> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.soran.domains/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Terminology

> The names, roles, and contracts you will encounter in Soran.

## Names and people

| Term | Meaning |
| - | - |
| **Namespace** | A top-level name such as `nova`, operated by an organization or other namespace owner. |
| **Name** | An issued name such as `alice.nova`, held under the namespace's rules. |
| **Subname** | One child beneath a name, such as `shop.alice.nova`, controlled by the parent holder. |
| **Namespace owner** | The account authorized to configure namespace issuance and supported features. |
| **Holder** | The address that controls a name under its namespace policy. |
| **Recipient** | The address receiving a payment. It can differ from the holder. |
| **Operator role** | An owner, admin, or issuer role in the console. Console access and on-chain ownership are separate. |

## Contracts

| Term | Job |
| - | - |
| **Registry** | Records namespace ownership and routes readers to namespace contracts. |
| **Allocator** | Handles namespace applications, claim windows, and objection outcomes. |
| **Registrar** | Applies namespace rules and records name ownership and lifecycle. |
| **Resolver** | Stores and supplies payment destinations, profile records, and other supported records. |
| **Universal Lookup** | The shared read entry point that follows and validates a name's current records. |
| **Primary** | Stores a preferred name across namespaces for supported account types. |

[See how the contracts fit together →](/concepts/architecture)

## Identity and addresses

**Profile** is the set of holder-published text records associated with a name: for example, an avatar, description, website, and social links.

**Display name** is an address's elected name within a namespace, verified against forward resolution. A **primary name** is its preferred name across namespaces.

**Payment destination** is the complete instruction needed to route a Stellar payment: the address and any required memo. A muxed address includes its routing ID inside the address itself.

**Network address** is a receiving address for an explicitly selected additional blockchain network. A name can have different addresses on different enabled networks.

## Ownership and availability

**Claim window** is the public objection period for a namespace application. A successful application **awards** the namespace. Username registration inside that namespace is a separate process.

**Ownership policy** describes whether and how names expire, can be reclaimed, or can obtain a permanence guarantee. Read the actual policy; zero expiry alone does not prove permanence.

**Generation** is an ownership counter. It prevents records from a previous holder or an earlier child-name instance from being reused as current records.

**Storage TTL** is Stellar's ledger-entry availability clock. Archival and ownership expiry are different events; restoring stored data does not transfer ownership.

**Resolver assurance** describes contract provenance and the checked Resolver configuration. It does not freeze a holder's records or prove that a payment destination belongs to a particular person.

**Indexed discovery** finds candidate names or events through a hosted index. Results can be incomplete; direct verification establishes the current state of a returned candidate.