How to Name Your GA Corporation

Whether you’re searching for the right business name for your Georgia S Corp or Georgia C Corp, we can help. We’ve got all the information you need on how to conduct a GA corporation search, plus business naming rules, assumed names and trademarks.

General Rules for Corporation Names

These rules generally apply to all corporations, wherever they're formed.

Specific Rules for Georgia Business Names

In addition to the general rules listed above, you'll need to follow Georgia corporation law applicable to naming your business.For example, per Georgia Code Title 14, Chapter 2, Article 4, § 14-2-401, the name of a corporation:

The Art of Naming Your Corporation

Finding the perfect business name can be tricky. We have a complete guide to choosing the right business name, but essentially, you'll want to choose a name that will:

Need help coming up with business name ideas? Try our free name generator.

Georgia Corporation Name Search

Once you have an idea of the name you want, perform a Georgia business lookup to make sure another company isn't already using that name.

You can use the state's online portal to perform a name search.

You can also use our simple and convenient Business Name Search tool, which will search the state's business registry for you.

Trademarks and Service Marks

You must be careful that your Georgia corporation name doesn't infringe on the trademark or service mark of another business. The easiest way to ensure you're not infringing is to perform a trademark search through Bizee. If the trademark isn't already in use, you can even register it yourself.

Register a DBA in Georgia

You may do business under a name different from your corporation's legal name. While many states refer to this as a trade name, assumed name or "doing business as" (DBA), Georgia calls it a fictitious name, though "trade name" is also often used. You may decide to use a Georgia trade name for a variety of reasons.

For example, your primary business may be called Southern Hospitality, Inc., and you have a chain called Peachy Catering. You could register a trade name just for that brand. You'd do that by registering your trade name with the Clerk of Superior Court of the county where your business is located. In addition, per state law, you must publish a notice of your trade name registration "in the paper in which the sheriff's advertisements are printed once a week for two weeks."

You can also have Bizee do it on your behalf with our DBA service.

In order to keep your business names unique, you can also use the Georgia business entity search. You can perform a Georgia assumed name search to find out whether any other companies are already using the assumed name you want. We can also help you with this via our DBA name service.

Note: A trade name is not the same as a trademark. Learn more about trademark vs. DBA.

Register Your Business Name with the GA Sec State

You’ve performed a Georgia Corporation search, checked availability, followed the naming rules and determined whether you need a trade name. Now you can register your corporation name in one of two ways.

FAQs About Naming Your GA Corporation