macrons in .nz domain names

April 15, 2020

This blog post is an update to my June 05 2011 post “Registering a domain name with a macron“.

Since July 26, 2010 in New Zealand, all authorised .nz registrars have to be able to register a .nz domain name with a macron. Not all offer this service though. This type of domain is called an International Domain Name (IDN).

Contents hide

1 .māori.nz and .maori.nz

2 Should you use macrons in your domain name?

3 Punycode

3.1 Punycode chart

4 Authorized Registrars

5 Umlaut domain names

It is likely that larger more reputable providers will offer the ability to register a macron in their .nz domain names as there is a large international market for non English language domains.

.māori.nz and .maori.nz

By default, any maori.nz domain name registration is also be capable of displaying the macron, should the registered owner so desire. It requires a simple Add on Domain to be added to the web server of the email and web site.

I recommend that if you do not wish to use the macron in a maori.nz domain name, that you should consider modifying your web server to recognise māori.nz as many Māori writers and modern day software will automatically add a macron to the word Māori. By not doing so, you could loose visitors. Another common issue I often see is staff of organisations writing the web address or email and their systems automatically add the macron to the address and then adds it as a link. The link will only work if the web server has been modified to recognise it.

Should you use macrons in your domain name?

If the name in your domain name is a Māori word that normally has a macron, I would suggest using both spellings of your name in the domain. This will require two separate domain name registrations.

You should add one to your web host server and use the other as a primary. The reason is that most Māori writers will either instinctively add the macron or the software will do it for them. Non Māori writers and speakers will likely not use the macron.

My previous research from January 25 2015 is that most email clients and New Zealand government departments do not recognise a non English character in a domain name.

I have seen no proof of detrimental SEO issues of using the two domain names to represent non Latin characters.

Punycode

Punycode is a representation of Unicode with the limited ASCII character subset used for Internet hostnames. If your web server, email client or browser is not ‘fully’ UTF-8 compliant, your macron address will convert back to punycode. Most modern systems are at least partially compliant and will recognise a UTF-8 macron, and then convert it to punycode. If you have SSL you will need to edit the certificate to accommodate the new addresses.

A real life example is http://www.ngaitahu.māori.nz is configured to go to http://www.ngaitahu.maori.nz.

I made the decision to not register the word ‘ngaitahu’ with a macron which is orthographically correct. This also means that anyone else can register the domain name ngāitahu.maori.nz .

Punycode chart

Macron Punycode HTML

ā xn—yda &#257

ē xn—hea &#275

ī xn--5ea &#299

ō xn--4fa &#333

ū xn—zga &#363

Authorized Registrars

Below is an alphabetical list of .nz authorised registrars of .nz domain names sourced form the Domain Name Commissioner web site. The list does not include the authorised registrars re-sellers (if they have them).

For .iwi.nz domain names, there are two primary authorised registrars, only one offers macrons in domain names – GodZone.

1API www.1api.de

GodZone Internet Services www.godzone.net.nz

ideegeo Group LTD www.iwantmyname.com

Metaname www.metaname.co.nz

Nominate.com www.nominate.com

Openhost https://www.openhost.co.nz

Ports Group AB https://portsgroup.com

Vetta Online Ltd www.vetta.online

Umlaut domain names

It is possible to register an international domain name with umlauts ä, ë ,ï ,ö, ü. While these are not macrons and not a part of the Māori language, they will appear to be macrons if the browser has a specialised Māori font installed as the default font. Considering the vast amount of Māori language speakers no longer use Māori fonts, this is not a recommended solution.

DISCLAIMER: This post is the personal opinion of Dr Karaitiana Taiuru and is not reflective of the opinions of any organisation that Dr Karaitiana Taiuru is a member of or associates with, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

2 responses to “macrons in .nz domain names”

Adam Shand

June 23, 2020

Thanks for the very helpful article. Was discussing this with a friend, what’s your recommendation for spelling the non-macron version of a domain name? Just drop the macron? Or use a double-vowel?

Many thanks,
Adam.

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1. karaitiana
  
  June 23, 2020
  
  For domain names, I would suggest dropping the domain name or having two domain names, one with the macron and one without. Then add the macron domain as an “add on domain”.
  
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