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How do I check if a business name is available in my state?

NameFormation

Search the business entity database of the state you are forming in. Every Secretary of State keeps a free public search of the names of every corporation and LLC on its records, active and reserved. If a match comes up, the name is taken in that state. If you are forming through Arabella, after you order, Arabella runs the search for you against the state's records and, if the name turns out to be taken, asks you for another on screen before anything is filed.

What available means

The state's test is whether the name is distinguishable on its records from every other entity, not whether it is different enough to avoid confusion. Delaware's statute puts it as distinguishing the company, on the Division of Corporations' records, from reserved names and from every other corporation, partnership and LLC on those records. So Acme Software Inc. and Acme Software LLC will usually both be refused, while Acme Softworks Inc. often gets through. Punctuation, capitalization, spacing and the entity suffix are ignored by most states; a different word generally is not. Every state also requires a suffix, such as Inc., Corp., LLC or Ltd., and most reserve words like bank, insurance and university for licensed businesses.

Reserving a name

If you are not ready to file, most states let you reserve a name for a fee and a period. Delaware's reservation lasts 120 days and can be renewed. A reservation only holds the name against other filers in that state; it creates no rights anywhere else.

Availability is not clearance

A state search tells you nobody has registered that entity name in that state. It says nothing about the other forty-nine states, nothing about trademarks, and nothing about who owns the domain. A company can have a perfectly available name and still hear from a business that has used it as a brand for a decade. Trademark clearance is a separate search of the federal and state registers and of the market, and a name you plan to build a brand on deserves one first.

Written by the lawyers who built Arabella. This is legal information, not legal advice for your situation, and reading it does not make us your lawyers. For a real dispute or a high-stakes decision, talk to a licensed attorney. More questions.