Rush on ‘pope’ domain names

When the Pope announced earlier this week that he would resign, the domain name market reacted quickly at this news. We saw a rush on domain names which contain the word ‘pope’.

The next graph shows the peak in the amount of domain name registrations with the word ‘pope’ since the announcement of the resign of the Pope later this month. Also on the Internet, the gambling of what will be the next Pope name has begun. However, if you still wish to register a possible pope name, you’re probably too late. When the news of the resign of the Pope got public a man from Illinois immediately registered the names PopeClement.com, PopeUrban.com, PopeInnocent.com and PopeInnocentXIV.com. The same person also already registered the names PopeClementXV.com and PopeUrbanIX.com in December 2012.

Another person registered the domain names ClementXV.com and InnocentXIV.com in 2005 when the Pope just started his duty, while the name UrbanIX.com was already registered in 1999.  Also the names PopeJohn.com (2001) and PopeJohnXXIV.com (2007) were registered several years ago.

It’s also remarkable that only names which contain the word ‘pope’ are registered quickly and smoothly after the news of the Pope’s resign was announced. If you wish to register a domain which contains the word ‘paus’ or ‘pape’ you’ve still got plenty of choice.