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    • .am

    Country-code top-level domainsDNSSEC

    Overview

    .am is the country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Armenia. It is managed by the Armenia Network Information Centre (AMNIC) under the Internet Society of Armenia (ISOC-AM), headquartered in Yerevan. Registrations are permitted directly at the second level.

    History

    • Introduced: 26 August 1994.
    • Registry/operator: AMNIC, operated by ISOC-AM (the local Internet Society chapter).
    • Technical milestones noted by the registry include migration to IPv6 compatibility and deployment of DNSSEC.
    • A complementary Armenian-script top-level domain, .հայ, was delegated in 2014 and launched in 2016.
    • Armenia participates in regional and technical bodies such as the Council of European National Top Level Domain Registries and RIPE NCC.

    Usage and Audience

    • Intended for entities connected with Armenia; in practice it is primarily used in Armenia.
    • Also used by AM radio stations because of the AM association, similar to other ccTLDs like .fm and .tv.
    • Popular globally for domain hacks and branding that form English words ending in "am".

    Registration Rules

    • Eligibility: Any person in the world can register .am and the common second-level zones (for example .com.am, .net.am, .org.am) through registrars accredited by ISOC-AM.
    • Registration structure: Registrations are permitted directly at the second level; available second-level zones include .com.am, .co.am, .org.am, .net.am and .commune.am.
    • Review and timing: Every registration is subject to review, typically taking about 2–3 working days.
    • Restrictions and revocation: Armenian law and AMNIC policy prohibit use for spam, pornography, terrorism, or other materials inconsistent with public order or morality. The registry reserves the right to revoke registrations for spam, obscenity, illegal or immoral activity.
    • Character rules:
      • Permitted symbols: Latin lowercase letters, digits (0-9), and the dash (-).
      • Labels must not begin with a dash or include two sequential dashes.
      • Maximum label length: 63 characters.
    • Internationalized (Unicode) names: AMNIC has stated that Unicode-compatible names will not be instituted until related IPv6 issues are resolved.

    SEO and Brand Impact

    • The .am extension is frequently used for branding and memorable domain hacks, leveraging English words ending in "am" and the AM radio association.
    • This unconventional usage has driven adoption outside Armenia for marketing and creative domain names.

    Notable Cases or Examples

    • Instagr.am (Instagram) — a well-known example of a domain hack using .am.
    • Stre.am — used by a live video streaming service to form the word "stream."
    • will.i.am — the artist uses an .am-based domain for branding.
    • Various AM radio stations use .am domains to reflect their broadcast band.

    Operator

    "Internet Society" Non-governmental Organization

    Whois

    % IANA WHOIS server
% for more information on IANA, visit http://www.iana.org
% This query returned 1 object

domain:       AM

organisation: "Internet Society" Non-governmental Organization
address:      17 A.Khachaturyan str. #3
address:      Yerevan 0012
address:      Armenia

contact:      administrative
name:         Igor Mkrtumyan
organisation: "Internet Society" Non-governmental Organization
address:      17 A.Khachaturyan str. #3
address:      Yerevan 0012
address:      Armenia
phone:        +374 91 415539
fax-no:       +374 6027 2271
e-mail:       imkrtumyan@isoc.am

contact:      technical
name:         Misak Khachatryan
organisation: "Internet Society" Non-governmental Organization
address:      17 A.Khachaturyan str. #3
address:      Yerevan 0012
address:      Armenia
phone:        +374 93 199840
e-mail:       misak@amnic.net

nserver:      FORK.STH.DNSNODE.NET 2a01:3f0:0:306:0:0:0:53 77.72.229.254
nserver:      NS-CDN.AMNIC.NET 194.0.1.26 2001:678:4:0:0:0:0:1a
nserver:      NS-PCH.AMNIC.NET 2001:500:14:6096:ad:0:0:1 204.61.216.96
nserver:      NS-PRI.NIC.AM 195.43.75.53 2001:7f9:8:53:0:0:0:1
ds-rdata:     39902 13 2 1effe17270b22f528b6ac182f4e404cb893a0272ee10a36de1322d86a4f6a8c7

whois:        whois.amnic.net

status:       ACTIVE
remarks:      Registration information: https://www.amnic.net/

created:      1994-08-26
changed:      2024-11-27
source:       IANA

    Registrars