Except for capitals, ICANN's Guidebook only requires a city's support if the applicant announces a use linked to the city, as in 2012. Even backed by its city, an application goes to contention against a brand or a common word. Two levers remain: a letter of support on the applicant's side, and an objection or a government's warning on the city's side, from 17 November 2026 to 16 March 2027.
Three ways to apply for a city name
Declare it geographic. Fifteen applications do so, including cities such as .vienna, .budapest, .bremen, .ulm, .lugano and .roma. The .ulm filing declares "Stadt Ulm", the city itself, as its ultimate control Q108.
Apply for a city's name as a proper noun. Krischenowski GmbH files .frankfurt and .muenchen as a "proper noun and open identifier" Q133. The .frankfurt filing first names the food businesses that use the word "as a product name or culinary identifier" Q133.
Apply for a common word or a brand that is also a city. The filings then speak only of the word:
- .nice (Nice, 342,669 inhabitants per GeoNames): Link Freedom Group ("pleasant, good and enjoyable") and LeapSense ("pleasant, enjoyable, or attractive; kind, friendly") are in contention Q118;
- .lens: Charleston Road Registry, Google's registry, for "Google Lens, an AI-powered visual search and recognition tool", in contention with Gacrux, for which it is "an ordinary English noun" Q118;
- .kawasaki (a city of 1.5 million): a brand, "derived from the surname of its founder, Shozo Kawasaki" Q118.
Outside capitals, no protection by default
The Applicant Guidebook (version of 16 December 2025, section 7.5.2) requires public authorities' support for any national capital, "in any language". For other cities:
City names can present challenges because they may also be generic terms or brand names, and they are often not unique. Unlike other types of Geographic Names, city names do not have established lists for objective references during evaluation. Thus, city names are not universally protected. However, the process does provide a means for cities and applicants to work together where desired.
The city's support is required only if the filing makes clear the TLD will be used "primarily for purposes associated with the city name". The Geographic Names Panel reviews every application, declared or not (section 7.5.3.2), .frankfurt and .muenchen included.
Even with support, a geographic application does not jump the queue. Against a brand application for the same string, "both will proceed to contention resolution if the applications pass all other applicable string evaluations" (section 5.5): community evaluation or ICANN's auction. And unlike 2012, applicants can no longer settle among themselves: the Guidebook prohibits "private auctions or joint ventures, or any other arrangement designed to resolve contention privately" (section 5.2.3).
For cities: an objection, or their government
Footnote 271 of the Guidebook says it: cities "should not rely on the evaluation process as the primary means of protecting their interests in a string". It opens two routes: filing their own application, no longer possible since 12 August, or objecting to an application "opposed by the relevant community", that is a Community Objection, with its standing requirements (section 4.5.2). A government can also act for its city: from 17 November 2026 to 16 March 2027, ICANN will take input "via application comments, Governmental Advisory Committee Member Early Warnings, singular/plural notifications, or objections".
In 2012: .bar and .spa
The 2012 rule was the same: support was required for "An application for a city name, where the applicant declares that it intends to use the gTLD for purposes associated with the city name". .bar, filed for bars ("The .bar gTLD will enable all entities who identify themselves with the term ʺbarʺ to have a specific zone on the Internet"), had nonetheless answered yes to "Is the application for a geographic name?", and ICANN lists it as "Pass IE Geographic".
The Spa case, in Belgium, shows the government route. The applicant that won .spa wrote that "the .spa TLD is not intended to serve the town of Spa in Belgium". In November 2013 the GAC, which brings governments together, advised for .spa: "Not to proceed beyond initial evaluation until the agreements between the relevant parties are reached". In March 2014 it welcomed "the report that an agreement has been reached between the city of Spa and one of the applicants". The terms of that agreement were not published. The .spa registry agreement only commits the registry to "proactively reach out to the Town of Spa in Belgium" to study additional reserved names.
A reading
By Matthieu Credou.
For a city whose name others are applying for, the question is not whether it is protected: unless it is a capital, by default it is not. The question is who speaks for it before 16 March 2027. In Spa, the route that worked ran through the government and ended in an agreement with an applicant, not in a refusal.
To watch
- 21 October 2026: end of the replacement period. .frankfurt and .muenchen each have a fallback (.bau, .pflege).
- 17 November 2026 – 16 March 2027: comments, GAC early warnings and objections.
What this piece does not say
It attributes no intention to applicants, does not say whether the cities named know about these applications, and forecasts neither the evaluation nor any objection. The amounts sometimes cited for the .bar and .spa agreements appear in none of the documents we read (GAC communiqués, ICANN decisions, applications, registry agreements); we cite none.
Method: strings matched against the main name of GeoNames cities of more than 15,000 inhabitants, and against Wikidata's German municipalities (10 October 2026). Many strings share their name with a distant homonymous city; we give examples, not a total.
Sources
- ICANN published filings (snapshot of 8 October 2026) and Reveal Day export of 7 October 2026.
- ICANN, 2026 Round Applicant Guidebook, version of 16 December 2025 (sections 4.5.2, 5.2.3, 5.5, 7.5.2 and footnote 271, 7.5.3.2); 2012 Applicant Guidebook (section 2.2.1.4.2).
- ICANN, announcement of 29 September 2026 on the round's milestones; 2012 application status list.
- GAC, Buenos Aires (20 November 2013) and Singapore (27 March 2014) communiqués; 2012 .bar and .spa applications; .spa registry agreement (19 September 2019).
- GeoNames; Wikidata.