The French extension is the latest country code Top Level Domain to reach one million domain names.
France crossed the million domain mark at some point during the night on January 11, 2008. The main extension, .FR, isn't quite there yet (994,000 registered names at the time of writing) but adding secondary domains like .COM.FR puts the French namespace at over 1,015,000 names.
.FR's was once one of the most restricted domains in Europe. A first step towards more freedom was taken on May 11, 2004 when companies were allowed to register any name. Before that, they were basically restricted to their own name or the names of their main products.
On May 1, 2004, the French registry AFNIC had 190,507 names under management. One year after the relaxing of company restrictions, .FR had already risen to 359 532 names.
Another big step came on June 20, 2006, when .FR was opened up to everyone, not just companies. Before, individuals were only allowed to register under .COM.FR, with the net result that most French people didn't bother with .FR at all and registered under .COM instead.
Today, the French namespace remains restricted to French nationals, a local contact being needed to register a .FR domain.
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