The First 100 .com Domains

On March 15, 1985, a Massachusetts computer company called Symbolics registered symbolics.com — the first .com domain ever. By the end of that year there were six. It took until November 1987 to reach 100.

Back then a domain wasn't a brand or an investment. It was a technical address handed out to companies that already had a connection to the research networks, and it cost nothing — registration fees didn't start until 1995. The list below is a who's who of 1980s computing: defense contractors, chip makers, workstation companies and a few names almost nobody remembers.

Registered per year: 6 in 1985, 54 in 1986, 40 in 1987 (through November).

Registration dates checked against the live .com registry (Verisign RDAP) on 2026-11-14 — all 100 match. Ranking follows Wikipedia's list of the oldest registered domains. "Registered to" is the original registrant, not necessarily today's owner.