Bulgaria Mulls 4 New Cyrillic Internet Domain Names

The "бг" suffix for internet domain in Cyrillic, which won large support in Bulgaria, was recently rejected by ICANN because it resembles too much Brazil's domain name. File Photo

Bulgaria's Ministry of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications will propose 4 new versions for a Bulgarian domain in Cyrillic.

The new versions that will be subject to public discussion are “българия,” “бгр,” “бул” and/ or “бя.”

The move comes on the heels of the recent refusal of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to accept Bulgaria's proposal for a domain name in Cyrillic with a "бг" suffix. The news that the proposal was turned down did not come as a big surprise since the proposed domain name was harshly criticized in Bulgaria long before it was submitted for approval by ICANN with opponents, saying it resembles too much Brazil's domain name.

Bulgarians will be able to vote on the new symbols trough an internet site to be published soon on the official page of the Transport Ministry, which has to prove large public support before applying with ICANN for registration.

Bulgarians selected the now rejected "бг" suffix with a large majority during the first poll. The first poll showed the second most preferred name to be with a "бгр" suffix.

The procedure for registering internet addresses with alphabets different than Latin was officially launched on November 16, 2009.

At the beginning of May three Mideast countries and Russia became the first to get Internet addresses entirely in non-Latin characters.

Domain names in Arabic for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were added to the internet's master directories, following final approval last month by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. A suffix for Russia in Cyrillic was also added to the list shortly afterward.

ICANN said it has received a total of 21 requests for such domains representing 11 languages so far.

This is the first major change to the Internet domain name system since its creation in the 1980s.

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