Verisign Withdraws Termination of 22,000 .name Domains After ICANN Reconsideration

Verisign had notified registrants of intent to end third-level .name registrations and terminate legacy domains. ICANN's Board Governance Committee granted reconsideration after formal filings documented operational reliance on the domains for email routing. Existing domains and redirects remain active indefinitely while new third-level registrations stay closed.

The primary record is the 10 November 2026 reconsideration decision posted at neil.fraser.name. Supporting documentation includes the original Verisign registry agreement amendment filing and the ICANN BGC recommendation that cited 22,000 affected names. No public Verisign retraction notice has been issued; confirmation rests on the ICANN resolution and registrant notifications.

The outcome preserves continuity for personal-name domains created between 2002 and 2025. It establishes a narrow precedent limited to .name rather than broader gTLD policy. Email redirect services tied to these domains avoid immediate breakage that would have required mass migration within 90 days.

Registry operators will now focus compliance resources on new gTLD contracts instead of legacy .name wind-down. ICANN compliance will monitor third-level registration closure enforcement through quarterly reports beginning Q1 2027.