.nu is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) assigned to the island state of Niue. It was one of the first ccTLDs to be marketed to the Internet at large as an alternative to the gTLDs .com, .net, and .org. Playing on the phonetic similarity between nu and new, it was promoted as a "new" TLD in which there was an abundance of good domain names available.
The domain was, and to some extent still is, particularly popular in Sweden, where the word for "now" is nu. Partially owing to restrictive domain rules for the ccTLD assigned to Sweden, .se, .nu was used for creative marketing of websites such as www.TV.nu. However, the .se domain was generally considered more professional than .nu and .com. The .nu domain also allowed for non-Internationalized domain name domains containing accented characters (used in the Scandinavian languages).
In Russia nu can mean nude or naked. It is widely used for erotic and especially prostitution-related sites.
It is administered on behalf of the government of Niue by .NU Domain, Ltd. Proceeds from registration fees go to a charity which subsidizes free Internet service in the small, remote island nation.
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