If you’re planning to form an Ohio LLC or corporation (which is sometimes referred to as “registering your business”), you’ll need to file Articles of Organization to form the LLC or Articles of Incorporation to form the corporation.
However, before you file that document with the Ohio Secretary of State you need to choose a name for your Ohio LLC or corporation. The name that’s on your LLC or corporation’s Articles is its “legal name”. And before filing, it's a good idea to check whether the legal business name you want is available in Ohio.
Why check LLC or corporation name availability?
Choosing a business name is an important decision. Your business name is often the first impression you make on prospects, customers, investors, partners, and employees.
If you choose a business name only to discover that it’s already in use, it can be quite frustrating.
How to conduct an Ohio business name availability search
As with other states, Ohio has rules on what you can name your LLC or corporation. The Ohio Revised Code requires that your business name be “distinguishable upon the records in the office of the Secretary of State” from any previously registered legal name of a corporation, LLC, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, reserved name, or trade name.
What does not make a name distinguishable, for example:
- The use of punctuation, contractions or abbreviations won’t make your name unique: For example, “Lucky’s Bar” is not distinguishable from “Lucky Bar.”
- Word variations: Changing the tense or number of a word does not create a distinction. For instance, “Village Bakery” is not distinguishable from “Village Bakeries.”
What makes a name distinguishable, for example:
- Adding letters: For example, “A Landscaping LLC” is distinguishable from “AA Landscaping LLC.”
- Different spelling or phonetic variations: “Quickie Laundromat” is distinguishable from “Kwikee Laundromat” or “Kwik-E-Laundromat.”
Note: Ohio allows you to register a trade name or a fictitious name for your business. Trade names and fictitious names are both names your LLC or corporation uses other than its legal name. The main difference between a trade name and a fictitious name is in how Ohio protects them. A trade name must be different from other names already registered in the state. Therefore, if you register a trade name no other business can register the name.
Fictitious names, in contrast, do not need to be different from already registered names. Therefore, a fictitious name provides no protection because multiple entities can register the same fictitious name.
When you’re choosing the name for your Ohio business you should also keep in mind trademark issues. Trademarks are words or symbols used to identify and distinguish a business’ products or services. If you choose a business name that is too similar to a name a competitor has trademark rights to, this can lead to claims of "trademark infringement" or "unfair competition." If someone sues you, you may have to change your business name and pay damages. The legal name you choose does not have to be distinguishable from trademarks. Therefore, the fact that the Ohio Secretary of State will let you form an LLC or corporation using that legal name doesn’t necessarily mean there are no potential trademark problems.
To avoid these costly mistakes and keep your business launch on schedule, it's important to check name availability early on.
How to find if a business name is taken
There's no one place to check for conflicting business names for your Ohio LLC or corporation. Use different search methods to make sure you cover all bases.
1. Check the internet
Research a name you are considering using on a search engine. This will help determine if anyone else is using a similar name for similar products or services.
In addition, check if the website domain name you want is available. Just type the name into the search bar and hit enter. You can also use the ICANN WHOIS Lookup tool for this. ICANN manages all domain names.
2. Search the Ohio Secretary of State’s business entity database
Use the Ohio Secretary of State’s Business Search to research available legal business names. You can also search for Ohio trade names (DBAs) in the same place, as they are also registered with the Secretary of State.
The system offers several search methods:
- Exact name search, for precise matches.
- Wildcard search (using the % symbol) for broader results, especially useful when checking name availability or when the full business name is uncertain.
For example, if you want to find businesses that include “Cincinnati” and any variation of “CONTRACT” (such as “CONTRACTOR,” “CONTRACTORS,” or “CONTRACTING”), enter: “CINCINNATI CONTRACT%”.
To ensure accurate results, follow the system’s formatting guidelines. Remove all special characters before searching, including double quotes ("), apostrophes ('), commas (,), pound signs (#), parentheses, underscores (_), plus signs (+), forward slashes (/), and periods (.). Remove any hyphens (-) and concatenate (world-wide becomes worldwide).
When you see consecutive single letters followed by a space or punctuation, treat them as one word. For example, "C.R.S CONTRACTORS" should be searched as "CRS CONTRACTORS".
