Can emojis be used in a domain name?

Emojis under every suffixes?

If you search a little, you’ll find domain names that include emojis (like i❤.ws or 🦣🦕.bortzmeyer.fr) so yes, it is possible for domain names to contain these characters. But if you try to register one in .fr or .com, your request will be refused. So, in fact the answer is no.

The explanation is somewhat complicated as we need to look closely at both the technical standard and the registration rules, in other words the registry policy.

The technical standard for permitted characters in domain names

The technical standard for characters that are permitted in a domain name is RFC 5892. It doesn’t make for an easy read, as you won’t find the list of permitted characters but rather an algorithm to generate this list using the Unicode Standard. Unicode is a standard that specifies a character set, in other words a list of characters¹ like A, z, Ɣ and  ர. Each character has a numeric value, the code point, usually written in hexadecimal.  A is U+0061, z U+007A, Ɣ U+0194 and ர U+0BB0. Unicode also includes our friends emojis, like ⛽ (U+26FD) or 🚆(U+1F686). If you want to explore the Unicode character set, I recommend the fantastic Uniview website.

Unicode is not just a list of characters. The characters are assigned a category, and have a certain number of properties. A and Ɣ, for example, are in the Lu (Uppercase Letter) category, z in the Ll (Lowercase Letter) category and ர the Lo (Other Letter) category. However, ⛽ and 🚆are in the So (Other Symbol) category – note that there is no “emoji” category.

The RFC 5892 algorithm is complex and I won’t go into detail here. The important thing is that it encompasses several categories of letters and numbers² but not symbols. The result of this algorithm is stored in IANA in the form of a list of characters or character ranges. If their property value is PVALID, they can be used for a domain name. Otherwise, they cannot³. 🚆, for instance, is in the 1F300-1F6D5 range (from 🌀 to 🛕) which is indicated as DISALLOWED.

In short, the technical standard is clear: no emojis in domain names.

Despite this, emojis can be found in some domain names, for reasons that will become clear below. But there is no guarantee that they will work with all software and IT systems. For starters, perfectly valid domain names are sometimes refused for arbitrary and unfounded reasons (a problem known as “universal acceptance”), so there’s no reason to think that invalid names will work properly.

Different emoji registration rules depending on the registry

It’s not just about the technical side of things, you also need to consider registry registration rules. Those of .fr give a restrictive list of permitted characters⁴ that does not include emojis (which makes sense, given the technical standard) nor characters not used in French (Chinese characters, for example).

For TLDs⁵ subject to ICANN rules⁶, these impose compliance with technical standards⁷ and, once again, emojis are not accepted. Note that some names with emojis were registered before the technical and policy situation was stabilised, and therefore remain active, such as ☻.com.

In contrast, TLDs not under contract with ICANN can do what they want, which is why two or three TLDs exist that do accept emojis, and even leverage this possibility, even though invalid from a technical standpoint, as a marketing tool.

However, even in TLDs that do not accept these characters for registrations, given the tree structure of the DNS⁸, name holders can use names with emojis as sub-domains of their domain, which is how 🦣🦕.bortzmeyer.fr works, for instance. Although technically incorrect, these names can be accepted in certain circumstances and with certain software.

No consensus on emojis

There is no consensus when it comes to emojis: some question their utility (drawings, not characters), their stability (given that they are subject to trends, they may be registered in Unicode then forgotten) and criticise their cost given that their potential number – almost infinite – could fill up all the available slots of the Unicode standard. Currently, the problem is avoided by a relatively subjective selection process (why is there a mango emoji but not a papaya one?).

When it comes down to it, even if just because the technical standard does not provide for this case, the use of emojis in domain names is clearly not recommended: the likelihood of them working across the board is low.

1 – Given the complexity of human writing, which Unicode standardises but without attempting to change or simplify, the reality is more convoluted, especially given that the term “character” can have several meanings. Read the Unicode standard to learn more.

2 – The full algorithm is given in section 2 of the RFC but sub-section 2.1 gives you the most important part, the list of main categories.

3 – The exact rule is slightly more complex, see the RFC.

4 – This is a good time to remind you that, yes, you can use compound characters in a domain name.

5 – Top-Level Domain, such as .bzh or .com.

6 – Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, private regulator of certain Internet domain names.

7 – You can find more detailed information in this article from the .com registry, even though it does not specifically mention emojis.

8 – Domain Name System

9 – American Standard Code for Information Interchange, a former character set only suitable for English (and Dutch).