.hip

Is .hip a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?

Culture
applicants
  • ShortDotIn a catalog
on the record since Sep 8, 2026 · updated Sep 8, 2026
AI score
26/ 100
Vanity and narrow

A niche TLD for lifestyle, streetwear, hip-hop and nightlife brands wanting a playful "cool" suffix, plus a smaller orthopedic/health niche and acronym holders (HIP) looking for a short hack.

assessed by claude-fable-5-1 · Sep 8, 2026
AI score 26 of 100. .com scores 96, .ai scores 84.
who it’s for

lifestyle, streetwear, hip-hop and nightlife brands wanting a playful "cool" suffix, plus a smaller orthopedic/health niche and acronym holders (HIP) looking for a short hack

CultureBrandCommerceOther
applicants
1 on file
ShortDotIn a catalog

One of the 80 strings ShortDot published for the ICANN 2026 round. ShortDot states it has submitted 40 applications, but publishes the 80 strings without revealing which 40 are applications and which 40 are designated replacements. The submission claim is therefore applicant-level, not string-level: nothing in the source says ShortDot applied for THIS string. Catalogued, not announced.

closest 2012 bets
3 of 1,408

The 2012 applications making the most similar bet. Chosen by AI from every string in that round, without being told what happened to any of them.

.coolstrong parallel
delegated 2014 · live23,196 domains · May 2026

Near-identical bet: a short slang English adjective of trendiness with no defined registrant class, sold as a vibe suffix to anyone who wants the name to editorialize about them, so its value rests entirely on the adjective staying culturally current.

uncontested · scored 35* in 2012 · run by Koko Lake, LLC

.hotmoderate
delegated 2016 · live1,098 domains · May 2026

Same shape of bet — a one-syllable colloquial adjective meaning fashionable/in-demand, marketed horizontally rather than to any industry — though it carries a heat/temperature literal use that gives it commercial footholds .hip lacks.

3 applicants contested it · scored 40* in 2012 · run by Amazon EU S.à r.l.

.sexymoderate
delegated 2013 · live3,024 domains · May 2026

Also a speculative slang-adjective play whose registrants buy an attitude rather than a category, but its adult-content gravity narrows the buyer pool in a way a neutral trendiness word like .hip does not.

uncontested · scored 32* in 2012 · run by Uniregistry, Corp.

* A separate 2012-only read, time-locked to what was public that year. Different scale from this page’s score, so the two are not comparable.

history
  1. ShortDot · first recordedSep 8, 2026
    ShortDot (Ireland) Limited
news & sources
CatalogShortDot's 80 strings for the ICANN 2026 round
Sep 8, 2026
ShortDot (Ireland) Limited has submitted 40 applications to ICANN's 2026 New gTLD Program. The 80 strings shown include applied-for and designated replacement strings across ShortDot's 40 ICANN applications, presented without revealing their status or pairing.
ShortDot (Ireland) Limited
about ShortDot
NewsShortDot applies for 40 top level domains
Sep 8, 2026
The company just disclosed its 40 applications and 40 replacement strings.
Domain Name Wire
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This record is corrected in the open. See the changelog and methodology.