Welcome to the first post in my UK-Namespace category. This category will be used to look at the current state of the .UK domain space and provide statistics on the .UK space from a private database.
I wanted to start by looking at the confusion surrounding .me.uk domains.
Nominet requirements for registering a .me.uk domain:
The .me.uk SLD is intended to provide a personal namespace within the .uk Top Level Domain. Unless Rules 9.4 or 9.5 apply, registrants of .me.uk domain names must be, and remain at all times, natural persons (a “qualifying person?), and shall not be recorded on the register as being the agent, trustee, proxy or representative for any person or entity (whether having an individual legal personality or not) which is not a qualifying person.
Many people believe that these rules mean a .me.uk domain should be based on a persons name, for example – lesleycowley.me.uk – or that the domain could be anything (ie poker.me.uk) as long as it’s only used for personal purposes.
I believe a lot of the confusion surrounds an old requirement which has since been removed:
reasonably faithful representation of that person’s legal name
I too found the wording to be somewhat open to interpretation. And with so many .me.uk domains being used for commercial purposes(see left image), I decided to give Nominet a call* and get confirmation on the matter.
I was advised that a .me.uk domain can indeed be any combination of words (of course trademark rules etc still apply). So poker.me.uk is just as valid as lesleycowley.me.uk.
I was also advised that the domain can be used for business purposes as long as the domain is registered to an individual.
So there you have it. From the horses mouth 
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