Wildcard email domains: any name before the domain works too
Most addresses on this site have one part you invent — the name in front of the @. Some domains give you a second one. On a wildcard domain you can also make up the part in front of the domain itself, and mail for that address still arrives. This page explains what that means, how to recognise such domains here, and where the idea stops.
How to spot a wildcard domain
When you open the list of domains, one or two entries are shown in a different colour — those are wildcard domains. Hover over one to see a short explanation. Pick it, and a star (✱) appears under your address with a line such as:
Wildcard domains are a minority, so the list mixes in only one or two of them at a time. Reload the page and you will usually see different ones. The wildcard switch in the settings changes that: turn it off to hide them, or set it to Only to see nothing but wildcard domains — then a new address is created on one of them too.
example.xyz receives mail tooThat line is the whole message: the domain you picked, for instance zq7.example.xyz, is only one of countless names that work. Replace zq7 with anything you like — shop.example.xyz, news2026.example.xyz, a.b.example.xyz — and the address keeps receiving mail.
Two names you choose instead of one
With an ordinary domain you choose one thing — the mailbox name. With a wildcard domain you choose two:
| You type | Address you get |
|---|---|
name anna, subdomain zq7 | anna@zq7.example.xyz |
name anna, subdomain shop | anna@shop.example.xyz |
name order, subdomain parcel | order@parcel.example.xyz |
Each of these is a separate mailbox. anna@zq7.example.xyz and anna@shop.example.xyz do not share mail — you open each one by typing its full address, exactly as with any other domain here.
How to type your own subdomain
- Pick a domain shown in the wildcard colour from the list of domains.
- Click into the domain field and change the first part — everything before the part named in the star line — to a word of your own.
- Leave the rest of the domain exactly as it was. The star line under the address confirms that the new address is covered.
Why it is handy
- Fewer shared addresses. On a normal public domain, popular names like
test@get opened by many people. Adding your own subdomain makes the whole address far less likely to collide with someone else's. - A new address for every site, without thinking. Put the site's name in the subdomain —
me@forum.example.xyz,me@store.example.xyz— and you can tell at a glance which sign-up a message belongs to. The same habit on a domain you own is described in A separate email address for every website. - A fresh variation when a form is picky. If a sign-up form has seen one address too often, a different subdomain gives you a new one on the same domain in a second.
How a wildcard domain works
Every domain tells the rest of the internet where its mail should go. That instruction is an MX record in the domain's DNS settings. Usually it is written for one exact name: mail for example.xyz goes to a certain server.
DNS also allows a record whose name is an asterisk: *.example.xyz. It covers every name under the domain that has no record of its own. When the owner points such a record at our mail servers, mail for zq7.example.xyz, shop.example.xyz and any other invented subdomain comes here — which is why all of them work, and why the star is the symbol for it.
* and the same value. Your registrar's DNS panel is where this goes — see How to add an MX record — and Check your domain shows whether mail for a test subdomain already reaches us.Honest limitations
- It is still a public mailbox. A subdomain makes an address harder to guess, not private. Anyone who types the exact same address can open it here, so use these addresses for codes, confirmations and newsletters — never for an account you would hate to lose.
- The owner decides, and can change their mind. A wildcard record belongs to the domain's owner. If it is removed, invented subdomains stop receiving mail, and the star disappears from that domain here. An address that worked last month is not guaranteed to work next month.
- Some websites dislike long, many-level domains. A sign-up form may reject an address like
me@a.b.c.example.xyz. One short subdomain is the safest choice. - Normal domain-name rules apply. Use letters, digits and hyphens; do not start or end a part with a hyphen, and keep each part under 64 characters.