.KIWI Domain Extension

Why choose a .KIWI domain?

The word has three senses, and the one carrying the extension is not the one most people reach for. There is the bird, flightless, a national emblem. There is the fruit, which came from China and only took this name in the twentieth century, for export. And there is the demonym: New Zealanders call themselves Kiwis, plainly and without irony. It is that third sense the extension carries. The registry itself is in Auckland — a registry of the country, for a word of the country.

The demonym

New Zealanders use the word for themselves, routinely. It is the word’s living sense, and the one the extension carries.

The bird

A flightless nocturnal bird that became a national emblem. The original sense, from Māori, before all the others.

The fruit

Native to China, renamed in the twentieth century for export. An ambiguity to accept: many people will think of the fruit first.

A registry in Auckland

DOT KIWI LIMITED is based in New Zealand and runs this word alone. Rare: most extensions are administered from a very long way off.

The diaspora

New Zealanders abroad, associations, expatriate businesses. The word ties an activity to a country without being in it.

What it actually changes

• The demonym outweighs the fruit. It is the sense the registry claims, and the one that makes a community.
• The registry is local. DOT KIWI LIMITED sits in Auckland: rare for a generic extension.
• No registration restrictions. No New Zealand residency to demonstrate to the registrar.
• It carries a country without being a country code. That is what separates it from .nz, reserved for national use.