Verify Your Business Name With a Utah Business Name Search

You have the perfect idea for a limited liability company (LLC), and you’re slowly slotting the pieces of your business jigsaw puzzle into place. You have a registered agent, a business plan, and may even have started work on marketing materials. What you may not have yet is one of your puzzle’s most crucial pieces — a business name.

Unfortunately, naming your LLC isn’t as simple as selecting a name and plastering it all over your business. You need to confirm that your name meets the Utah Secretary of State’s requirements, which is where the Swyft Filings’ Utah business name search comes in. Our advanced search tool is easy to use with three simple steps:

1. Tell us your desired business name and give us your email address.

2. Wait no more than an hour for us to tell you if the name is available.

3. Move forward (or choose a new name) based on our search results.

It’s quick and easy to use, with the tool informing you if your name is viable. From there, you need to run further checks to confirm that the name is legal to use and take steps to secure that name for your company. This article shows you how to complete all steps to ensure you end up with a unique and compliant business name.

Utah’s Business Name Conventions

Whether you’re forming a Utah Corporation or Utah LLC, you must confirm that your name for your new business is usable in the state. To do that, you must follow a few rules when choosing your name.

Rule 1 — Heed the Restrictions

First, let’s talk about what the Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code says that you can’t use as the name for your business entity.[1]

• Any names that suggest your business is a federal or state government agency are banned unless you have specific authorization.

• The name can’t be in any language other than English and must be written using the English alphabet.

• You can’t use the word “cooperative” in your business name unless you have a non-profit agricultural company.

• Your name can’t suggest you do anything other than what is outlined as the company’s purpose in your Articles of Organization and Articles of Incorporation.

Failing to comply with these basic restrictions is grounds for immediately refusing your formation documents, meaning you waste the money you spent on filing fees.

It’s also worth noting that there are some words, such as “College,” “Bank,” and “Trust,” that you can’t use without permission of licenses from specific state organizations.

Rule 2 — The Name Must be Distinguishable

Assuming your name doesn’t trigger any of Utah’s restrictions, your next task is to make it “distinguishable.” In other words, is the name unique enough to ensure it can’t be confused with any other business name in Utah?

Here, a Utah business name search comes in handy, as the search can instantly tell you if your new business has a name already in use. However, it’s also worth covering some of Utah’s guidelines for what it considers “distinguishable.”[1] It all comes down to keyword usage, with the state determining that your name is unique in the following circumstances:

• You have at least one different keyword in your name.

  • Note that conjunctions, prepositions, and entity identifiers (i.e., “Incorporated”) don’t count as keywords.

• You have the same keyword as another company but use them in a different order.

• The keywords are similar but have a marked difference in usage based on the name’s context.

• The keywords are the same as another company’s, but yours has a unique spelling or twist.

  • An example could be “Bob’s Animation” versus “Bob’s Anim8tion.”

Rule 3 — Use Appropriate Abbreviations

Any business name issued under Utah law needs to include a portion that denotes your entity type as well as the entity name.[1]

For instance, a corporation must include a word like “Corporation” or “Incorporated” (or a relevant abbreviation, such as “Inc.”). With an LLC, you have to use a term like “Limited Liability Company,” “LLC,” or “L.L.C.” in the name.

The key here is that you don’t misrepresent your business entity. For example, a small business registered as an LLC shouldn’t use the suffixes that denote a corporation. This comes back to the previously mentioned restriction that states your company name shouldn’t misguide the reader into thinking you’re something you’re not.

Benefits of a Utah Entity Search

Some entrepreneurs may see using a Utah business entity search as inconvenient, primarily if they’ve already invested time into getting Utah business licenses. But there are benefits to getting ahead of the business name challenge.

1 — You’ll Save Time

Imagine completing your formation documents and working hard to create marketing materials using your desired LLC name. But when you get the formation documents back, a rejection letter tells you the name isn’t viable. You’ve wasted a lot of time on work that needs to be redone.

An advanced search for company names takes less than an hour with Swyft Filings, and it’ll save you from wasting time on applying for a name that you can’t use.

2 — You’ll Save Money

State fees apply when filing your formation documents with the state of Utah. For example, it costs $54 to file Articles of Incorporation for a corporate entity or a Certificate of Organization for an LLC. You’ll pay even more for a limited partnership ($70). So, setting up a business in Utah isn’t free.[2]

If your name doesn’t meet Utah’s conventions because it uses restricted terms or is not distinguishable from an existing name, you’ll have to refile, paying more fees in the process. A free business name search ensures that doesn’t happen.

3 — It’s Quick, Easy, and Free

Something that takes less than an hour and only requires you to answer four quick questions isn’t an inconvenience when placed in the context of creating a business. That hour spent waiting for a result from the Swyft Filings name search gives you the confidence to move forward with other aspects of your business.

Best of all, a search doesn’t cost you a cent, making it helpful, convenient, and economical for your budding business.

Next Steps

You’ve wrapped up your Utah entity search and selected a business name for your LLC. That brings you a step closer to making your Utah business a reality, though there are a couple more steps to take before you file your formation documents.

Complete Your Name Reservation

A successful Utah business name search doesn’t guarantee that you have a name for your LLC. If another company comes along and snatches up that business name before you form your company, you’re back to square one.

Thankfully, name reservation prevents that from happening (at least for a short while). The Utah Division of Corporations allows you to reserve your LLC name for up to 120 days before it’s made available for public use again.

To make that reservation, you must complete the Application for Reservation of Business Name,[3] which you then send to the following address:

Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code,

P.O. Box 146705,

Salt Lake City, Utah 84114-6705

Include a check for $22 (made out to “State of Utah”) to cover your filing fees, and you should be able to reserve your name.

A name reservation doesn’t mean you can start transacting business under the name you reserve. It gives you 120 days to file your formation documents without worrying about others taking your name.

Choose a Domain Name

While the name you officially register for your Utah business is a legal requirement, your domain name is different. First, you don’t have to register a domain name, though that may not be a good idea, given that websites are vital to modern business. Second, domain name reservation is like the wild west compared to business name reservation — anybody can register a domain name.

With that in mind, you’ll want to check domain name availability as soon as your business name is reserved. Assuming your desired name is available, you should grab it to have it ready for your website when you officially launch your business.

Squarespace’s easy-to-use domain search tool can help you quickly find and register a domain name that matches your Utah 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.

If the one you want isn’t available, you can search for alternatives or contact the web admin who owns the domain name you wish to use. Some may be willing to sell their name to you, though you’ll likely pay more than you would if you buy a domain name that isn’t already in use.

Consider a DBA

A “doing business as” (DBA) name is a fictitious name that acts as a pseudonym for your business. It’s not the “real” name of your Utah LLC, instead working as an alternative name that you can use for branding and customer-facing purposes.

For instance, you may have registered a company called “Utah Financial Holdings and Investments, Inc.” But you may want to operate under the name “Solid Gold Investments.” The latter name can be a DBA, allowing you to use it without officially registering it as your official business name with the Utah Secretary of State.

Every DBA you use needs to get logged via the “Doing Business As Online Filing System.” It costs $22 to file for a DBA (with renewing that DBA costing $27 each time), and you need to file for each alias you wish to use, even if the names only have minor differences.

File Your LLC Online

With your Utah entity search complete, you now have a business name that you can use because you’ve confirmed it isn’t already in the Utah Secretary of State’s records. If you’ve followed the steps in this article, reserved the name for your LLC, secured a domain name, and maybe even prepared some DBA LLC names, all that’s left is to form your Utah LLC.

This is where Swyft Filings can help. Our LLC filing service helps you handle the formation documents quickly and easily, and it costs $0 (plus state fees) to use. We’ve helped over 300,000 businesses with everything related to forming companies, from LLC formation to name changes. Get in touch today and prepare your business the Swyft Filings way.

Bibliography

1. Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. “Business Name Conventions and Policies.” Accessed May 16, 2023.

2. Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. “Fiscal Year 2023 Fee Schedule.” Accessed May 16, 2023.

3. Utah Division of Corporations and Commercial Code. “Application for Reservation of Business Name.” Accessed May 16, 2023.