[dns-operations] Why are cnames called "canonical" names?

[Mark E. Jeftovic]

As some of you may know, I'm in the process of writing a book for
O'Reilly "Managing Mission Critical Domains & DNS".

(As I side note, I've been planning to post to this list soliciting
feedback on the early drafts - please feel free to comment here or
privately on the appropriateness of my doing this)

I'm filling in a section on CNAMEs and it occurs to me that I do not
know *why* CNAMEs were called "canonical names". What is the connotation
of "canonical" (traditionally meaning "according to or ordered by canon
law") that made the word appropriate for use as an alias?

Ron Aitchison's book says "'canonical name' which simply means the
expected or real name"

Is it in the "accepted as genuine" sense of "included in the list of
sacred books officially accepted as genuine" definition of "canonical"
that led to this?

Curious.

- mark

-- 
Mark E. Jeftovic <markjr at easydns.com>
Founder & CEO, easyDNS Technologies Inc.
+1-(416)-535-8672 ext 225
Read my blog: http://markable.com