.stratagem
Is .stratagem a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody is chasing .stratagem, as of 7 October 2026. One applicant claimed it and is out. We keep the entry on the record either way.
- Journey To The West
A clever word with a tiny market: few projects would brand themselves a stratagem, so expect novelty use, not serious identities.
strategy-game studios and communities, wargaming brands, strategy consultants wanting a wordplay domain, and personal-brand hobbyists drawn to the word's flavor
In Journey To The West's published portfolio of 323 strings submitted in the ICANN 2026 round. Their catalog line: “A clever plan, centuries in the making.”
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.
Same bet shape: not a category noun but a connotation word for cleverness/expertise, sold as an open registry to advisors, agencies and consultants who want the word's flavor rather than membership in an industry — though .guru is short, colloquial and instantly understood where .stratagem is a nine-letter literary term with a much thinner natural registrant base.
The same wager on an uncommon Latinate abstract noun with no community that already calls itself by that name, where everything depends on the word being evocative enough that businesses adopt it as brandable identity space.
Also an abstract strategy-flavored noun aimed at firms wanting an aspirational identity, but it is a common everyday word with a literal second market (eyewear/optics), so its registrant pool is far broader and less dependent on the word's rarity than .stratagem's.
What a .stratagem domain is
.stratagem is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Culture. Nobody is chasing .stratagem today. The applicants that claimed it are out.
Is the .stratagem domain extension real yet?
.stratagem is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. Nobody has applied for it on the public record; the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round is the process that would decide whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .stratagem domain?
You can’t yet. A .stratagem name can only be registered once the string is delegated (added to the DNS root) and its registry opens. Last round's closest parallel to .stratagem was .guru, delegated on 6 November 2013.
Is .stratagem a real TLD?
Not yet. .stratagem is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because an applicant claimed .stratagem and is no longer in it. We keep the entry, and every entry on this page links to its source.
- Journey To The West · now abandonedICANN
- Journey To The West · first recordedJourney To The West Corporation
“.stratagem · Philosophy & Learning · “A clever plan, centuries in the making.””Journey To The West Corporation
- Band 10-29 (vanity/narrow). The string is a long, low-frequency English noun with slightly archaic, even scheming connotations; businesses in the adjacent space overwhelmingly brand around 'strategy' or 'consulting', not 'stratagem', so primary-identity demand is scarce. By analogy (flagged as analogy), obscure single-dictionary-word gTLDs from prior rounds tend to settle into low-volume novelty registration patterns with negligible aftermarkets, unlike category words such as .app or .shop that map to a large buyer class. It is not band 30-49 because there is no plausible price- or volume-driven registration base — the word names no product category, profession, or place. It is not band 1-9 because a realistic sliver of demand exists: the word has genuine currency in wargaming and strategy-game culture, and a handful of studios, community sites, and consultancies could adopt it as a deliberate flavor choice over the next 5 years. The applicant is a portfolio applicant with a large announced catalog, which neutrally suggests standard registry marketing rather than category-building investment. Main market uncertainty: whether gaming-culture affinity for the word converts into any measurable registration niche or stays a curiosity.