According to Domain Name Stats, there are nearly 700 million registered domain names worldwide today.

But what was the first ever registered domain name?

The first domain name ever registered was symbolics.com, while the first .org domain ever registered was mitre.org.

This article covers details of the first registered domain used on the internet, how it impacted the domain names and the internet we know today.

What Was the First Domain Name Ever Registered?

symbolics.com, the first ever domain registered, marked the commercialization of the Domain Name System (DNS).

DNS allows the human-readable naming of websites and resources on the internet, rather than using numerical IP addresses.

Today, you can access the original version of symbolics.com on a different web address. If you visit the original symbolics.com website, you’ll see that it was turned into an online museum that details the history of the internet and the web as we know it today.

When Was the First Ever Domain Name Registered?

Symbolics, Inc., a computer manufacturer based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, registered the first-ever domain name on March 15, 1985. Symbolics, Inc. worked on developing computer workstations and software support for the Lisp programming language.

What Was the First .org Domain Ever Registered?

The first .org domain domain ever registered was mitre.org. registered in July 1985. The MITRE Corporation a not-for-profit organization that runs Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFDCs) in the United States is one of the early adopters of domain names in the .org top-level domain (TLD) which was established in January 1985.

Image Source: mitre.org (print screen)

The History of Symbolics Inc.: The Company with First Registered .com Domain

Symbolics, Inc. was founded in 1980 by Russel Noftsker and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Noftsker, who had previously worked at the MIT AI Lab established Symbolics, Inc. with a primary focus on developing and manufacturing computer workstations for the Lisp programming language.

Lisp machines were specialized computers designed to run and compile Lisp-based software efficiently. Computer experts and scientists used Lisp machines to conduct artificial intelligence research and software development.

Symbolics struggled to compete with other companies in the Lisp Machine industry. The biggest competitor was Lisp Machines, Inc. (LMI.) However, as general-purpose workstations and personal computers (PCs) emerged, the Lisp machine market started to decline.

To fight the decline of the Lisp machines, Symbolics focused on developing software. They introduced different software development environments in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Some of them include the operating system Genera, as well as a text editor called Zmacs.

Symbolics, Inc. faced different financial issues in the 1990s and filed for bankruptcy in 1996. Despite the bankruptcy, the symbolics.com domain remains in use today and serves as a historical symbol of the early internet.

Its ownership changed over the years and decades, but its legacy lives on. The final acquisition of the symbolics.com domain name took place in August 2009, by XF.com Investments (now napkin.com.)

Image source: Symbolics.com 

100 Oldest Registered Domain Names

Source: iwhois (archive)

Registration Dates of Tech Companies .com Domain Names

Many tech companies seized the opportunity to kickstart their online presence by registering their domains shortly after the first domain name was registered. Below is a table that shows the dates of the domain registration dates of those companies.

How Many .com Domains Are Registered Nowadays?

According to Domain Name Stats, at the time of writing this article, there are 255,850,094 which makes up 36.75% of all registered domains.

Final Word

Symbolics, Inc.’s symbolics.com was the first domain ever registered. It kickstarted the domain name system (DNS) we know today, with thousands of new domain names being registered daily.

If you’re looking to build a website, it’s worth remembering that purchasing a domain name is not enough. Read about the best web hosting and best website builders to make a dream website for your personal needs or your business.

Next Steps: What Now

• Learn more about domain names: A domain name is a human-readable web address used to locate websites or resources on the internet, like “example.com”
• Learn how to set up a domain name and web hosting
• Inform yourself about the best hosting services to choose from.