.talent
Is .talent a real TLD? Who’s applying to run it?
Nobody has applied for .talent in its own right, as of 8 October 2026. Identity Digital named .talent as a backup string for five of its applications: .growth, .dream, .daily, .proxy and .portal. ICANN deactivated those backups, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. XYZ Registry named .talent as a backup string for its .water application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. Squarespace named .talent as a backup string for its .skill application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup. GoDaddy Registry named .talent as a backup string for its .model application. ICANN deactivated it, because another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup.
A natural fit for recruiting and talent agencies, but a small market that mostly keeps its .com, so limited value beyond that niche.
talent agencies, recruiting and HR-tech platforms, and creator or modeling management firms wanting a descriptive industry address
Nobody has applied for .talent in its own right.
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .portal application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .model application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .skill application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .water application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .proxy application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .daily application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .dream application, shown as deactivated: another applicant applied for the same string or named it as a backup
Named on the ICANN gTLD application list, 7 October 2026 as a replacement (backup) string of the applicant's .growth 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: a generic mass/plural noun that is the labor market's own term of art, sold to the employers, recruiters, staffing firms and job marketplaces who already own that vocabulary, and dependent on an entire industry agreeing to re-badge its hiring presence under the category word rather than its own brand.
Same bet in shape — a short abstract mass noun for human labor with no owner, whose buyer is anyone in the employment/services economy — but it is the activity rather than the people supplying it, so its identity pull is broader and vaguer than the recruiting-industry term of art.
Same bet on the supply side: an abstract capability word that an individual or small firm puts its primary identity on as a credential claim, which works only if self-asserted capability reads as credible to the audience — the same unverifiable-merit problem the target carries.
What a .talent domain is
.talent is not a TLD yet. It is a string on our record of the ICANN 2026 new gTLD round, in our Commerce category. Nobody has applied for .talent in its own right. It is named on ICANN’s list as part of an application for another string.
Is the .talent domain extension real yet?
.talent 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 .talent domain?
You can’t yet. A .talent 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 .talent was .careers, delegated on 17 December 2013.
Is .talent a real TLD?
Not yet. .talent is not in the DNS root, so nothing resolves under it. It’s here because ICANN’s list names .talent as part of an application for another string. Every entry on this page links to its source.
- Identity Digital · fact correctedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
- XYZ Registry · first recordedICANN
- Squarespace · first recordedICANN
- GoDaddy Registry · first recordedICANN
- Identity Digital · first recordedICANN
“AT2680T-T16295 · Arctic Tan, LLC · replacement string of .portal · Deactivated AT2680T-T24214 · Arctic Tan, LLC · replacement string of .proxy · Deactivated AT2680T-T74619 · Arctic Tan, LLC · replacement string of .daily · Deactivated AT2680T-T90457 · Arctic Tan, LLC · replacement string of .dream · Deactivated AT2680T-T98376 · Arctic Tan, LLC · replacement string of .growth · Deactivated NA2631T-T46213 · Registry Services, LLC · replacement string of .model · Deactivated SRL2616T-T12396 · Squarespace Registry LLC · replacement string of .skill · Deactivated XL2625T-T73994 · XYZ.COM LLC · replacement string of .water · Deactivated”ICANN
- Band chosen: 30-49, usable but limited. The string is a clean dictionary word with an obvious industry reading (recruiting, staffing, agency representation, entertainment talent), so real registrations at volume and some genuine primary-identity use by agencies and HR-tech startups are plausible over the next 5 years; by analogy, employment-themed TLDs such as .jobs, .careers and .work have found steady but modest uptake without displacing .com as the default for firms in that sector (inference from analogy, no figures asserted). It is not in the 50-69 band because there is no segment where a .talent address is the expected identity rather than a choice that needs explaining, and the aftermarket for employment-word TLDs has, by analogy, been thin. It is not in the 10-29 band because the word maps to a durable commercial category with real buyers who would use it as a primary identity, not a joke or event-driven string. On the record, four standard applications for the string are listed as deactivated, each as a replacement string for another applied-for string; stated neutrally, this leaves the operator and positioning unknown, which caps confidence in adoption dynamics. Main market uncertainty: whether the TLD is positioned and priced for mainstream agency and HR-platform use or sold as a premium vanity namespace, which would push demand toward the low end of the band.