You can order specific domains with special characters like å, ü and ø. These are called Internationalized Domain Names (IDN).
How can I order an IDN?
We currently don't support IDNs for all Top-level domains (TLD).
Each TLD supports a limited selection of characters. Click one of the links below to see the allowed characters for that specific domain:
You can order an IDN like any other domain; simply type in the domain you want with the special characters and complete the order procedure.
Why are IDNs special?
Originally, English was the default internet language, and because of this, DNS is restricted to the ASCII character subset, which represents the English alphabet.
As more people started using the internet, the need arose to create domain names that could include special characters common in other languages or entirely different alphabets.
To solve this, IDNs were invented. A domain with special characters is converted to "Punycode", which consists of ASCII characters supported by DNS.
For example:
The domain "bücher.nu" converted to Punycode is "xn--bcher-kva.nu". You can type both versions of the domain in your browser.
If you're interested in viewing your domain in Punycode, you can find many converters on the internet.
Are there limitations?
All modern browsers and applications support IDNs, so this shouldn't cause any problems.
You might encounter issues with email clients or online forms that don't support it. In that case, you can try the Punycode version of an email address. If neither the IDN nor the Punycode version is supported, you need to use an alternative email.
Tip: It's good practice to also have a non-IDN domain, that forwards (email) to your IDN domain. That way you are covered if IDN fails.
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