A well-chosen LLC name can be essential to your business success.
Your name will last for many years and it will become an important part of your brand,
your company's reputation.
Here are a few quick tips to keep in mind when you're brainstorming options for your
LLC name.
Make your LLC name easy to spell, you want to make sure that people can find you when
they're looking for you.
Make your LLC name short, shorter names are easier for people to remember and also makes
it easier for people to refer you to their friends.
Make your LLC name have a positive connotation, leave people with a good feeling when they
hear about your business.
In order to make sure your desired LLC name is available for use, you will need to search
it against the existing companies on your State's database.
We will walk you through the details step-by-step in another lesson.
You need to know if your name is taken so that you can avoid infringing upon someone
else's name rights, differentiate your business from existing companies, and make sure your
desired LLC name is available for use before you file your documents.
There are a few requirements you need to know of when choosing your LLC name.
Your LLC name must end with the words, Limited Liability Company or the abbreviations LLC
or L.L.C.
The abbreviation LLC is the most common.
For example, Joe wants to start a company by the name, Joe's Landscaping Services, since
he is forming an LLC, he must use the name Joe's Landscaping Services LLC.
Again using the abbreviation LLC or the full word is a requirement when forming an LLC.
There are also a few restrictions to be aware of when choosing your LLC name.
Your LLC name cannot imply that it is a corporation, you're not allowed to use the words corporation
or incorporated or Corp or Inc anywhere in your LLC name.
Let's look at our example again.
Since Joe wants to form an LLC, he can't call his company Joe's Landscaping Services Inc
or Joe's Landscaping Services Incorporated.
Your desired LLC name must also be distinguishable.
This means it cannot be too similar to the names of the existing companies that are found
in the results during the search of the database.
The state will not approve your LLC if there is an existing company with your desired LLC
name, or if your name is too similar to an existing company.
We will now go over a few examples.
Let's talk about designators first.
Designators are the identifiers at the end of a business name.
For example, Inc or Corp for corporations, and LLC or L.L.C.
for Limited Liability companies.
Differences in these designators do not create distinguishability.
Let's say your desired LLC name is Smith Investments LLC but during your search of the database,
you find an existing company called Smith Investments Inc.
In this example, your desired LLC name would not be available for use, you'll need to use
an alternative LLC name, for example, Smith Financial Group LLC.
Grammatical differences such as singular, plural and possessive forms of the word do
not create distinguishability.
Let's say your desired LLC name is Apple Farm LLC, but during your search of the database,
you find an existing company called Apple Farms LLC.
In this example, your desired LLC name would not be available for use.
Again you'll need to use an alternative name, for example, Bob's Apple Orchard LLC.
Differences in articles such as a, an or the do not create distinguishability.
Let's say your desired LLC name is, Print Shop LLC, but during your search of the database,
you find an existing company called, The Print Shop LLC.
In this example, your desired LLC name would also not be available for use, you'll need
to use an alternative LLC name, for example, Printing Solutions LLC.
Names that are too similar to existing companies also known as deceptively similar also do
not create distinguishability.
Let's say your desired LLC name is Speedy Delivery Services LLC, but during your search
of the database, you find an existing company called Speed Delivery Services LLC.
In this example, your desired LLC name would also not be available for use.
You'll need to choose an alternative LLC name, for example, At Your Door Quick LLC.
When you search the database, you should search your desired LLC name every way that you can
think of.
Unfortunately, we can't show you exactly how to search your desired LLC name because it
depends on the state where you're forming an LLC.
Every state has their own database.
If you become a member of our site, we will show you with a step-by-step video how to
search your state's database and how to make sense over the results that you see.
This is an important step in forming your LLC, so take the time to ensure that your
name is unique and that it does not conflict with any existing companies.