Secretary of State LLC Name Search

Starting an LLC comes with various benefits, such as management flexibility, less compliance paperwork, and an easy startup process. However, it all starts with finding the ideal name for your limited liability company.

Additionally, you’ll need to conduct an LLC name search to ensure that the name isn’t already in use by an existing business in your state of formation.

The following step-by-step guide will show you how to perform an LLC name search in your state.

How to search for a business name

When you start an LLC, you’ll need to register a document called the Articles of Organization. This is also referred to as the Certificate of Formation or Articles of Formation, depending on the state in which you are registering your business.

The Secretary of State is the government organization responsible for registering your business entity name. The Secretary of State is also known as the Department of State or Division of Corporations.

Since your Articles of Organization will need to be registered with the Secretary of State, the business name must differ significantly from any other LLC in the state.

The good news is that checking the availability of an LLC name is relatively easy to do once you know the steps to follow. In fact, every state has a website that you can use to conduct a business name search.

By using our step-by-step guide, it’s fairly simple to search for a business entity name in your state.

LLC name lookup by state

LLC business name requirements

When brainstorming LLC names, it is important to remember that while you want your business name to be unique and catchy, it must also comply with state naming requirements. While each state has its own set of naming rules, there are some requirements that are common across all states. The general rules are as follows:

LLC name search – step by step

Conducting an LLC name search using our step-by-step guide is easy. Prior to performing the actual search, you’ll need to carry out a few extra steps as outlined below:

You’ll need to decide on what type of name you want. You may prefer a more traditional name or a more quirky one. Ultimately, it needs to align with the nature of your business, your products and services, and your target audience.

Consider the following when deciding on your LLC name:

In this step, you’ll need to start generating ideas for your business name. The advantage is that there are many tools and resources that you can use to brainstorm, such as:

All these suggestions will ultimately help narrow down your list of potential LLC names.

Although naming requirements will vary from one state to the next, some rules remain the same and are as follows:

The above-mentioned naming rules apply to all states, and therefore if your LLC name does not meet any of these requirements, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Meeting the relevant state laws is mandatory as your LLC is formed at the state level. One of these compulsory laws involves double-checking whether the entity name is in use by another business.

Depending on the state you’re filing your business in, you’ll need to log on to that specific Department of State’s website and use their name availability search tool or check the relevant business entity database.

More LLC name considerations

After conducting the LLC name availability search, other naming considerations such as the ones below may help protect your business name:

Conduct a trademark search

Your desired LLC name may be available at the time of your search on the Secretary of State’s website. However, that is no indication of whether it is being used as a trademark by another entity.

This is because most states only check name availability against their own business filing records and not necessarily against the state, federal, or common law trademark records.

However, you should note that trademark infringement comes with severe consequences and penalties, so it is crucial that you check whether another business trademarks the name. Perform a trademark search on the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s website to determine whether the names you’re considering are trademarked or too similar to existing trademarked names.

Check whether your LLC name is available as a domain

If your LLC name is available as a domain name, then you’re in luck. However, your business name and domain name do not necessarily need to match. Your business name is used for branding, identification, and legal purposes, while your domain name is a digital website address.

Use a professional service like Namechk.com to check domain name availability. Namechk.com checks your preferred names against more than 100 different platforms and social media networks. There’s also a handy business name generator allowing you to save time, brainstorm easier and save money all while finding your ideal domain name.

Consider reserving your LLC name

If the name you’re considering is available for business registration, then it is open to anyone to use. This is why it is recommended that you reserve the available LLC name. Most states allow you to reserve the name for a specific period of time until you are ready to initiate business filings. The usual time is 60 to 120 days, but this timeframe will vary from state to state.

Name reservation renewals are also possible in most states, and this is a good way to hold on to a name in the event that you are not able to register it within the initial name reservation timeframe. Name reservation is a great way to make sure that other companies are prevented from using your desired name.

So they will not be able to qualify under, form under, register, reserve, or change their business name to your reserved name. Name reservations may also be filed in other states if you plan on conducting business in more than one state.