Every organisation or individual connected to the Internet is uniquely identified by a numerical address that is mapped onto a more memorable name. As a result, most countries have a central Registry - such as Nominet UK - to store these unique Domain Names.

Within the British Isles there are also country code domain registries for Jersey, for Guernsey, Alderney and Sark and for the Isle of Man.

Nominet is not a governing or regulatory body, but provides a public service for the .uk namespace on behalf of the Internet community.