The .BOO domain is a new top-level domain (new gTLD) of the Google Registry, which was introduced in 2022. It alludes to the English expression “boo”, which can be translated among other things with “boo” as well as with “darling”.
Since November 15, 2022, it has been available for registration by anyone (General Availability).
But what exactly is this extraordinary domain about and how can you use it?
Two opposite meanings of “boo”
Since the English word “boo” can be translated in several ways, I’ll explain to you below what the two most common meanings are.
The ghost exclamation “boo”.
On the one hand, “Boo” can be translated as the German exclamation “Buh!”. This refers to the sound that ghosts and pranksters make when they suddenly emerge from the dark and scare someone.
The expression has a long, eerie history. Already in Latin, “boo” (from the verb “boāre”) meant something like “I scream” or “I roar.
Later, he was associated with the mythological bogeyman (English Bu-Man/Bogeyman). The bogeyman was a goblin- or dwarf-like spectre that came out of the closet at night or scratched at the window to frighten children.
The term of endearment “darling”
In U.S. slang, the word is also used as a term of endearment for close friends or a partner. The typical usage “my boo” can therefore be translated as “my darling” or “my sweetheart”.
It is believed that the term was originally derived from the French word “beau” (meaning “beautiful”) and then established itself in hip-hop slang of the 1990s and spread from there.
You can use the .BOO domain for this purpose
The Google Registry itself gives a few examples of websites that use the domain extension for spooky (halloween.boo, treats.boo) as well as romantic (meetyour.boo) purposes.
In German-speaking countries, it is more suitable for use in creepy projects, since the meaning of “boo” as a term of endearment is even less well known here.
So below I present you a few options for spooky uses.
Halloween
The domain is especially suitable for everything around Halloween.
Halloween goes back to the Celtic seasonal festival of Samhain from Ireland. To scare off evil spirits that were out that night, people dressed up and placed gifts of food in front of their homes to appease them.
After the custom was popularized by Irish immigrants in the USA in the 19th century, it also made its way to Germany in the 1990s.
In the meantime, the celebration of October 31 has also developed into a major economic factor here: Across all sectors, an estimated 200 million euros are turned over each year.
Especially for manufacturers of spooky disguises, make-up and confectionery, October has therefore become one of the most important months of the year.
With the use of a .BOO domain you can give your online store a competitive edge, because it can stand out from the crowd with this new domain extension. The TLD immediately creates an association with Halloween and ghosts, which you can also use well for marketing campaigns.
Scary events
For Halloween, as well as the rest of the year, spooky events are also becoming increasingly popular.
You can promote them even more memorably with the help of the spooky domain. It fits perfectly to the web presence of scary dinners, spooky night tours through cities and night hikes, thematically matching exhibitions in museums, special promotions in escape rooms, amusement park promotions and much more.
Scary stories
Horror films now account for 11 percent of all film productions – and the trend is rising. This means that every tenth film made is a horror film. And the genre is also popular in the world of books.
With a .BOO website, you can create a suitable online experience for horror fans.
Fun and pranks
Also for any funny ideas and pranks, where someone should be scared, the domain is of course equally suitable.
Whether as a gag for the web presence of a ghost hunter or to write spooky emails to friends – everything is possible here.
Conclusion
The new .BOO top-level domain is particularly suitable for everything to do with Halloween, horror and creepy. But it can also be used for romantic purposes if the target group knows the slang word “boo”.
If this sounds interesting to you, you can register your own .BOO domain directly here at INWX.
Do you have questions?
You still have questions about .BOO? Just send us an email to blog@inwx.de and we will try to help you. For technical questions and orders, you can also contact our support team directly at support@inwx.de.