Business name search: how to check if a name is taken

Where to run a business name search

A business name search checks one name against several separate records. The SBA says there are four different ways to register your business name: an entity name with your state, a trademark, a DBA and a domain name. These registrations are legally independent, so a clear result in one record tells you nothing about the others.

Name rules are set state by state. The SBA notes that each state may have different rules about what your entity name can be and usage of company suffixes, and that for DBAs, requirements vary by business structure as well as by state, county, and municipality. This page is general information, not legal advice.

How to check if a business name is available, step by step

Run the searches in this order. Each one catches names the others miss.

1. Search your state's business entity database

   Type the main words of the name, without LLC or Inc, into your state's business search. The SBA says most states don’t allow you to register a name that’s already been registered by someone else. Close matches can be refused too: in Texas, a new entity name must be distinguishable in the records of the secretary of state from the name of any existing filing entity.

2. Search DBA records

   Search assumed name or fictitious name records in your county and, where the state keeps them, in the state database.

3. Search the USPTO trademark database

   Search the name, spelling variants and words that sound the same in the USPTO Trademark Search system, and focus on marks for goods like yours. The USPTO says one of the most common reasons applications are rejected is because the applied-for trademark is too similar to an already registered one.

4. Search state trademarks and the web

   USPTO results are limited to federal trademark applications and registrations, so the USPTO encourages applicants to search the Internet, state trademark databases, and business name databases for references to similar trademarks. Include the marketplaces where you plan to sell.

5. Check the domain

   Look the name up at a domain registrar. If the exact domain is gone, the name can still work: the SBA notes that your domain name doesn’t actually need to be the same as your legal business name, trademark, or DBA.

6. Register the name before you spend

   File the entity or DBA, register the domain and decide on a trademark before you order labels, packaging or a sign. The Texas Secretary of State says of its own name checks: do not make financial expenditures or execute documents based on a preliminary clearance.

Business name search tools in six large states

Each state runs its own business entity search and keeps DBA records in its own way. The table covers six large states, and the sources at the end of the page link to each state's page.

For other states, search for your state's name with "business entity search" and use the state's own site rather than a paid lookup service.

DBA search: how to look up a DBA

A DBA search, or DBA lookup, checks the names that businesses trade under instead of their legal name. A DBA lets you conduct business under a different identity from your own personal name or your formal business entity name. Depending on the state it is called an assumed name, fictitious name or trade name.

Because DBAs are filed with the state, county, or city your business is located in, how to look up a DBA depends on where the business is. Old filings can lapse: in Texas, a certificate's term cannot exceed 10 years from the date of filing.

• Search the county clerk's assumed name or fictitious business name index where the business has an office, and the state database in states that take DBA filings.
• Note the filing date and term of any match. A lapsed filing does not show whether the business still uses the name.

A DBA match is weak evidence either way. In Texas, there may be multiple assumed name certificates on file with the secretary of state for the exact same name. A missing match is weak evidence too. The SBA says if you conduct business as yourself using your legal name, you won’t need to register anywhere, so a business trading under its owner's own name may have no filing and still hold rights in that name.

Trademark search: the check that matters most

The SBA says a trademark can protect the name of your business, goods, and services at a national level, and warns that businesses in every state are subject to trademark infringement lawsuits, which can prove costly. So a name that clears every state record still needs a trademark search.

Registration is not the only source of rights. The USPTO says you become a trademark owner as soon as you start using your trademark with your goods or services, but those rights are limited, and they only apply to the geographic area in which you’re providing your goods or services. A shop that has used a name for years can have rights in it and still not appear in the USPTO database.

Trademark rights are tied to goods and services. The USPTO notes that you don’t have rights to the word or phrase in general, only to how that word or phrase is used.

• Read the goods and services on each result. A match for related goods is the risk; a match in an unrelated field may not be.
• Check pending applications as well as registrations. A full clearance search covers federally registered and applied-for trademarks, state trademark databases, and the internet.

Example: a candle maker wants the name Juniper Hollow. If the search shows a live federal registration for Juniper Hollow on home fragrance, that is a likely conflict. A Juniper Hollow law office is a much smaller risk, because the goods are unrelated. This is an illustration, not a legal opinion.

If your first choice is taken, pick a different name rather than a new spelling. The USPTO says creative and unique trademarks are more effective and easier to protect.

Can two businesses have the same name?

Two businesses can have the same name in some cases. The answer depends on the record the name sits in and what each business sells.

• Entity names in one state: the SBA says most states don’t allow you to register a name that’s already been registered by someone else, though there are exceptions pertaining to state and business structure.
• Entity names in different states: an entity name can protect the name of your business at a state level, so the same LLC name can exist in two states.
• DBAs: the SBA says multiple businesses can go by the same DBA in one state, but trademark infringement laws will still apply.
• Trademarks: trademarks prevent others in the same (or similar) industry in the United States from using your trademarked names.

So a shared name is lower risk when the two businesses sell unrelated goods and the name is free in your state's entity records. In Texas, a name preclearance or certificate of formation does not authorize the use of a name in violation of another person's rights to the name.

DBA vs trademark: what each one protects

The DBA vs trademark question comes down to protection. A DBA is a public filing that says who trades under a name. A trademark gives rights in a name for specific goods or services.

A Texas assumed name certificate, for example, does not prevent anyone else from filing the same assumed name or using the name to form a new entity. A state trademark registration sits between the two: the USPTO says it creates rights in that state only.

Where Nation fits

Questions about business name searches