Today I decided to see what Esperanto country names were available as .COM domains. The answer was surprising, to say the least. LOTS and LOTS of them.

I used the name list HERE, with the restrictions that if a country had a two+ word name, or a hyphen in the name, or any of the ĉapelitaj characters in there, I skipped it. If several variations were given, I checked each.

The number of European countries still available as .COM domains is amazing (although a lot of the "io" names were taken, many of the "ujo" names remain on the table).

Remember, these are .COM domains only - I didn't bother with any of the others. I personally own the "usono.net" domain, and would love to get my hands on the .COM version, but alas - it is not to be.

Anyway, here's the list. Want "svislando.com"? It's available. Want "finnlando.com"? Go for it. Want "haitio.com"? Um, no, you can't have that one - Switzerland might be available, but someone already grabbed Haiti.

Think of it as a little Christmas present from me, doing all the tedious lookup work for you. Now let the virtual land rush begin...

albanujo
afganio
afganistano
afganujo
angvilo
armenujo
bahamoj
barejno
belgujo
belizo
belorusio
belorusujo
bermudoj
Bharato
bjelorusio
bjelorusujo
bocvano
bolivio
Britujo
brunejo
bulgarujo
burkino
burundio
burundo
buvetinsulo
centrafriko
danujo
egiptio
egiptujo
ekvadoro
eritreo
estonujo
etiopio
etiopujo
falklandoj
ferooj
Filipinoj
finnlando
francujo
gabono
Germanujo
Gernseo
Grekio
Greklando
Grekujo
Grenado
Groenlando
Gronlando
Gruzio
Gujano
Gvadelupo
Gvajano
Gvamo
Gvatemalo
Gvineo
Hindujo
Honduro
Hungario
Hungarujo
indonezio
jamajko
japanujo
jordanio
Jugoslavio
Jugoslavujo
kamerunio
kameruno
kartvelio
kartvelujo
kejmanoj
kirgizistano
kiribato
kokosinsuloj
kolombio
komoroj
koreujo
kristnaskinsulo
kroatio
kroatujo
kukinsuloj
kuvajto
latvujo
litovio
litovujo
luksemburgio
luksemburgo
Madagaskaro
Makedonujo
Malajzio
Malavio
Maldivoj
manksinsulo
Meksikio
Mikronezio
Mjanmao
Moldavio
Moldavujo
Moncerato
Mongolujo
Montserato
Mozambiko
Nederlando
Nikaragvo
Norfolkinsulo
Norvegio
Norvegujo
Paragvajo
Portugalujo
Ruando
Rumanujo
Ruslando
Rusujo
Salomonoj
salvadoro
Saotomeo
Senegalio
Singapuro
Slovakio
Slovakujo
Slovenio
Slovenujo
Somalio
Somalujo
Srilanko
suomio
Surinamo
Svazilando
Svedujo
Svislando
Tahitio
Tajlando
Tajvano
Tanzanio
Tokelao
Tunizio
Turkio
Turkmenio
Turkmenistano
Turkmenujo
Turkujo
Ugando
Ukrainio
Ukrainujo
Ukrajno
Urugvajo
Uzbekio
Uzbekistano
Vanuatuo
Venezuelo
Vjetnamio
Vjetnamo
Zairio
Zimbabvo

Note: I can only guarantee that these were available at the time I looked them up. If you like the looks of one, and someone gets there before you do, too bad for you.

Ok! Brilliant post!

Now, for the unitiated, how do I go about acquiring one of those and how much can I expect to pay?

There's a bunch of different domain registrars around. I use directnic. I've heard good things about namecheap.

I pay $15 per year for the usono.net domain. I think it's a bit less at namecheap. Costs vary depending on the services provided, but it typically isn't all that much.

Thanks for that! I might just give that a go. It could prove useful in a couple of years.

If I did pay for one of these, who would I actually be paying, and how did they come by it? I only ask, because I see an annual payment must be made. Seems to me like renting rather than buying. However, in cyberujo I'm a total fremdulo.

Every domain name that you "buy" is really just renting. I think of it as a lease on a domain name; it's yours as long as you keep paying for it, but if you decide that you no longer want to keep paying for it, you can let go of it and someone else can get the same domain name. Or if your company goes out of business, then YourCompany.com can be purchased (=rented, leased) by someone else

That is true - you don't actually "own" a domain, but you do control it as long as you keep paying for it. My domain, for example, points to my wordpress blog. If I stopped the annual fee, that would be the end of that (although, of course, the blog would still have the wordpress URL - just not the usono.net one anymore).

.com sucks! .com = company

.org is better. Organisation is more community and friendly/welcoming.

Your opinion is duly noted.

Whatever.

Or, as they say in the South*, "Well, bless your heart".

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* Usono

Genjix:.com sucks! .com = company

While "com" does stem from "commercial", I find most people just think of it as "community".

Who knows, there may be those who think of it as "communism", or think of ".org" as "organ-trading" or "net" as a shortened form of "neet". Not too worth caring about

RE Haitio.com, it seems to've been snatched up by some Japanese lot, which on second glance seems relatively normal since "haitio" seems almost Japanese somehow .

What's the point of an individual person owning a domain name which should belong to someone else, or to a nation?

The whole point of the Domain Naming System is that you're supposed to register a name which should point to *you*, in order to say "Here I am."