The Commonwealth of Virginia is one of the most friendly states to start a small business.
It features a strong statewide economy, a highly educated population and great transportation links with Washington, D.C., Maryland, West Virginia and North Carolina. It’s also well-placed internationally, with several good options for traveling outside the US.
In addition to a very strong technology sector, Virginia also enjoys economic growth from businesses in the software, defense and communications sectors.
If You Want to Start a New Business in Virginia, You Need the Right Name
We’ll look up your proposed business name in Virginia and see if it’s available for you to form a corporation or LLC. You can easily check for existing company names with the Virginia State Corporation Commission registry of businesses.
When you have a unique name for your Virginia corporation or LLC, we’ll help you legally form your business through our quick, easy and inexpensive VA entity formation process. Get started by searching your proposed Virginia business name in the box below, and we’ll check it with the VA State Corporation Commission.
Use Our Free Business Name Search Tool to Find Out If Your Company Name Is Available
We’ll take care of the entity search.
Rules About How You Should Name Your Virginia Business
All businesses formed in Virginia must be named following certain rules.
Typically, the Virginia State Corporation Commission will not allow you to form a business with a name that implies association with a VA state entity, or one that implies an illegal purpose for your business.
If your Virginia business is an LLC, it must contain “Limited Liability Company” or an abbreviation. If it’s a corporation, it must contain a word like “Incorporated,” “Corporation” or something similar.
Your Virginia business name should not be confusable with or similar to another business in VA.
Other Virginia Business Naming Rules
The Virginia State Corporation Commission has several other rules on the words you cannot use in a business name:
The name of a corporation, limited liability company or limited partnership may not include any word, abbreviation or combination of characters that states or implies that it is a different type of business entity. Under this standard, for example, the name of a limited liability company may not include the word “corporation” or “incorporated” or the designation “Corp.” or “Inc.”.
The name of a corporation may not imply that it is or will be conducting business as a bank, trust company, insurance company, or public service company, such as a railroad, telephone company, utility, or water or sewer company, unless it will actually be engaged in such business.
No business entity’s name may include the word “bank” or “trust” unless it will be engaged in the banking or trust company business, or it is clear from the context of the remaining words that it will not be engaged in such business.
No business entity’s name may include the word or words “engineer,” “architecture” or “land surveying,” or any modification or derivation of such words, unless the entity will be lawfully engaged in such services or it is clear from the context of the remaining words that the entity will not conduct such business.
The words “United States,” “national,” “Federal” and “reserve” may not be included in the name of a business entity that is engaged in the banking, loan, building and loan, brokerage, factorage, insurance, indemnity, savings or trust business.
Ready to start your business? Bizee will take care of the paperwork for you and file it with the Virginia State Corporation Commission—all for as little as $0 + state fee.
Common Questions About Virginia Entity Searches