What is a domain name?

An Internet Domain Name is a unique name or address for an Internet resource or location such as a website.

In email addresses, the domain name is everything after the "@" symbol in an address (i.e. in "clintonb@gulfislands.com", "gulfislands.com" is the domain name). 

In web addresses, domain names can usually be seen after the "www", as in "www.gulfislands.com".  

So the "gulfislands.com" part is the domain name. 

These friendly names replace a more complex numbering system used to keep track of the hundreds of thousands of machines connected to the Internet. 

Domain names are unique; each machine has a unique name that no other machine on the Internet can use. "Registries" keep all these domain names organized, they are managed by registries that maintain large databases listing all the domain names currently registered by companies, non-profits, educational institutions, etc.

A US$15.95 per year annual registration fee is required.

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