Note: The ENS App and ENS Explorer are both currently on Sepolia testnet. Behaviour and available features may change before mainnet.
It depends on how the parent set things up. A subname can be fully yours, or it can be one the parent can still renew, reconfigure, or take back. Both are legitimate, and you can tell which you have by looking at the name's roles.
Two kinds of subname
Every name that issues subnames does so through a subregistry — a contract the parent deploys to hold them. How that subregistry is configured decides what the parent keeps:
Managed. The parent holds roles across the whole subregistry, so it can act on any subname inside it — including renewing, changing the resolver, or deleting the subname. Sensible for a project handing out names to members, where the project needs to reclaim or fix them.
Emancipated. The parent has given up those registry-wide roles. Nobody can reach into individual subnames from above; each owner controls their own. This is how
.ethitself is configured — no one can take your.ethname off you.
A parent can move a subregistry from managed to emancipated. It cannot go back.
How to check which one you have
Open the subname in ENS Explorer and go to the Roles tab. Alongside the roles held directly on your name, there's a parent registry roles section showing who holds roles at the level above.
If an address other than yours appears there, that address can act on your subname. The role that matters most is Unregister — whoever holds it can delete the name, which frees it for anyone to register. Renew, Set Resolver and Set Subregistry are less severe but still mean the parent can change how the name behaves.
If that section is empty, no one above you holds anything over the name.
What the parent can never do
Even on a managed subregistry, the parent can't quietly change a name and leave a listing standing. Any role change alters the name's token ID, which invalidates existing marketplace listings and approvals — so a buyer can't be handed a name whose permissions shifted underneath them.
The parent also can't extend a subname beyond its own registration. Subnames depend on the parent name staying registered.
Common questions
I'm buying a subname. What should I check?
The Roles tab, before you pay. Check the parent registry roles section for addresses other than the seller's, and check the parent name's own expiry — if the parent lapses, the subname goes with it.
Can the parent take back a subname it already gave me?
Only if the subregistry is managed and the parent holds the Unregister role. On an emancipated subregistry, no.
I own the parent name. How do I give up control so buyers trust my subnames?
That's a property of the subregistry you deploy, not a per-subname setting. Emancipating is permanent, so decide before you issue names people pay for. See Create a subname.
Does my subname expire?
Not on its own. It lasts as long as the parent name stays registered.