Tandardization Of Domain Names Of The Websites Of China’s Government

A domain name, as a natural language identification string on the Internet, facilitates netizens to recognize and memorize IP address of websites. The domain names of China’s institutions remain non-standardized, especially in the languages and composition rules they use. This inconsistency not only burdens the netizens but also goes against authority’s will to keep a close touch with the masses.This study investigates the domain names of the departments of State Council and compete them with the government domain names of other nations and regions (Egypt, Thailand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Poland, Germany, France, the USA and the UK). This study attempts to find out some universal principles in government domain names settings, and tries to offer a reasonable alternative for China’s government domain names.Unlike previous domain names studies in Informatics and Management Science fields, this study explores the domain-name issue from the view of onomatology and concludes four criteria of good domain names:correctness, length, recognizability and friendliness. In other words, a good domain name should be easy to type correctly, be as short as possible for memerizing, identify the object, and be acceptable to netizens. This study finds out that the format of Pinyin initials is a better choice for domain names of our government, as it is idiomatic, and easy to remember and understand for netizens. In short, Pinyin initials meet the four criteria and can be an alternative to China’s government domain names.The domain name is a new nomenclature in today’s multi-lingual world. It broadens the subjects of Onomastics. Meanwhile, the activity of choosing a reasonable domain name language is a positive intervention of language policy and planning on language use. Furthermore, setting domain-name rules indicates that the study of onomatology plays a part in standardizing languages in use. Last but not least, this research shows practical significance in improving e-government affairs.