# Where did the .cc domain name come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** General Cycling\ **Created:** [September 29, 2026, 6:23am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978 "2026-09-29T06:23:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wade\_wallace](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/wade_wallace/32/4350_2.png) [@wade\_wallace](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/wade_wallace)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 6:23am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/1 "2026-09-29T06:23:00Z")
This is something I’ve thought would make an interesting article for a long time, but it doesn’t really have a huge amount of substance to it. So I figured it would be easy enough to bash out here for anyone interested. I’m sure everyone has noticed that a huge number of cycling brands use a `.cc` domain name. But where did that come from? The origins date back to Simon Mottram and Rapha. One of Mottram’s original business ideas, before creating Rapha, was to open a series of cycling cafés. But as Rapha took hold of his imagination, he figured he could eventually open these cycling cafés as part of Rapha. The `rapha.com` domain was taken at the time, so `rapha.cc` was registered instead, with the `.cc` intended to stand for “cycling club”. The brand only acquired the `.com` domain later. Rapha eventually launched its cycling clubs, and its retail outlets became known as “clubhouses”. The rest, as they say, is history. A bunch of cycling brands followed Rapha’s lead and adopted `.cc` domains (and I doubt that most even know why - it’s just become the de facto domain name for cycling brands). And for those wondering which country gets the `.cc` country-code top-level domain, it’s the Cocos Islands, an Australian territory consisting of 27 coral islands in the Indian Ocean, about 2,750km northwest of Perth. Spare a thought for the poor people of Cocos trying to launch a website since 2004… ---
**Author:** ![JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/jc1979/32/2145_2.png) [@JC1979](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/JC1979)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 6:46am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/2 "2026-09-29T06:46:39Z")
Always thought it was a bit strange that there was a top level domain that seemed perfect for cycling related sites, and thought surely we can’t be big enough that ICANN would create a TLD for us, but never actualy bothered to google it. Never occured to me that it was a country code. So like them or not, Rapha had a fair bit of influence on our sport, in more ways than many people realise. ---
**Author:** ![wade\_wallace](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/wade_wallace/32/4350_2.png) [@wade\_wallace](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/wade_wallace)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 7:13am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/3 "2026-09-29T07:13:08Z")
Indeed. Last week’s Rapha hot takes reminded me of the amount of this story and the influence they had in so many areas today. ---
**Author:** ![tim\_k7906](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/tim_k7906/32/1961_2.png) [@tim\_k7906](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/tim_k7906)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 9:53am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/4 "2026-09-29T09:53:54Z")
There are a few other “country” TLDs that have been co-opted by various industries, such as .ai (Anguilla) by tech companies, .fm (Federated States of Micronesia) by radio stations. See [Country code top-level domains with commercial licenses - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_code_top-level_domains_with_commercial_licenses) - although whilst that does include .cc, it doesn’t mention the use by cycling websites. Maybe that should be resolved… ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Leville](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/jack_leville/32/10423_2.png) [@Jack\_Leville](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Jack_Leville)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 10:09am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/5 "2026-09-29T10:09:23Z")
I just thought it was a reminder to the EPO era, and micro-dosing. Inject (an amount of) cc after the dot. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_O\_B](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/sean_o_b/32/3643_2.png) [@Sean\_O\_B](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Sean_O_B)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 11:35am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/6 "2026-09-29T11:35:08Z")
I see what you did there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RichGearing](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/richgearing/32/3802_2.png) [@RichGearing](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/RichGearing)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2026, 12:38am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/7 "2026-09-30T00:38:46Z")
I have no evidence to confirm this, but I’m not entirely convinced that Rapha were the first to adopt the .cc in reference to ‘cycling/cycle club’. Happy to be proven wrong, though… Regardless, I chose .cc over ‘.bike’ for my own website, and I’m a workshop - go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Crosswind](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/crosswind/32/10643_2.png) [@Crosswind](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Crosswind)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2026, 1:55am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/8 "2026-09-30T01:55:46Z")
> [@wade\_wallace](#): > > This is something I’ve thought would make an interesting article for a long time… Kudos and accolades! ---
**Author:** ![Dan\_Stone](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/dan_stone/32/1564_2.png) [@Dan\_Stone](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Dan_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 1:45am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/9 "2026-10-01T01:45:05Z")
Interesting stuff @wade_wallace. I first came across the .cc domain when Australian female fashion brand Cue first went online, and had the domain cue.cc - for Cue Clothing Company. Like some others I wondered where the .cc came from but never bothered to investigate further ---
**Author:** ![Dov\_Tate](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/dov_tate/32/2704_2.png) [@Dov\_Tate](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/Dov_Tate)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2026, 10:39am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/10 "2026-10-01T10:39:25Z")
The most notable country TLD is Tuvalu with .tv - I remember seeing a stat that the licensing revenues for websites around the world account for over 10% of the nation’s GDP! I wonder if Anguilla will get close in the near-future with their .ai domain… As for the cycling world, there are actually a couple of Strava segments showing on the Cocos Islands! ---
**Author:** ![GrahamvdR](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/grahamvdr/32/4587_2.png) [@GrahamvdR](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/GrahamvdR)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/11 "2026-10-03T11:30:52Z")
There’s also .ly from Lybia. ---
**Author:** ![xof](https://community.escapecollective.com/user_avatar/community.escapecollective.com/xof/32/12256_2.png) [@xof](https://community.escapecollective.com/u/xof)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://community.escapecollective.com/t/where-did-the-cc-domain-name-come-from/5978/12 "2026-10-03T13:55:31Z")
Greatly enjoyed this. I had been wondering to myself and the best idea for the “. cc”. I had had was “cycling content”…