mDNS aka Bonjour, avahi, etc.
Helps with resolving .local to IP addresses on your local network.
It allows multiple host names and ip resolution (up to 5). It utilizes one (1) UDP connection (out of the 4 that the SDK supports)
https://github.com/n0bel/esp8266-mDNSResponder
Working on a adding a module to nodemcu, too.
/Kevin
http://n0bel.net