One year after its official launch, the internet domain name .eu has drawn more than 2.5m registrations, making it one of the fastest growing top level domain names on the web.

The .eu address is available to all companies and organisations located in the European Union, and to all citizens in the bloc’s 27 member states.

It was created thanks to an agreement by EU governments more than seven years ago, and is intended to complement the more established national top level domain names (TLDs) such as .uk for Britain or .de for Germany as well as international TLDs such as .com or .org.

The European Commission said a string of well-known companies and organisations had adopted the .eu domain, including Air France, the airline; Dexia, the financial services group; Aldi, the retailer; Versace, the fashion label, and Greenpeace, the environmental pressure group.

However, most groups continue to use international domains such as .org or .com domain name or their national TLD in parallel.

The new domain has proved especially popular with groups created by cross-border mergers – such as Dexia, the Franco- Belgian group – and with companies registered outside their home country for regulatory reasons. Cyprus, a popular destination for company registrations, boasted the seventh-highest number of .eu domain names.

“Now that the initial flush of registrations has passed, there is an increasing trend towards using .eu domains immediately they have been registered as opposed to simply registering them as a precautionary measure and letting them lie dormant,” the Commission said on Wednesday.