Domain Name Registrant and RegistrarThe first party is individual or group of individual (in the case of company or organization) who is initiating the registration process – this is referred to as ‘Domain Registrant’, the second party is the body or organization invested with the power to manage the registrant’s request – this is referred to as ‘Domain Registrar’. Simply put when you are placing a request to buy or secure a domain name, you are literally the domain name registrant. However, it is not the actual person taking the action in front of the computer on a web terminal that counts but the information supplied during the registration process. For instance, a webmaster who is contracted to develop a website for a client, could register a domain name on behalf of his client by feeding in all information supplied by his client as required for such domain extension. In this case, the domain name registrant remains the client, whose information will always be displayed on the domain name WHOIS record.
When a domain name registration is initiated, the data is piped through to the desk of a registrar who on behalf of his clients ensures that such domain name reservation is completed (for the specified period e.g. 1yr, 2yrs, 5yrs…) to avoid being taken by someone else within the licensed period. A registrar’s record is usually displayed on the Registrar’s section of a domain’s WHOIS record.