From 10 December, it will be possible to register domain names with the extension .eu, using special or non Latin characters (non-ASCII characters). The decision taken by EURid (the European registry of internet domain names), the authority which manages .eu domain names for the European commission, complemented the opening of domain names to non-Latin characters by ICANN (the internet corporation for assigned names and numbers). From this point onward, Bulgarians can register domain names using the Cyrillic alphabet. For Mina Stareva, a member of the cafebabel.com team in Sofia, says all European sites should be accessible in Cyrillic. ‘On typing европа.eu, for example, you should now be able to access the official EU site,’ she adds.

The French will now be able to dash off and register the domain name académiefrançaise.eu or, better still, identitéfrançaise.eu so as to spread their cock-a-doodle-doo spirit cocorico.fr – sorry – cocorico.eu. They could have delighted …

And then the Spanish could register españa.eu and allow their ñ accent, the mascot consonant which has already been imposed on the Cervantes institute logo, to triumph on a continental level. But don’t try to double them up: on the EURid site, you can see that the French government has already reserved a name … so Elysée.eu will surely be the next to appear.

The choice of domain names has now become huge: and you, what are your ideas for names that include non Latin characters? Let us know by adding your comments below