Choosing the right name for your business is as important as choosing what type of business you want to do. If you choose the right name the business will become memorable but a wrong name can doom your business. A good business name is often not the first name that comes to your mind. A lot of thoughts need to be input into it.
Preliminary step when considering a business name registration
It must reflect the product or service you offer or you may confuse prospective customers.
Select something that is easy to pronounce and remember.
Stand out from the competition.
Make it unique and distinctive to avoid confusion and legal issues
Legal Elements of Business Names
A name that is unique, easy to say, spell and pronounce
It is important to separate yourself from the competition and allow customers to identify you as a unique brand. Choose a Business name that is unlike any others that exist in the market. We all have come across a situation that you have been to a good restaurant with a difficult name so you find it difficult to remember its name when you refer it to a friend and end up giving the location of the restaurant. By this you are, unknowingly, advertising for all other similar businesses in that location.
Catchy First Word
This can be the time consuming and often frustrating part of finding a first keyword to your business name. This is the word that will stand out over any other part of your business name, so you want to ensure that it's a word that will stick in people’s mind. To give known businesses as examples let’s look at Walmart. It is a unique word but easier for people to understand just by seeing the word what type of business or store it is.
Unless you have a robust marketing strategy to make it memorable, avoid Acronyms and Abbreviations as both are easy to misspell and difficult to remember or differentiate from some other names.
Giving a descriptive element to your business
It is important to help potential clients know what you do quickly, easily and without much thought at their end. It is also important to keep the descriptive wording general enough so that it’s an overall of what industry or business you are in. As a quick example, using a word such as 'restaurant', indicates to people that your business is an eating place whereas 'foods' is not clear enough for the public whether it is an eating place or a shop selling food stuff or a convenient store. Don’t be too specific with your descriptive element if you have plans to expand the products or services.
Check the internet
This is a really easy and free way for you to see if anyone else has thought of the same or similar business name registration and has an internet presence as a known brand.
Search Google, Yahoo, Bing and other browsers for business names that you are coming up with. You may also want to consider a quick search on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest and other social media platforms you believe your business may want to have a presence with to ensure your selection of business name or names can be actually used.
Nuans Pre-Search is important step, never to be missed, so that you don't end up with a business names which is too close to an existing brand that your business name will never appear in search results.
Create a list of business names for consideration
Make a list of at least 5 business name registration in the order of your preference.
Check the availability for the same domain name
Check a domain registry to see if the name is also available for a website under the same name.
Complete a NUANS pre-search
This is the stage where you will know if the name can be actually used to register your Corporation Name. In Canada, your cannot register a new business with a name which is identical to existing business or corporation name so that the public will mistake one business for another. Unless you know your business name is not conflicting with another existing and active business name in the Government database, you cannot finalize on the name.
The only way to determine if business name you are considering for your new business is available and is not conflicting with another existing and active business is to conduct a NUANS Name Search in the the Canadian Government's NUANS database system. At Instant Nuans Report, we can conduct a NUANS Pre-Search for you so that you can finalize on your business name.
The Legal Elements of Business Names
Business names must conform with the law and the legal elements of a business name as governed by the Canadian and Provincial Government rules and regulations What you can name your business depends greatly on what form of business ownership you choose, referring to the way your business is legally structured.
The three most common forms of business in Canada are:
- The sole proprietorship,
- The partnership,
- The corporation.
- Each form of business has legal elements that must be adhered to.
For as a sole proprietorship or partnership, you can’t include words such as Limited, Incorporated or Corporation Name or abbreviations of these words such as Ltd., Inc. or Corp. in your business name. These are called legal elements and can only be used for a Corporation Name.
For example, if your business is for incorporation, you can name your business 'Smith Plumbing Ltd.', but if your business is a sole proprietorship or partnership, you name it as 'Smith Plumbing'.
NUANS Report - The Final step
Now that you have finalized on a name for your business and determined the legal structure (it is to be a corporation, sole proprietorship or partnership), before proceeding to register the business, you will be required an official search and reservation report of your proposed name. NUANS Pre-Search is one such official search and reservation report. Wherever applicable, a NUANS report must be included with your application for registering the business with the Federal or Provincial Government.
Each jurisdiction has very specific rules which outline what type of Nuans name search is acceptable. You’ll need a NUANS Name Reservation Report if you’re incorporating a business at the federal level or in any of the following Provinces:
- Ontario
- Alberta
- New Brunswick
- Northwest Territories
- Nova Scotia
- Prince Edward Island
A NUANS report is not required but highly recommended for sole proprietorship and partnership registrations as this is the only official and comprehensive document which shows if your business name is legally viable and safe to be used and will not run into issues in the future.