How to register a business nameIt means three different things, and most people only need one or two of them
People say "register the name" as though it were one action. It is three, they are handled by different offices, they cost different amounts, and most businesses need some but not all of them. Doing the wrong one first is the usual reason a naming process stalls, and doing none of them is the usual reason somebody has to rebrand two years in.
This page is about telling the three apart and deciding which you need. It does not tell you what your state requires, because that genuinely differs and changes, and a page that pretended otherwise would be worse than no page.
The three registrations
These are separate systems. Completing one of them does not enroll you in the others, and none of them automatically gives you the protections people assume come with the word registered.
Forming an entity
When you form an LLC or a corporation, the name is part of the filing. The state checks it against its own register of entities formed there and rejects it if it collides with one. That check is the state keeping its own records unambiguous. It is not a judgement about anybody else's rights, and it stops at the state line.
Filing a trade name
If you trade under a name that is not your entity's registered name, or you are a sole proprietor trading under anything other than your own legal name, most places expect that name to be on file somewhere. What it is called varies: DBA, doing business as, fictitious business name, assumed name, trade name. Where it is filed varies too, sometimes with the state and sometimes at county level. This is the registration people most often do not realise applies to them.
Registering a trademark
This is the only one of the three that is actually about owning the name. A federal registration with the USPTO covers the whole country for the goods or services you register it for. Some states run their own trademark registers as well, which are narrower. It is also the slowest and the most expensive of the three, and the one most small businesses postpone longest.
The gap that catches people: forming an LLC in your state and filing a trade name gives you two records in two offices and no claim to the name itself. If another business objects, neither filing is the answer to them.
Which ones you need
Work across the row that matches you. Most readers need the first one or two and can defer the third with their eyes open.
| If you are | Entity filing | Trade name filing | Trademark |
|---|---|---|---|
| A sole proprietor using your own legal name | Not required | Usually not required | Optional, and rarely worth it at this stage |
| A sole proprietor using any other name | Not required | Usually required | Worth considering once you invest in the name |
| Forming an LLC and trading under that exact name | Yes, the name is part of it | Not needed | Worth considering |
| Forming an LLC but trading under a different name | Yes | Yes, for the trading name | Worth considering |
| Running several brands under one company | Once | One per trading name | One per brand you intend to keep |
| Building a brand you intend to defend or sell | Yes | If the names differ | Yes, and start it early |
The order to do them in
Search before you file anything. That is a separate page and it is the step people skip: the three searches on the name availability guide cost nothing and they are what stops you paying twice.
- Run the three availability searches on your shortlist. Most candidates die here, before any money moves.
- File the entity, if you are forming one. The state's own check happens at this point and a rejection here is cheap.
- File the trade name, if the name you will actually trade under is not the entity name. Do this before signage and printing, because this is the name that goes on them.
- Consider the trademark. The trigger is investment rather than revenue: the moment the name is going on vehicles, packaging or a product is the moment its loss starts costing real money.
The one ordering mistake worth naming: people form the entity first because it feels like the official step, then discover the name is unusable for reasons the state never checks. The state's approval is narrow, and getting it early can feel like permission it is not.
What skipping each one actually costs
Skipping the entity filing
You are trading as a sole proprietor, which is legal in itself and is a decision about liability rather than about names. The naming consequence is narrow: without a filing there is no state record of the name attached to you.
Skipping the trade name filing
This is the one with the most immediate practical bite. Banks frequently want the filing before they will open an account in the trading name, and payment processors and suppliers often ask for it too. People usually discover this when the bank asks, which is later than they would have liked.
Skipping the trademark
Nothing happens, until it does. You can trade under a name for years without registering it, and in the United States genuine use can build rights of its own. What you lose is the clean, national, provable position, which is exactly what you want to be holding on the day somebody larger starts using your name.
Where each state files it
Terminology and filing level differ by state, and the table below records what each one calls a trade name and who it is filed with. Both links go to the official state page. If your state is not listed, the section after this one is the reliable way to find it.
Finding your state's office
Every state publishes its business filings through a Secretary of State or an equivalent office, and every one of them has a free search. The reliable way to find yours is to search for your state's name followed by secretary of state business search, and to check you have landed on a state government domain before you enter anything.
There are commercial services whose search pages rank above the official ones and look official. They are not, they charge for filings you can make yourself, and some charge for the search. The official search is free in every state. If you are being asked to pay to look, you are in the wrong place.
Terminology differs once you get there. If you cannot find trade name, try fictitious name, assumed name or DBA, and check whether your state handles it at county level, because several do. That variation is the reason this page does not print a single set of instructions and claim they fit everywhere.
Common questions
Does forming an LLC protect my business name?
Not in the way most people mean. It reserves the name within that state's register of entities, so the state will not file an identical one. It is not a trademark, it has no effect in other states, and it does not resolve a dispute with a business that was already using the name. Those are different systems.
Do I need a DBA if I have an LLC?
Only if you trade under a name other than the LLC's registered name. Ellis Plumbing LLC trading as Ellis Plumbing does not need one. The same company trading as Riverbend Drains generally does, because the name customers see is not the name on file.
Can I register a name before I start trading?
Entity formation and trade name filings are things you do when you are ready to operate. Trademarks are different: the federal system has a route for filing based on an intention to use a mark, which is one reason the trademark step is worth understanding earlier than people expect.
How long does registration take?
Entity and trade name filings are usually quick, and several states offer expedited handling. Trademarks are slow, measured in months rather than weeks, with examination and a publication period along the way. Fees and timescales change, so take them from the office itself rather than from any article, including this one.
Do I have to register in every state I work in?
It depends on what working there means, and it is a real question rather than a formality. Operating a business in a state you did not form in generally involves registering as a foreign entity there. If you are crossing state lines regularly, that is worth asking somebody qualified about rather than guessing.
Is a domain name a registration?
No. A domain is a contract with a registrar, first come first served, and it grants nothing about the name itself. It is the cheapest and least meaningful of the things people call registering a name, which is why the availability guide treats it as a filter rather than a step.
Next
Search before you file. The availability guide covers the three searches that decide whether a name is worth filing at all, and the name lists are organised by trade.