Choosing a name for your small business

When starting up a new business, one of the first things you need to do is choose a suitable name for your enterprise. It is worth spending time considering the name, since not only will this be the first thing potential customers see, but it will also be with you for the duration of your venture.

You will also need to abide by the various rules and restrictions imposed by company law when making your choice.

For example, your new company may initially be involved in software resale, but further down the line you may expand your product range beyond software, so try not to restrict your name to something which may either date or which may not reflect the nature of your business in the future.

Depending on the nature of your new business, you may want to present potential customers with a traditional sounding name (for example if you are providing professional services), or a technology or modern focused name if you are in the high-tech sector.

Also be careful if your business is selling overseas since your business name may not go down so well in translation if you’re not careful!

If you are going down the Limited Company route, you will need to register your new name with Companies House (or use an agent to do this for you). You can set up a limited company online right now, via our partner - Duport.

The Companies House website contains detailed information on naming conventions to ensure your name passes various tests for suitability. For example, all Ltd company names must end in ‘limited’, ‘plc’ or ‘ltd’. The name must not be offensive or too similar to an existing name.

For certain industries, such as banking, there are also further limitations. You may also consider doing some trademark research in case your proposed company name has already been registered as a trademark.

Finally, if like many other Bytestart visitors, you are seeking an Internet presence for your company, you should research currently available domain names which match your proposed company name. You will save yourself a lot of stress and costs further down the line if you research both simultaneously.