A vanity domain is a domain name in the field of Domain Name System or DNS, usually a sub-domain, with the aim of showcasing the identity of the person to whom the name was registered and is used in web hosting. This is different from the domain names which are used to identify organizations or the services that the organizations offer.
Vanity domains may be likened to vanity car registration plates that emphasize and identify the owner and gives him distinction from the others, and not just depending on another organization’s services in web hosting. A sub-domain is at times referred to as a vanity domain, particularly when it is a sub-domain of an Internet service provider named after an individual user account. Some other descriptions of vanity domain are:
1) In domain registration, “a domain you register for the sole purpose of having your own domain so you can have an easily remembered URL and email address”, according to the Free Online Dictionary of Computing.
2) According to the Jargon File, a vanity domain is “an Internet domain, particularly in the .com or .org top level domains, apparently created for no reason other than boosting the creator’s ego.”
Vanity domains are applied primarily to ordinary domain names that are registered at the highest permissible level instead of sub-domains, although in essence, a second level domain name is in fact a sub-domain of its high-level domain in domain registration. Since vanity domains are used for and in behalf of specific individuals, these normally would not impart the full services of an organizational domain name. Vanity domains, aside from being easily remembered, especially when registered as a top level as allowed by the registrar, give the feature of personal mobility, which means they continue to be related to the person even if that person transfers…
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