.wave
Is .wave a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
.wave is not contested. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list, as of 8 October 2026. It is Starlight (Namecheap). GoDaddy Registry named .wave as a backup string for its .omg application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A pleasant, brandable word without a clear home market; expect price-driven signups and name-hacks, not a go-to identity.
brand-minded startups and creatives wanting a short evocative suffix (audio and music tools, surf and ocean projects, wellness and energy brands, name-hacks like heat.wave or sound.wave)
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .omg application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
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 as .wave: a short, concrete-but-metaphorical single-syllable English noun that no industry owns, sold on connotation rather than category fit, so its registrants are brands and products borrowing the word's feel rather than any defined vertical.
Also a common evocative noun with no owning category, monetized as an open general-purpose registry where the string's metaphorical stretch (place/room/frontier, as with wave's motion/signal/sound) is the entire value proposition.
Another generic non-vertical noun bet where anyone can plausibly claim it, but it reads more as a functional locational suffix than a naming-grade evocative word, so it attracts utility registrations rather than the primary-identity brand use .wave is chasing.
What a .wave domain is
.wave is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, filed under Brand. One application for it is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list.
Is the .wave domain extension real yet?
.wave is not yet a domain extension you can register: nothing resolves under it, and no registrar sells names in it. It is a string applicants have put forward in the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, the process that decides whether it becomes one.
When can you buy a .wave domain?
You can’t yet. A .wave 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 .wave was .spot, delegated on 19 February 2016.
Is .wave a real TLD?
Not yet. .wave is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because .wave is on ICANN’s Reveal Day list of applied-for strings. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Starlight (Namecheap) · noteDomain Name Wire
- GoDaddy Registry · first recordedICANN
- Starlight (Namecheap) · first recordedICANN
“REI2641T-T28496 · Regulus Exploration, Inc. · primary”ICANN
“NA2631T-T98126 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .omg · Deactivated REI2641T-T28496 · Regulus Exploration, Inc. · primary”ICANN
“For us, moving into the registry side is a natural extension of what we have been building.”Domain Name Wire
- Band chosen: 30-49 (usable but limited). It is not in the 50-69 band because 'wave' anchors no single buyer category — audio, surf, crypto, and wellness each claim a sliver, so no cohort treats it as a primary-identity convention, and by analogy to evocative-word gTLDs like .space, .life, and .live (which moved volume largely on promotional pricing rather than brand pull) demand should be broad but shallow. It is not in the 10-29 band because the string is a common positive dictionary word with genuine name-hack and brandable appeal, and the applicant is a registry venture of Namecheap, one of the largest registrars, which plausibly gives it stronger retail distribution than a typical vanity string — an adoption inference from the applicant fact, flagged as such. Aftermarket value will likely concentrate in a handful of one-word and hack combinations rather than a deep resale market. Main market uncertainty: whether any one vertical (most plausibly audio/music tooling) coalesces around .wave as a naming convention in the next 5 years, which would push it toward the strong-niche band.