Scandinavian characters in domain names

Scandinavian characters in domain names

On the modern internet it is possible to register domain names that contain Scandinavian special characters (å, ä, ö). These can be used in many of the most common extensions such as .fi, .com, .net and .org.

Technical conversion (Punycode)

Even though browsers display the Scandinavian characters correctly, domain names are converted behind the scenes into ASCII format using Punycode encoding.

Example ääkkönen.fi → xn--kknen-fraa0m.fi

Email problems

Not all email programs and systems support special characters. The email address jorma@ääkkönen.fi may appear in the form jorma@xn--kknen-fraa0m.fi in some systems.

Recommendation

• Alongside a domain with Scandinavian characters, also register a version without special characters
• Always use a domain name without Scandinavian characters as the company email
• With DNS settings you can direct both domains to the same site

Adding in the Enhance panel

When you add a domain containing Scandinavian characters in the Enhance control panel, enter it in Punycode format. You can convert a domain to Punycode format for example at punycoder.com.