Reserved domain

A reserved domain is a name a registry or ICANN has withheld from registration entirely — not priced high, but not for sale at all. Like premium names, reserved names hold no registry record, so availability tools routinely report them as available when no registrar can ever sell them.

Last updated 2026-05-06

Also known as: Registry reserved name, Blocked domain, Restricted name

In depth

Every gTLD registry operates under a Base Registry Agreement whose Specification 5 requires a standing reserved list: two-character labels, a set of ICANN and IANA operational names, country and territory names from the ISO 3166-1 list, and names tied to international organisations. Registries may reserve additional names of their own for internal use, future launches, or brand protection.

Reserved differs from premium in one decisive way: price. A premium name has a number attached and can be bought by anyone willing to pay it. A reserved name has no price because it is not on sale. Some reserved names are eventually released — registries can request removal of a reservation through ICANN's RSEP process, which is how single-character labels reached the market in several TLDs — but that is a policy change, not a purchase.

The detection problem is identical to premium, and for the same underlying reason: a reserved name has no object in the registry database, so RDAP answers 404 and every checker built on registry data alone concludes the name is free. Two adjacent mechanisms look the same from outside — trademark block services such as Identity Digital's DPML let brand owners block a label across a whole portfolio of TLDs, and registry-level policy holds can withdraw a name after launch. So "available" from a free lookup tool reliably means "no current registration", not "you can register this".

Examples

Every two-character label is reserved by default across gTLDs under Specification 5 — ab.example is unregistered and unbuyable.
Country names from ISO 3166-1 are reserved in every gTLD, so a name matching one is withheld regardless of demand.
A DPML block can make a trademarked label unregisterable across hundreds of Identity Digital TLDs at once, with no registry record in any of them.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a reserved and a premium domain?

A premium name is for sale at a registry-set price. A reserved name is not for sale at any price. Both are unregistered, and both look identical to an availability checker reading registry data.

Can a reserved domain ever be released?

Yes, through ICANN's Registry Services Evaluation Process. Registries have used it to release single-character and two-character labels. There is no schedule, and no way to reserve your place in advance.

Why does my registrar show a reserved name as available?

Most search boxes report registry availability, and a reserved name genuinely has no registration. The block lives in registry policy rather than in the registration database, so it is invisible to a plain lookup.

Are two-character domains always reserved?

They start reserved under Specification 5, but many registries have released them via RSEP. Whether a specific two-character name is registerable depends entirely on that TLD's current policy.

How can I tell whether a name is reserved or just unregistered?

Not from registry data — both look identical. The practical test is a registrar search: an unregistered name offers a price, a reserved one returns nothing or an error.

Related terms

References

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