How to Name Your New York Corporation

Whether you’re searching for the right business name for your New York S Corp or New York C Corp, we can help. We’ve got all the information you need on how to conduct an NY Secretary of State business 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 New York Business Names

In addition to the general rules listed above, you'll need to follow some New York corporation laws that apply to naming your business.

For example, per the state's BSC Article 3, § 301, the name of a corporation or foreign corporation must "contain the word 'corporation,' 'incorporated' or 'limited,' or an abbreviation of one of such words."

In addition, BSC Article 3, § 301 contains a long list of words that are prohibited from being used in business names.

Coming Up With the Ideal Business Name

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

New York Corporation Name Search

Once you have an idea of the name you want, perform an NYS corporation search 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 New York 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 New York

You may do business under a name different from your corporation's legal name. While many states refer to this as a trade name, fictitious name or "doing business as" (DBA), it's an assumed name in New York. You may decide to use an assumed name for a variety of reasons.

For example, your primary business may be called Upstate Hospitality, Inc., and you have a chain called Hudson Valley Tours. You could register an assumed name just for that brand. You'd do that by filing a form for a Certificate of Assumed Name, or you can have Bizee do it on your behalf with our DBA service.

In order to keep your business names unique, you can also use the New York business entity search. You can perform a New York 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 NY Department of State

You’ve performed a New York SOS business search, checked availability, followed the naming rules and determined whether you need an assumed name. Now you can register your corporation name in one of two ways.