Corporation Naming Rules:
Your corporate name must:
- Be distinctive.
- Avoid causing confusion with existing corporate names, business names, or trademarks.
- Exclude any prohibited terms.
- Not imply governmental or institutional endorsement or control.
- Not be misleading or misdescriptive.
- Include any mandatory terms, if applicable.
- Should end with a legal suffix
Distinctiveness
The essential aspect of naming your corporation is ensuring that the name is distinctive. A distinctive name sets your corporation apart from other businesses.
A name that merely describes your corporation’s activities, goods, services, or their characteristics will not be considered distinctive. For example, a name like “Car Manufacturer Inc.” lacks distinctiveness because it describes the activities of all car manufacturers.
To achieve distinctiveness, consider using made-up words. These can be a blend of two existing words, such as “Virtuocomp,” or something entirely novel like “Dweedag.”
Unique and unusual names tend to be highly distinctive because they are one-of-a-kind.
Accepted legal Suffix
The following legal elements are permitted by the Business Corporations Act:
- Limited
- Limitee
- Ltee
- Ltd.
- Corp.
- Corporation
- Inc.
- Incorporated
- Incorporee
- ULC
- Unlimited Liability Corporation
The ‘Professional Corporation’ element can only be used for one of the following types of professions:
- Chartered Professional Accountants
- Chiropractor
- Dentistry
- Law
- Medicine
- Optometry
Trade Name & Sole Proprietorship Naming Rules
A trade name is utilized in the following scenarios:
- An individual conducts business under a name that is not their personal name.
- A corporation operates under a name that differs from its legal name.
A trade name is also referred to as a sole proprietorship.
A trade name should not have a legal suffix in the end. Legal suffixes are only used for corporations. Trade names do not have name protection. Therefore, you can choose any name you would like if it meets the following criteria:
- Exclude any prohibited terms.
- Not imply governmental or institutional endorsement or control.
- Not be misleading or misdescriptive
Please contact us if you have any questions.