The Internet, in some form or another, has been around since the 1960s. But you couldn’t register domain names until the mid-1980s. Here’s a list of the oldest websites on the Internet and the oldest domain names registered.
The First Website On The Internet
Have you ever wondered what the first website on the internet was? The first registered domain on the Internet was symbolics.com. Symbolics, Inc. was a software development firm that obviously had someone on staff who kept their finger on the pulse of the events leading up to the birth of our modern Internet. The company Symbolics doesn’t exist anymore, but they will forever hold a place in history as the oldest domain name on the Internet.
The Oldest Domains On The Internet: .COM List
Symbolics was just one of many companies that secured domain names in the mid-1980s. Here’s a list of the 100 oldest domain names with a .com extension. Most of the companies aren’t around anymore, but some big names like Apple, GE, Cisco, and Adobe round out the top 100.
Order Registered |
Domains (.com) | Date |
Current Traffic Rank |
001 | symbolics.com | 03/15/85 | 288052 |
002 | bbn.com | 04/24/85 | 210628 |
003 | think.com | 05/24/85 | n/a |
004 | mcc.com | 07/11/85 | 423261 |
005 | dec.com | 09/30/85 | n/a |
006 | northrop.com | 11/07/85 | n/a |
007 | xerox.com | 01/09/86 | 9561 |
008 | sri.com | 01/17/86 | 100494 |
009 | hp.com | 03/03/86 | 191 |
010 | bellcore.com | 03/05/86 | n/a |
011 | ibm.com | 03/19/86 | 411 |
012 | sun.com | 03/19/86 | 484 |
013 | intel.com | 03/25/86 | 1018 |
014 | ti.com | 03/25/86 | 11757 |
015 | att.com | 04/25/86 | 336 |
016 | gmr.com | 05/08/86 | n/a |
017 | tek.com | 05/08/86 | 71044 |
018 | fmc.com | 07/10/86 | 688877 |
019 | ub.com | 07/10/86 | n/a |
020 | bell-atl.com | 08/05/86 | n/a |
021 | ge.com | 08/05/86 | 11629 |
022 | grebyn.com | 08/05/86 | n/a |
023 | isc.com | 08/05/86 | n/a |
024 | nsc.com | 08/05/86 | n/a |
025 | stargate.com | 08/05/86 | 183064 |
026 | boeing.com | 09/02/86 | 15882 |
027 | itcorp.com | 09/18/86 | n/a |
028 | siemens.com | 09/29/86 | 4802 |
029 | pyramid.com | 10/18/86 | 804133 |
030 | alphacdc.com | 10/27/86 | n/a |
031 | bdm.com | 10/27/86 | 503674 |
032 | fluke.com | 10/27/86 | 113826 |
033 | inmet.com | 10/27/86 | n/a |
034 | kesmai.com | 10/27/86 | n/a |
035 | mentor.com | 10/27/86 | 86074 |
036 | nec.com | 10/27/86 | 38938 |
037 | ray.com | 10/27/86 | n/a |
038 | rosemount.com | 10/27/86 | n/a |
039 | vortex.com | 10/27/86 | 502710 |
040 | alcoa.com | 11/05/86 | 104909 |
041 | gte.com | 11/05/86 | n/a |
042 | adobe.com | 11/17/86 | 56 |
043 | amd.com | 11/17/86 | 2001 |
044 | das.com | 11/17/86 | n/a |
045 | data-io.com | 11/17/86 | n/a |
046 | octopus.com | 11/17/86 | 775704 |
047 | portal.com | 11/17/86 | n/a |
048 | teltone.com | 11/17/86 | n/a |
049 | 3com.com | 12/11/86 | 33649 |
050 | amdahl.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
051 | ccur.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
052 | ci.com | 12/11/86 | 196502 |
053 | convergent.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
054 | dg.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
055 | peregrine.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
056 | quad.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
057 | sq.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
058 | tandy.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
059 | tti.com | 12/11/86 | n/a |
060 | unisys.com | 12/11/86 | 23969 |
061 | cgi.com | 01/19/87 | 102209 |
062 | cts.com | 01/19/87 | n/a |
063 | spdcc.com | 01/19/87 | n/a |
064 | apple.com | 02/19/87 | 66 |
065 | nma.com | 03/04/87 | n/a |
066 | prime.com | 03/04/87 | n/a |
067 | philips.com | 04/04/87 | 2810 |
068 | datacube.com | 04/23/87 | n/a |
069 | kai.com | 04/23/87 | n/a |
070 | tic.com | 04/23/87 | n/a |
071 | vine.com | 04/23/87 | n/a |
072 | ncr.com | 04/30/87 | 46207 |
073 | cisco.com | 05/14/87 | 1329 |
074 | rdl.com | 05/14/87 | n/a |
075 | slb.com | 05/20/87 | 11557 |
076 | parcplace.com | 05/27/87 | n/a |
077 | utc.com | 05/27/87 | 135686 |
078 | ide.com | 06/26/87 | n/a |
079 | trw.com | 07/09/87 | 224218 |
080 | unipress.com | 07/13/87 | n/a |
081 | dupont.com | 07/27/87 | 24676 |
082 | lockheed.com | 07/27/87 | n/a |
083 | rosetta.com | 07/28/87 | 266032 |
084 | toad.com | 08/18/87 | n/a |
085 | quick.com | 08/31/87 | n/a |
086 | allied.com | 09/03/87 | 111176 |
087 | dsc.com | 09/03/87 | 351550 |
088 | sco.com | 09/03/87 | 76724 |
089 | gene.com | 09/22/87 | 108440 |
090 | kccs.com | 09/22/87 | n/a |
091 | spectra.com | 09/22/87 | 776373 |
092 | wlk.com | 09/22/87 | n/a |
093 | mentat.com | 09/30/87 | n/a |
094 | wyse.com | 10/14/87 | 313648 |
095 | cfg.com | 11/02/87 | n/a |
096 | marble.com | 11/09/87 | 113962 |
097 | cayman.com | 11/16/87 | n/a |
098 | entity.com | 11/16/87 | n/a |
099 | ksr.com | 11/24/87 | n/a |
100 | nynexst.com | 11/30/87 | n/a |
The Oldest Domains On The Internet: .ORG List
Oldest .ORG domains: | |||
01 | mitre.org | 07/10/85 | 54846 |
02 | src.org | 03/25/86 | n/a |
03 | super.org | 07/10/86 | n/a |
05 | aero.org | 01/07/87 | 555226 |
06 | mcnc.org | 01/15/87 | n/a |
07 | rand.org | 04/02/87 | 61186 |
08 | mn.org | 04/04/87 | n/a |
09 | rti.org | 05/01/87 | 248138 |
10 | n/a | ?? | ?? |
11 | usenix.org | 07/14/87 | 98286 |
12 | n/a | ?? | ?? |
13 | software.org | 10/03/87 | n/a |
The Oldest Websites On The Internet: .EDU List
The Ivy League and large private and State schools were the first to register .edu domain names.
Oldest .EDU domains: | |||
01 | berkeley.edu | 04/24/85 | 1580 |
02 | purdue.edu | 04/24/85 | 2776 |
03 | ucla.edu | 04/24/85 | 2629 |
04 | mit.edu | 05/23/85 | 1158 |
05 | harvard.edu | 06/27/85 | 1487 |
06 | columbia.edu | 07/05/85 | 2775 |
07 | cornell.edu | 07/15/85 | 2441 |
08 | uiuc.edu | 07/18/85 | 2651 |
09 | udel.edu | 07/24/85 | 11999 |
10 | umd.edu | 07/31/85 | 4062 |
11 | utexas.edu | 08/13/85 | 2179 |
12 | usc.edu | 08/20/85 | 4480 |
13 | wisc.edu | 09/30/85 | 2743 |
14 | uci.edu | 09/30/85 | 5377 |
15 | stanford.edu | 10/04/85 | 1276 |
16 | umich.edu | 10/07/85 | 2242 |
17 | ucsd.edu | 12/09/85 | 5036 |
18 | arizona.edu | 01/23/86 | 4151 |
19 | ucsf.edu | 02/21/86 | 14279 |
20 | indiana.edu | 03/03/86 | 4832 |
21 | ucdavis.edu | 03/19/86 | 6016 |
22 | virginia.edu | 03/19/86 | 3227 |
23 | ufl.edu | 03/25/86 | 3200 |
24 | bu.edu | 03/25/86 | 5945 |
25 | gatech.edu | 05/08/86 | 7101 |
26 | duke.edu | 06/02/86 | 4582 |
27 | upenn.edu | 06/02/86 | 2451 |
28 | emory.edu | 06/02/86 | 11327 |
29 | unc.edu | 06/17/86 | 4359 |
30 | brown.edu | 08/27/86 | 11759 |
31 | unm.edu | 08/27/86 | 11735 |
32 | washington.edu | 09/04/86 | 2336 |
33 | nyu.edu | 10/08/86 | 3214 |
34 | umn.edu | 01/21/87 | 2602 |
35 | clemson.edu | 02/19/87 | 17235 |
36 | yale.edu | 03/17/87 | 4504 |
37 | princeton.edu | 04/03/87 | 4286 |
38 | uvm.edu | 04/14/87 | 14612 |
39 | ncsu.edu | 04/16/87 | 4912 |
40 | ucop.edu | 04/30/87 | 45277 |
41 | colostate.edu | 05/27/87 | 7860 |
42 | iastate.edu | 06/22/87 | 7616 |
43 | miami.edu | 07/23/87 | 15798 |
44 | uconn.edu | 08/18/87 | 14286 |
45 | fsu.edu | 11/24/87 | 7400 |
The Oldest Domains On The Internet: .NET List
The oldest websites with .net domains aren’t very well known. Try them for yourself. None of them even exist anymore.
Oldest .NET domains: | |||
01 | nsf.net | 11/05/86 | n/a |
02 | uu.net | 05/20/87 | 165772 |
03 | sesqui.net | 07/21/87 | n/a |
In The Early Days, Registering Premium Domain Names Was Easy
For the decade that followed, it was still very easy to secure premium domain names. For example, Weather.com wasn’t registered until 1994. Why? People didn’t understand the Internet yet.
As you can see in this infamous clip from the TODAY Show, in the mid-1990s, people still didn’t understand the difference between email and websites. And TV personalities, in general, struggled to explain the “World Wide Web” to their viewers.
Just imagine if you had a time machine and could travel back to the 1980s-1990s and secure domain names. What domains would you register? How many of the oldest websites on the Internet would you own today? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @methodshop.
The 100 Oldest Websites On The Internet. Guess How Many Of Them Still Exist? Share on XSource: TG Daily
Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.
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