Strategies For Choosing Your Business Name

Assignment

1. Look up the state’s requirements for the business name. For example, some states require the words “Limited Liability Company”, “Limited Company”, or any abbreviations thereof (i.e., “LLC,” “L.C.,” “LC” or “L.L.C.”) to be in all LLC names.
2. Look up the name you want to use in your state’s business name search database to see if it is already taken at the state level. If the name is already taken you cannot use it. If the name is taken in other states but not the state you plan to register, it may be ok to use as long as the name is not trademarked federally.
3. Look up the name you want to use in your the federal trademark name database to see if it is already taken at the federal trademark level. If the name is trademarked, you cannot use it.
4. Decide the name of your LLC
5. If you want to have a different name than the LLC for your currently operating business, decide your Doing Business As(DBA)/Trade Name

Resources

• U.S. Small Business Administration, “Choose your business name“
• Federal trademark name database name search: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/search
• State business name entity search: google for your state’s or check with your state’s business entity