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 West Virginia 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. West Virginia 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 good LLC services — like LegalZoom and Zen Business — that can do it for you.
1) Review West Virginia Name Requirements
West Virginia has two 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 West Virginia. 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, “West Virginia Lawn Care Bros, LLC” and “West Virginia Lawn Care Bros, Inc” are too close. A mere difference in entity type identifier is not enough to make a name distinct if it is the only difference. Changing “Bros” to “Bro” would not work, either. There must be at least a word of difference between your name and another. However, some small “words” like articles or prepositions are disregarded.
There are a few occasions when you can use a name that is not distinguishable. For example, if you obtain written consent from the name’s original owner, you may be able to use it. Similarly, if you and that entity have merged, you can file paperwork to use the name that belonged to one of the merging entities.
For a full listing of West Virginia naming requirements, you can consult the West Virginia Business Corporation Act.
2) Create the Perfect Name for Your West Virginia 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 West Virginia’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 West Virginia Secretary of State
Now it’s time to check that your business name is available in the state of West Virginia. To do so, you’ll want to run a Business Organization 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 West Virginia. 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.
To make the most of the tool, we recommend that you perform at least two searches. First, simply type in the exact name you’d like to use (you can leave off identifiers like “Inc” or “LLC”). If no results appear, then it’s likely that your name is available. If a result pops up designating an exact match, you should make a change or two.
Once you’ve ruled out exact matches, you can move on to the second search. This one is optional, but running a keyword search can be helpful. Simply type in a keyword from your business name (i.e., “cupcakes” for a bakery). The tool will pull up all business names which include that keyword. By learning the names of your competition, you can make your name truly stand out.
If you’d rather, you can also call the Secretary of State’s office to run a preliminary check.
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 West Virginia
You’ve done the legwork to make sure your business name is free to use in West Virginia. Now, let’s ensure that none of that work goes to waste by reserving your business name with the state.
In West Virginia, you can reserve a business name by filing an Application for Name Reservation.You can file this form by mail or fax with the Secretary of State. This form includes some information about your business, such as your business type, requested name, contact information of the person requesting the reservation, and payment information.
West Virginia requires a fee of $15 for this name reservation. You can pay by check, money order, or credit card. Checks and money orders should be made payable to the West Virginia Secretary of State. If you wish to pay by card, be sure to fill out the e-Payment Authorization on the last page of the form.
Reserving your name will protect your business name for 120 days. 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 120-day-long reservation gives you plenty of time to get all your affairs in order and file your formation documents.
5) File Your West Virginia Formation Documents
Even though filing a reservation gives you 120 days 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 Division of the West Virginia 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 West Virginia 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 West Virginia. 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.