A number of .name domains went live yesterday (15 January), the first time a top-level generic domain has been administered outside the US.

The .name suffix is the fourth to go live of the seven new domains picked last year. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers announced last August that it had signed an agreement with the London-based Global Name Registry (GNR) for the introduction of the new suffix.

Since mid-August individuals have been able to register .name domains but will only now be able to have them resolved by domain name servers on the internet.

The GNR hopes to turn the new top-level domain into a digital repository of information for everyday use by family, friends, business associates and service providers.