Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

fully qualified domain name
     
         (FQDN) The full name of a system, consisting of
        its local {hostname} and its {domain} name, including a
        {top-level domain} (tld).  For example, "venera" is a hostname
        and "venera.isi.edu" is an FQDN.  An FQDN should be sufficient
        to determine a unique {Internet address} for any host on the
        {Internet}.  This process, called "name resolution", uses the
        {Domain Name System} (DNS).
     
        With the explosion of interest in the {Internet} following the
        advent of the {World-Wide Web}, domain names (especially the
        most significant two components, e.g. "sun.com", and
        especially in the ".com" tld) have become a valuable part of
        many companies' "brand".  The allocation of these, overseen by
        {ICANN}, has therefore become highly political and is
        performed by a number of different registrars.  There are
        different registries for the different tlds.
     
        See also {network, the}, {network address}.
     
        (2003-09-23)