Before websites, the Internet already needed names

Imagine sending every contact a fresh copy of your address book whenever a number changed. It might work for a small group. As the group grows, keeping every copy current becomes difficult.

Early networks faced a similar problem. Names and computer addresses were kept in a central file, HOSTS.TXT, which machines downloaded. More computers meant more changes. A different organisation was needed.

A directory to distribute rather than keep copying

In 1983, Paul Mockapetris at the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute designed the Domain Name System, or DNS. Its first descriptions, RFCs 882 and 883, appeared in November. An RFC is a published technical document describing a mechanism or proposal; these helped establish the naming system.

The key change was to distribute responsibility. Instead of maintaining one list in one place, different administrators could manage parts of an organised whole. Names had levels separated by dots, allowing responsibility for a part to be delegated without rewriting the whole directory.

This was more than a way to offer memorable words. It allowed the system to grow. The specifications were subsequently revised and clarified in RFCs 1034 and 1035 in 1987.

People and responsibilities behind the dots

The change built on existing organisational work. Elizabeth Feinler led the ARPANET and later DDN information centres at SRI. Her team managed the host naming registry from 1972 to 1989 and helped develop familiar naming categories. DNS history includes that everyday work of keeping a network usable.

In October 1984, Jon Postel and Joyce Reynolds published RFC 920. It described requirements for establishing domains and categories including .com, .edu and .org, alongside two-letter country codes. The dots in a name reflect a management structure, rather than merely a visual convention.

Take atelier.example, a name reserved for documentation. It sits under an extension. Associated settings help locate services. DNS provides directions; it is neither the website itself nor its content.

1985: a .com, but not yet the Web

On 15 March 1985, symbolics.com became the first second-level registration under .com, according to ICANN. It was not the first website: Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN in 1989. Domain names preceded that system of pages joined by links.

The Web would make those names familiar far beyond specialist networks. Businesses would put them on cards, signs and advertisements. A naming infrastructure also became part of a brand.

The history explains a distinction that still matters: registering a name, hosting a website and providing email remain different operations. Several providers can sit behind the same name. Knowing their roles helps a business change services without losing the reference customers recognise.