When you meet someone new, what’s the first thing you want to know about them? Their name. Your name is unique—it’s how people remember you.
The same goes for your North Carolina business: choosing your name is the most important step of forming your company. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as just picking the name you like best from a list. That works for babies, but not businesses. North Carolina has several requirements that you’ll need to follow as you pick a name.
Fortunately, this five-step guide will help you pick a name that is both perfect for your business and compliant with state laws. We’ll also cover how to reserve your name once you’ve picked it. Let’s get started.
NOTE: If you have found the perfect business name and would like to begin the process of registering your business with the state, there are a lot of cheap LLC services — like LegalZoom and Zen Business — that can do it for you.
1) Review North Carolina Name Requirements
North Carolina has three primary requirements for naming your business. First, your name must include a designation of the type of company you’re forming. For example, if you’re forming a Limited Liability Company, you’ll need to include “LLC,” “Limited Liability Company,” or an abbreviation of those terms. Corporations must include “Inc.,” “Incorporated,” “Corporation,” etc. Regardless of what kind of entity you make, your name should reflect your business type.
Second, your name must be distinguishable from other business entities in North Carolina. If it’s too similar to another name, your filings could get mixed up with the paperwork for the wrong entity. And worse, a super-similar business name could confuse your customers.
For example, “North Carolina Lawn Care Bros, LLC” and “North Carolina Lawn Care Bros, Inc” would be too close. Small, nearly indistinguishable differences cannot be used to make your name distinct. This applies to punctuation, entity type labels, articles, fonts, or similarly small changes. In short, your name cannot cause confusion. You’ll want your name to both look and sound different from other businesses in North Carolina.
Finally, North Carolina restricts the use of certain words in your business name. Words for certain regulated professions, such as architecture, law, medicine, and more do not belong in your name—unless of course, you’ve received the appropriate licensure. Similar regulations apply to banks, trusts, and cooperatives.
2) Create the Perfect Name for Your North Carolina Business
Now that we’ve covered all the things you can’t do with your business name, let’s focus on what you can do. Here’s where you can let your creativity shine. As long as you meet North Carolina’s requirements, you can pick just about anything you like.
However, to make your business name perfect, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Pick a name that represents your business: Your business name is the first impression you’ll send to potential customers; you want to make sure it’s the right impression. So, be sure to include important aspects of your business in your name. For example, if you’re starting a restaurant that specializes in vegan fare, you’ll want that to be clear by your business name.
- Write it down and say it aloud: Your business name appears everywhere—business cards, your website, company signage, and more. A good name will look good on paper. But you’ll also say your name a lot, too, so make sure it sounds as good as it looks.
- Choose a name that you’re proud of: Do you like the name you’ve come up with? You love your business, and you should love the name that goes with it. If you love the name, then you’re good to move on to step three.
3) Search Your Chosen Name with the North Carolina Secretary of State
Now it’s time to check that your business name is available in the state of North Carolina. To do so, you’ll want to run a Business Search.
Here’s how it works: input the business name you developed in Step 2. If the state’s search tool doesn’t find any results, then good news! Your name is available for you to use in North Carolina. However, if it does find a match, you’ll want to start over or tweak your name a little to make sure it’s different from what’s currently in use in the state.
North Carolina’s tool allows you to perform a thorough search. We recommend running at least two searches. First, you should use the “Exact Match” option on the Words drop-down. Then, type in your desired business name. If there is an exact match of the name you want to use, you’ll need to make changes to make your name unique.
You can also run a second (but optional) search. With the “Any Words” option, you can type in a keyword from your business name; this second search will let you know what names are being used by similar entities. Then you’ll be able to make your business truly stand out.
While this step may seem like a hassle, it can save you time in the long run. You’ll need to put your business name on your formation documents; if you put down a name that’s already in use, the state will send it back to you, request a change, and you’ll need to file all over again. This could potentially slow down your start-up process by several days or even weeks. Searching your name ahead of time prevents that slow-down.
4) Reserve Your Business Name with North Carolina
You’ve done the legwork to make sure your business name is free to use in North Carolina. Now, let’s ensure that none of that work goes to waste by reserving your business name with the state.
In North Carolina, you can reserve a business name by filing an Application to Reserve an Entity Name (you can find the form here).You can file this form by mail with the Secretary of State. This form includes some information about you and your business, including your entity type, the contact information of the applicant, and of course, the name you wish to reserve.
North Carolina requires a fee of $10 for this name reservation. You can pay by check made payable to the Secretary of State.
Reserving your name will protect your business name for ten years. While it’s unlikely that another person will come up with the exact name you’ve chosen, this process prevents anyone else from using your name. The ten-year-long reservation gives you plenty of time to get all your affairs in order and file your formation documents.
5) File Your North Carolina Formation Documents
Even though filing a reservation gives you ten years of exclusive rights to the name you’ve created, you’ll need to file your formation documents to make everything official. The document you need to use varies depending on the type of business you’re forming, but it’s often called the Articles of Incorporation or the Articles of Organization.
The Business Registration Division of the North Carolina Secretary of State serves as a helpful starting point for forming your business. Here you’ll find the forms you need to start your business, including the North Carolina Articles of Incorporation. You’ll also find easy access to forms such as name reservations, amendments, registered agent changes, and more.
Conclusion
Conducting a business name search is an important part of forming your business in North Carolina. The search saves you time and helps you set up a name that makes your business stand out. We hope this guide made it simple to name your business.