Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

vanity domain
     
         A {domain} you register for the sole purpose of
        having your own domain so you can have an easily remembered
        {URL} and {e-mail} address.  The domain is usually served
        (often {vhost}ed) off someone else's machines.
     
        This is as opposed to a domain you register because you have
        machines of your own which are already on the Internet and
        which you want to make addressable via something other than
        {dot address}es.
     
        Whereas vanity domains were almost unheard-of in 1980s, since
        the invention and popularisation of the {Web} in the mid-1990s
        and the desire for {URL}s which consist only of memorable
        domain names (e.g., "http://www.pbs.org") for everything from
        movies to car wax, vanity domains have come to be the rule
        instead of the exception.
     
        (1997-09-11)