How to choose a business name and domain: trademarks, state names and handles

Founders usually pick a name the way they pick a band name. They brainstorm, check whether the .com is free, and move on. The trouble shows up later, when a cease-and-desist letter arrives, or when the state rejects the formation filing, or when the name everyone likes turns out to belong to a company in the same industry two states away.

A name takes an evening to check properly. This guide covers what to check, in the order that saves the most time.

A name has four registrations, and they're independent

The SBA lists four ways a business name gets registered, and each one does a different job.^⁠[1]

These are legally separate. Most small businesses use the same name for all four, but they don't have to.^⁠[1] The point to take away is that getting one doesn't give you the others. A state accepting your LLC's name says nothing about whether you can use it as a brand.

Pick a name you can protect

Before checking anything, look at the kind of name you've chosen. A name that only describes what you sell, such as Fast Plumbing or Best Bookkeeping, is hard to protect and easy for competitors to use alongside you. The USPTO says creative and unique trademarks are more effective and easier to protect.^⁠[8]

Owning a trademark also doesn't give you the word itself, only its use with your goods or services.^⁠[8] An invented or unexpected name gives you more room on both counts.

Check trademarks first

Start with the federal trademark database, because it's the check most likely to make you change the name, and the one with the costliest consequences if you skip it.

The USPTO's free Trademark Search system covers registered and pending federal trademarks.^⁠[2] Search your exact name, then variations that sound the same, are spelled differently, or mean the same thing.

What you're looking for is a likelihood of confusion, which the USPTO calls the most common reason it refuses to register a trademark. Two marks don't have to be identical to conflict. They can be similar in sound, appearance or meaning, or create a similar overall impression.^⁠[3]

Conflict also depends on what each business sells. Identical marks with different owners can both be registered when the goods are unrelated, which is how Dove soap and Dove ice cream bars, or Delta faucets and Delta air travel, coexist. Goods or services are related when they're similar or competitive, used together, sold to the same buyers, advertised together, or sold by the same kind of business.^⁠[3]

So a name used by a bakery may be fine for a software company. The same name used by another software company, or by a company selling something your customers would expect you to sell, is a problem.

A clean federal search isn't the whole picture. A business owns a trademark as soon as it starts using it with its goods or services, even without registering it, although those rights only cover the area where it trades.^⁠[8] So search the web, app stores and your state's business records for the name in your field too. If the name is central to a business you plan to grow, a trademark attorney's clearance search is worth paying for.

What a trademark application costs

You don't have to register a trademark to use a name. Registering gives you nationwide rights, where use alone gives rights only where you trade.^⁠[8] It also creates a public record that others will find when they search.

Since January 18, 2025, the base application fee is $350 for each class of goods or services. A business selling both shirts and custom printing services, which fall in two classes, pays $700. Additional fees apply if the application is incomplete, at $100 a class, or if you describe your goods in your own words instead of choosing wording from the USPTO's ID Manual, at $200 a class plus $200 for every extra 1,000 characters.^⁠[4]

If you file before you've started using the name, which is called an intent-to-use application, you'll pay $150 per class later to show the USPTO you're using it. Keeping a registration alive costs $325 per class for the declaration due between the fifth and sixth years, and $650 per class at each ten-year renewal.^⁠[4]

Watch for trademark scams

As soon as you file, your name and address become public, and scam notices follow. They often pretend to come from the USPTO, claim there's a problem with your application, and demand an urgent payment.

The USPTO says its staff will never ask for personal or payment information by phone, email or text, its emails come only from addresses ending in @uspto.gov, and its legitimate fees are the ones on its fee page. It also says never to share your USPTO.gov password, even with someone helping you file.^⁠[5]

Check your state's entity name rules

If you're forming an LLC or a corporation, the state has to accept the name. Each state sets its own rules, but most won't register a name already taken by another entity there, and some require the name to reflect the kind of business.^⁠[1] LLCs and corporations also need a suffix, such as LLC or Inc., in a form the state accepts.

Delaware, where many startups incorporate, requires a name to be distinguishable from every entity already registered or reserved there. If you've cleared a name but aren't ready to file, Delaware will reserve it for 120 days for $75.^⁠[6] Most states offer a similar reservation.

Search your state's business entity database for the exact name and close variations. Our guide to starting an LLC covers the filing that follows, and the best state to form an LLC covers where to file.

When you need a DBA

A DBA, also called a trade name, fictitious name or assumed name, lets you trade under a name that isn't your legal entity's name or your own. You register it with your state, county or city, depending on where you are.^⁠[1]

You'll need one if your LLC is called one thing and your storefront or website another, or if you're a sole proprietor trading under anything other than your own name. A DBA gives you no legal protection, and several businesses in a state can share the same DBA.^⁠[1] Trademark law still applies to it, so a DBA needs the same trademark check as your main name.

Choose the domain

The domain is the registration customers see most, and the one where your first choice is most likely to be taken.

Prefer a .com if you can get it. It's the extension a customer who only remembers your name is most likely to guess. Other extensions work well when they fit the audience, such as .co, .io or .ai for software, or a country extension for a business that serves one country.

When the .com is taken, look at who has it. If a real business uses it, particularly in your field, that's a trademark warning as much as a domain problem, and choosing a different name is usually wiser than choosing a different extension. If it's parked, you can make an offer through a broker or the registrar's marketplace, though premium names can cost far more than a new registration.

A modifier is a respectable answer. Adding a word such as get, try, hq or app to the .com is common, and the SBA points out that your domain doesn't have to match your legal name, trademark or DBA at all.^⁠[1]

Register through an accredited registrar. The SBA suggests checking ICANN's directory of accredited registrars, then choosing on price and service, and remembering that domains need renewing.^⁠[1] Renewal prices are where registrars differ most. Cloudflare Registrar, for example, charges registration, transfer and renewal at the price the registry and ICANN charge it, with no markup.^⁠[7]

Turn on auto-renewal and use a company email address for the registrar account. A domain that lapses can be registered by someone else, and with it goes your website and your email. Our guide to business email on your own domain covers the email side.

Claim the social handles

Check the name on the networks where your customers spend time, and claim the handles even if you won't post for months. A consistent handle across networks makes you easier to find and harder to impersonate.

If your exact name is taken, use the same modifier everywhere, such as the one you used for the domain, rather than a different variation on each network. Keep the logins for every handle in a shared password manager under a company email, so they don't leave with whoever set them up. Our comparison of password managers for small teams can help you choose one.

Order of checks

Run the checks from the one most likely to rule a name out to the least. Start with the USPTO search and a web search in your field, then your state's entity database, then the domain, then social handles. A name that passes all of them is ready to reserve, register and build on.

Then make the registrations in the order you'll need them. Form the entity, register any DBA you'll trade under, buy the domain and claim the handles the same day, and file a trademark when the name is central to what you're building and the budget allows.