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Cannot add DNS records with the same name

Occasionally, Cloudflare will not allow you to create new DNS records with the same value in the Name field.

This error can occur due to the special requirements of CNAME records1.

​​ Causes

You will encounter this error if you try to do one of the following:

  • Create a CNAME record with a Name matching the name of an existing A/AAAA2 or CNAME record.
  • Create an A/AAAA record with a Name matching the name of an existing CNAME record.

Cloudflare prevents you from creating this combination of records because if a CNAME record is provided for a hostname DNS servers expect only that CNAME record to provide DNS information for that hostname.

Adding additional records would send conflicting information to DNS servers. For a technical explanation of the mechanism behind this, refer to RFC 1034.

​​ Solution

Review your existing DNS records to find the matching value in the Name field. Then, decide whether you want to keep the current record or delete it and make a new one.

  1. CNAME records map a domain name to another (canonical) domain name. Can be used to resolve other record types present on the target domain name.

     ↩︎

  2. A and AAAA records map a domain name to one or multiple IPv4 or IPv6 address(es).

     ↩︎