… ARGH! There shoudl be a law about having to use a domain name to own it ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Saganist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Saganist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saganist)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/2 "2011-07-08T14:54:24Z")
How many characters are you looking at? If it’s three words of even moderate length I would definitely not want to type in the whole thing. Maybe you can make the company name into the acronym and then add your keyword? ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/3 "2011-07-08T15:05:59Z")
Yeah I found that even I got lazy typing it in. It’s 4 words, 8 syllables and a ridiculous 23 letters. the more I think of it, the less this seems workable. I’ll talk to my mom about using the acronym+keyword instead. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/4 "2011-07-08T15:25:54Z")
I had to buy a super long domain name for my client once and I spelled it wrong while registering. I told her we’ll keep both and point both to her site since someone is bound to misspell it too! It was 4 words and 9 syllables. We decided that if people knew her business’s name, it was easier for them to remember that and type it in than to remember some sort of acronym or complete other phrase. We really wanted the acronym but it was not for sale. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/5 "2011-07-08T15:44:11Z")
Although I do think domain names should be reasonably easy to remember, think about when is the last time you typed one in from scratch. About 90% of the web pages I go to are either bookmarked, or I get to them with a search. Needless to say, Google made a huge impact on how people find things on the 'Net. > [@Kinthalis](#): > > There shoudl be a law about having to use a domain name to own it There is, kinda. There is a [law that says](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act) you can’t register a domain name that is someone else’s trademark with the intention of doing so to sell it to the trademark holder. That is not quite what is going on in your case, though, since the business hasn’t even launched yet. That suggests to me that the name of your mom’s business might not be too original. Is this an Internet-based business, or one that will do transactions on the web? If so then you may want to rethink the business name from scratch to come up with one that has an available domain name. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/6 "2011-07-08T15:48:29Z")
Mine is 5 syllables (15 characters) long, and it’s not unusual to not have enough room to write it, when filing out forms. I really wanted a shorter one, but someone else got it first. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/7 "2011-07-08T15:57:09Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Although I do think domain names should be reasonably easy to remember, think about when is the last time you typed one in from scratch. About 90% of the web pages I go to are either bookmarked, or I get to them with a search. Needless to say, Google made a huge impact on how people find things on the 'Net. > > There is, kinda. There is a [law that says](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act) you can’t register a domain name that is someone else’s trademark with the intention of doing so to sell it to the trademark holder. > > That is not quite what is going on in your case, though, since the business hasn’t even launched yet. That suggests to me that the name of your mom’s business might not be too original. Is this an Internet-based business, or one that will do transactions on the web? If so then you may want to rethink the business name from scratch to come up with one that has an available domain name. The website is really just the online presence of the business. The business itself is service based and entirely brick and mortar. Otherwise, yeah I would have rethought it. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/8 "2011-07-08T16:10:44Z")
I would provide the actual domain names we were thinking about for your comments, but it will be a commercial site, so I think it would go against the board policy, no? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/9 "2011-07-08T16:22:56Z")
Board policy prohibits using this as a platform for advertising or otherwise shilling for a business. But that’s not what you’re doing. It’s fine to include a business name if that’s part of a legitimate discussion. It’s at your discretion. ETA: My interpretation of the rules. IANAM but I’ve been on the board for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/10 "2011-07-08T16:26:44Z")
What suffix are you looking at? If you use something other than .com I’m sure you can pick up the name you want cheaply. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/11 "2011-07-08T16:34:13Z")
OK. Hopefully the mods won’t send the hamster death squad after me. So my mom’s business is a spa/massage/aromatherapy center for women. The business name she picked is Awaken Your Senses. The domain name we sought was [AwakenYourSenses.com](http://AwakenYourSenses.com). Which is not available. The keyword we originally wanted to use was spa, but that too was taken. So the, now in my eyes, horrible domain name is [AwakenYourSensesMassage.com](http://AwakenYourSensesMassage.com). The acronym I also registered is [aysspa.com](http://aysspa.com) as well as [ays-spa.com](http://ays-spa.com). The acronym sure is short, but it seems cryptic to me. What do you guys think? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/12 "2011-07-08T17:11:14Z")
I’m purely a consumer of the web, but my advice is to go with the long one. Everyone is just going to google it anyway, so why not use a name that makes it clear what you are, as opposed to something that could be the website for the American Youth Soccer Skills Performance Academy ? ---
**Author:** ![Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/13 "2011-07-08T17:12:48Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > OK. Hopefully the mods won’t send the hamster death squad after me. > > So my mom’s business is a spa/massage/aromatherapy center for women. The business name she picked is Awaken Your Senses. The domain name we sought was [AwakenYourSenses.com](http://AwakenYourSenses.com). Which is not available. The keyword we originally wanted to use was spa, but that too was taken. > > So the, now in my eyes, horrible domain name is [AwakenYourSensesMassage.com](http://AwakenYourSensesMassage.com). > > The acronym I also registered is [aysspa.com](http://aysspa.com) as well as [ays-spa.com](http://ays-spa.com). The acronym sure is short, but it seems cryptic to me. > > What do you guys think? My brain sees the long version as “four” segments because they are easy words. My brain sees the “[aysspa.com](http://aysspa.com)” as “six” segments because it treats each letter individually. I would have a tough time memorizing it. I vote for awakenyoursensesmassage. Does the dn _have_ to be exactly the name of the business? Both [awake.com](http://awake.com) and [awakemassage.com](http://awakemassage.com) appear to be available. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/14 "2011-07-08T17:23:37Z")
And don’t forget you can get a .biz, .us (or other country code), .info, etc, domain name. You don’t have to stick with .com. [Generic top-level domains](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_top-level_domain). [Country-code top-level domains](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country-code_top-level_domain) There’s also a length limitation: > [@](#): > > Each label may contain up to 63 characters. The full domain name may not exceed a total length of 253 characters in its external dotted-label specification.[10] In the internal binary representation of the DNS the maximum length requires 255 octets of storage.[3] In practice, some domain registries may have shorter limits. [link](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System#Structure) ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/15 "2011-07-08T17:26:27Z")
AwakenYourSensesMassage is easy to remember. It’s a lot of characters, sure, but it’ll stick in people’s minds. Plus Quercus is right; people are going to Google it anyway. AwakenYourSenses would have been better, but what you’ve got isn’t bad, and is better than the acronym. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/16 "2011-07-08T18:59:28Z")
OK, you guys convinced me. I also ran a little experiment based on something I read online: I told some people the domain name, had a nice lengthy chat, then later asked if they’d remember the url. And they did. So I guess it’s not hard to recall. Thanks for your comments guys! ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/17 "2011-07-09T00:54:01Z")
As I understand your request, there are two issues here: [ul] [li]Is there a technical limitation to domain name length?[/li][li]Is there a practical, commonsense limitation to domain name length?[/li][/ul] The first one is easy. > [@](#): > > The length of any one label is limited to between 1 and 63 octets. A full domain name is limited to 255 octets (including the separators). [RFC 2181 - Clarifications to the DNS Specification](http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc2181#page-13) In other words: > [@](#): > > [ul] > [li]The right-most label conveys the [top-level domain](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Top-level_domain); for example, the domain name [www.example.com](http://www.example.com) belongs to the top-level domain com.[/li][li]The hierarchy of domains descends from right to left; each label to the left specifies a subdivision, or [subdomain](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Subdomain) of the domain to the right. For example: the label example specifies a subdomain of the com domain, and www is a sub domain of [example.com](http://example.com). This tree of subdivisions may have up to 127 levels.[/li][li]Each label may contain up to 63 characters. The full domain name may not exceed a total length of 253 characters in its external dotted-label specification.[[10]](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Domain_Name_System#cite_note-9) In the internal binary representation of the DNS the maximum length requires 255 octets of storage.[[3]](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Domain_Name_System#cite_note-rfc1034-2) In practice, some [domain registries](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Domain_name_registry) may have shorter limits.[/li][/ul] [Domain Name System - Wikipedia](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Domain_Name_System#Domain_name_syntax) The second one not so much. It really boils down to how well, or poorly, customers will accept a long name. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/18 "2011-07-09T03:28:41Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > The acronym I also registered is [aysspa.com](http://aysspa.com) as well as [ays-spa.com](http://ays-spa.com). The acronym sure is short, but it seems cryptic to me. I read this as ass spa. ---
**Author:** ![Kinthalis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kinthalis/32/16084_2.png) [@Kinthalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kinthalis)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/19 "2011-07-09T03:43:59Z")
> [@treis](#): > > I read this as ass spa. You know, I think an ass spa would make my mom more money. Probably need a proctologist on site though. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2011, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309/20 "2011-07-09T08:56:35Z")
I also read it as ass spa. I’d go with the full name. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-is-too-long-for-a-domain-name/588309.md?page=2)