Verify Your Business Name With an Oklahoma Business Name Search

You’ve developed your new business plan and decided on your business structure in Oklahoma. You know that you’ll need to register your business, get the federal tax ID for your startup, and obtain all the necessary permits and business licenses. 

But before that, there’s one step you mustn’t skip: deciding on your business name and reserving it with the Oklahoma Secretary of State. Doing so will ensure your business name is unique, secure, and ready before you move on to the subsequent steps mentioned above.

Checking whether your LLC name is available in Oklahoma can be done through our free business name availability search in three simple steps:

1. Fill out our online form with your desired Oklahoma corporation or LLC name, location, and email

2. Wait as the search tool sifts through all the limited liability companies and corporate entities to let you know whether the name is free to use. 

3. Receive your results via email within one hour

If no business entity has taken your desired business name, you can reserve it immediately and prepare for the next steps. Otherwise, you’ll have the option to submit the form again with another name option.

This online tool is always available, so even if you think of a name in the middle of the night, you can easily check and secure your small business or large corporation name in under an hour.

Key Takeaways

• Oklahoma has specific business naming conventions you must follow to create a name you can register under the Oklahoma Secretary of State.

• Several benefits come with performing an LLC or corporation search before you select and begin using your business name.

• After you ensure that your desired Oklahoma business name is available, you can continue your new business registration by reserving the name, building your website and choosing its domain name, and filing your LLC online.

Oklahoma’s Business Name Conventions

The Oklahoma Secretary of State has business naming rules you must comply with if you want your name registered in its database.[1]

The first two requirements that need to be met for easy database inclusion are as follows:

1. The characters of your company’s name need to consist of the Roman alphabet, Arabic numbers, and other symbols that can be produced in the English language.

2. The name has to be in all capital letters or upper case.

Next, the name of your Oklahoma LLC or corporation needs to be distinguishable from other companies within the same state. The following differences don’t classify as distinguishable:

• Difference in how the statutory words are spelled (e.g., “Harrison Inc.” isn’t distinguishable from “Harrison Incorporation” or “Harrison L.L.C.”)

• Difference in the article (e.g., “The Harrison L.C.” isn’t distinguishable from “Harrison L.C.”)

• Difference in the usage of periods, commas, spaces, or symbols make (e.g., “EFD Corp.” isn’t different from “E-F-D Corp.”)

• Difference in spelling (e.g., “For You LLC” and “4 You LLC”)

Other requirements are contingent on whether you’re starting an LLC or a corporation in Oklahoma.

• For an Oklahoma LLC, ensure that your LLC name includes “Limited Liability Company” or its abbreviations.

• If your new business is an Oklahoma corporation, you’ll have to include words like “company,” “corporation,” “incorporated,” “limited,” or appropriate abbreviations of any of these words or their variations.

• For a Oklahoma domestic or foreign partnership, the necessary identifier will be “limited partnership,” “limited,” or “Ltd.” in case of limited partnerships. In the case of limited liability partnerships, these words are “Registered Limited Liability Partnership,” “Limited Liability Partnership,” or their abbreviations.

Lastly, your company name mustn’t contain phrases that indicate their creation for purposes not stated in its Articles of Organization. This also includes not having words like “FBI,” “Tax Commission,” “Treasury,” and the like in its name.

Benefits of an Oklahoma Entity Search

Conducting an entity search before registering your company with the Oklahoma Secretary of State will benefit you and your bottom line by:

Saving You Time 

Checking the availability of your Oklahoma business name takes only an hour. On the other hand, if you accidentally pick a name already registered by someone else, you’ll waste time trying to correct that mistake.

Preventing Unnecessary Costs

Registering a business name has a cost, and re-registering your business can cost even more. Moreover, suppose your LLC name matches an existing business name. In that case, you might not only need to spend money registering another one but also cover all the legal expenses if that company sues you.

Verifying Existing Businesses

Let’s say you plan on collaborating or making a deal with another company. A business name search not only gives you the company’s name but also details about the company that’ll help you conclude whether it’s in good standing or not.

Next Steps

Now that picking a name for your business in Oklahoma is done, you’ll want to move on to the next steps. These include completing your reservation with the Oklahoma Secretary of State, choosing a domain name if you decide to spread your brand online, and possibly making a DBA.

Complete Your Name Reservation

After going through all the trouble of coming up with your business name and checking its availability, you don’t want to lose it. To ensure that your Oklahoma LLC has the name ready when you decide to register your company, you’ll need to reserve it with the Oklahoma Secretary of State.

This includes filling out the Application for Reservation of Name. You’ll need to specify the name you’re reserving, your entity type, your name, your address, and your signature.[2]

The filing fee is $10, and your application will be valid for 60 days. During this time, you can complete other steps of the business formation, such as submitting the necessary paperwork, such as articles of organization for LLCs or articles of incorporation for corporations.[3] 

Choose a Domain Name

Establishing an online presence with your Oklahoma business is always worth it. You can reach new customers in Oklahoma and help existing ones find their way to your products and services more efficiently. 

However, before you set up your website, you should meet the following requirements:

• Conduct a domain name search to ensure that your Oklahoma business domain is unique.

• Create a domain name for your Oklahoma business that best represents your brand and speaks to your consumers

• Make your domain short and sweet but not unrecognizable

Squarespace’s easy-to-use domain search tool can help you quickly find and register a domain name that matches your Oklahoma business. You can then choose from Squarespace’s flexible website templates, pre-designed layouts, and curated design elements to build a website — no coding required. Start your business with Swyft Filings and receive a free domain from SquareSpace for one year.

Consider a DBA

A DBA, “doing business as,” or trade name is the name you choose if you wish your business to operate under a different name.

This is useful for businesses with products and services that aren’t tied to one another and would benefit from different marketing strategies directed at different markets and audiences. Additionally, opening a business bank account in some financial institutions isn’t possible without a DBA.

To set up your DBA in Oklahoma, you must first check whether it’s available under the same conventions as your business name. It must be unique and distinguishable from other Oklahoma DBAs. Next, you can file it online through the Oklahoma Secretary of State website or by filling out the Trade Name Report and sending it to this address:

Oklahoma Secretary of State

421 NW 13th St., Suite 210

Oklahoma City, OK 73103

The fee for filing a DBA with the Oklahoma Secretary of State is $25, but you won’t need to renew it as it doesn’t expire.

File Your LLC Online

The last step on your Oklahoma business formation journey is filing your LLC. You can do this quickly and effortlessly online through a service such as Swyft Filings.

Just provide enough information about your Oklahoma business, and we’ll file the paperwork with the Oklahoma Secretary of State for you at no cost. You only pay Oklahoma’s state fees, and your Oklahoma Secretary of State-approved papers will arrive in your mailbox.

Even if you decide to change the name of your business in Oklahoma to a new one, we’ll guide you through the process of changing your Oklahoma business name.

FAQs

How do I find out if a business name is available in Oklahoma?

You can find out whether your desired Oklahoma LLC name is available by conducting an Oklahoma business name search.

What is the Oklahoma Secretary of State Business Entity Search?

The Oklahoma Secretary of State Business Entity Search tool provides a list of existing business names to check name availability or verify that a business exists. On the Oklahoma Secretary of State website search page, you can search by the business filing number, registered agent, and other aspects of a business. You’ll get a business’ detailed information, including its entity type, physical address, phone number, etc.

How do you look up an LLC in Oklahoma?

Looking up an Oklahoma LLC can be done through business entity search tools like Swyft Filings’ business name search, or on the Oklahoma Secretary of State website.

How much does an Oklahoma business entity search cost?

Conducting a business entity search in Oklahoma City is completely free of charge.

What are some of the benefits of a business entity search?

Looking up a name in the Oklahoma Secretary of State database will save you time and prevent unnecessary costs that come with changing your business name unnecessarily. 

How do I find out if a company is registered in Oklahoma?

To find whether a company is registered in the State of Oklahoma, you’ll need to do a business entity search. This can be done through online business entity search tools like the Oklahoma Secretary of State Business Entity Search or Swyft Filings’ free business name search.

Bibliography

1. Oklahoma Administrative Code. “Name Availability of business entity.” Accessed on May 17, 2023.

2. Oklahoma Secretary of State. “Application for Reservation Name.” Accessed May 17, 2023.

3. Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs. “Starting a Business in Oklahoma.” Accessed May 17, 2023.