■ StartBusiness24 Guide — Names
How to Check If a Business Name Is Already Taken
No single search answers this — four checks do. Run all four before you fall in love with a name, print it on a truck, or file it with the state. This guide walks each check in the order that catches the most problems earliest, and it teaches the checks themselves: the official records are what decide, never a guide and never a generator.
The 4 checks
- 1State entity search. Search your formation state's business records for the exact name, close spellings, and sound-alikes. This is the record your filing will be checked against — a conflicting company already on file in your state is the most common reason a formation gets bounced. The Name Search Generator page carries the official self-check links we verified, including the Delaware entity search.
- 2USPTO Trademark Search. A name can clear the state records and still collide with a federal trademark in the same line of business. Search the USPTO's Trademark Search at tmsearch.uspto.gov — and note the date: the old TESS system was retired on November 30, 2023. Any guide still sending you to TESS is teaching from an outdated map.
- 3Domain + social handles. Check the .com and the handles your customers will actually type. A business whose name is spoken for everywhere online starts life with a marketing handicap — better to learn it at this step than after the signage is printed.
- 4Common-law search. Google the exact name, close spellings, and sound-alikes, plus your trade and town. Unregistered businesses still build rights by using a name — a same-named shop two counties over may never have filed anything and can still be a real conflict.
What these checks can't do: issue a verdict. A clean set of checks is a strong signal, not a legal opinion — the state's filing decision and the trademark record are the authorities. That is exactly why this guide teaches the checks instead of stamping names "clear" — and why any tool that does stamp them is selling you confidence it doesn't have.
Run the checks with the Name Search Generator
The suite's free Name Search Generator puts the self-check panel and the generator in one place: type your name to carry it toward formation, or generate fresh names by trade and style. If a check turns up a conflict, use "This name is taken — suggest alternatives" and the generator deals you a new set — a name you rejected is never offered back to you.
Name picked and checked? Form it.
Start the formation with the name you picked, in any of the 50 states: you review the exact total — your state's filing fee plus the $30 StartBusiness24 filing fee — and approve your documents before anything is filed.
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