{"id":31732,"date":"2012-01-11T12:15:26","date_gmt":"2012-01-11T12:15:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.lvh.me\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/can-i-use-email-addresses-with-accents-n-or-c\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T11:09:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T11:09:30","slug":"special_chars_in_emails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/blog\/2012\/01\/11\/special_chars_in_emails\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you use email addresses with accents, \u00f1 or \u00e7?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whether you want to send newsletters<\/a> from an email address that contains these kinds of characters, or some of your recipients’ addresses contain them, there are several things to keep in mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Can email addresses have accents?<\/h2>\n\n

In practice, no. The vast majority of email addresses<\/a> are written without accents, \u00f1 or \u00e7<\/strong>, because the main providers don’t let you create them with those characters.<\/p>\n\n

Technically, it has been possible since 2012, thanks to the SMTPUTF8 standard, an extension of the SMTP<\/a> protocol. But it’s rarely used, and many servers, forms and programs still don’t support it. That’s why, if someone reads out their email address to you, you’ll normally write it without accents even if their name has them: jose.nunez@\u2026<\/em> rather than jos\u00e9.n\u00fa\u00f1ez@\u2026<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n

This table sums up the most common questions:<\/p>\n\n

Question<\/th>Short answer<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Can an email address have accents?<\/td>According to the SMTPUTF8 standard, yes. In practice, hardly any address has them<\/td><\/tr>
Can you use \u00f1 in an email address?<\/td>Same as accents: it’s allowed, but Gmail and Outlook don’t let you create accounts with \u00f1<\/td><\/tr>
Can I write from Gmail to an address with \u00f1?<\/td>Yes. Gmail has been able to send and receive emails from those addresses since 2014<\/td><\/tr>
Does capitalization matter?<\/td>Not in practice: JOSE@ and jose@ reach the same inbox<\/td><\/tr>
Can domains have \u00f1 or accents?<\/td>Yes. .es domains have allowed them since 2007<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n
\"Can<\/figure>\n\n

Below is the full explanation: which characters each part of an address accepts and which standards govern it.<\/p>\n\n

What characters can an email address contain?<\/h2>\n\n

First, you need to understand that an email address is divided into two parts, separated by the @:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

local-part@domain-name<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The domain name must correspond to an existing domain.<\/h3>\n\n

And it must comply with the rules for domain names.<\/p>\n\n

These usually include letters, numbers, hyphens and dots (you may come across domain names with \u00f1). You can find more information in the Wikipedia article on email addresses<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

The local part can use any of the following characters:<\/p>\n\n

    \n
  • Uppercase and lowercase letters of the English alphabet<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Numbers from 0 to 9<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The following characters !#$%&’*+-\/=?^_`{|}~<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The . character (as long as it is not at the beginning or end of the local part, and does not appear twice in a row)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Certain special characters “(),:;<>@[] with some restrictions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

    Keep in mind that the local part must comply with the RFC 5322 standard<\/a>, so addresses that include:<\/p>\n\n

      \n
    • Latin alphabet: Pel\u00e9@example.com<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Greek alphabet<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Japanese alphabet<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Cyrillic alphabet<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n

      May not work on all email servers and clients.<\/p>\n\n

      For more information, see the Wikipedia entry on the format of email addresses<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

      Before I finish, here’s a video you might also find interesting, on how to send bulk email<\/a> that makes an impact:<\/p>\n\n