Colorado LLC Name Search

Nailing down a great name for your Colorado LLC can be challenging. 

You want the name to be unique and easy to remember while conveying what your business does. You also want it to be SEO-friendly so that it can easily be found on Google. That’s a lot of boxes to check. 

And even if you’ve already found the perfect business name, you need to make sure it’s available. That takes several steps, as detailed in this handy guide.

Colorado LLC Entity Search 

The most important consideration when choosing an LLC name in Colorado is to make sure it’s available and legally acceptable. Here’s how to confirm you can use your preferred business name. 

1. Check for availability in Colorado

Go to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Business Database Search website and enter your business name. You should also search for similar business names, as you don’t want a name that can be easily confused with other businesses in Colorado.

2. Check Colorado’s LLC name regulations

Your LLC name must include “limited liability company” or an abbreviation (LLC or L.L.C.) and cannot include words that could confuse your Colorado LLC with any government agency.

Your business name also cannot have words like bank, insurance, or university without approval from state authorities.

3. Check Trademarks

It’s important to make sure the name has not been trademarked. Check with the US Patent and Trademark Office to ensure the name is available nationally. 

4. Check domain name availability

You’ll want to make sure the domain name is available. You can check at a site like GoDaddy.com and use .com or .org, as those give your business more credibility.

5. Google it

Do a Google search to ensure the name is not being used in the U.S. or internationally. This is particularly important if you plan to have a strong online presence for your business.  

Once you’ve confirmed these, it’s a good idea to reserve the name with the state.

How to File a Colorado LLC Name Reservation

To reserve an LLC name in Colorado, visit the Secretary of State’s website. 

Enter your desired business name, then click the Next button.

Next, complete the online Statement of Reservation of Name form by entering all the required information. Once you are finished, review your entries and click submit to proceed to the payment screen.

Once your application is processed, your LLC name will be reserved for 120 days.

Doing Business As (DBA)

You may want to do business under a name other than your LLC name. You’ll need to register a “doing business as” or DBA name. There are two main reasons you might want to use a DBA.

• Suppose you want to add new product lines. For example, if your business name is “JJ’s Waffles,” you want to expand and offer “JJ’s Muffins.”  You can have multiple DBAs under the umbrella of your one LLC. 
• When you have a DBA, you can have a business bank account under that name. So if you add “JJ’s Muffins,” customers can pay “JJ’s Muffins,” and you can deposit those payments into the bank account with that name.

In Colorado, a DBA is known as a trade name. To register a trade name in Colorado, go to the Secretary of State website’s File a Form page. Click the Trade Name link, then click “a Reporting Entity” to begin your filing. There is a $20 filing fee.

In Closing

Choosing a business name is crucial to entrepreneurial success, so if you’ve found a good one, don’t let somebody else get it! Instead, just take the steps detailed above to ensure it’s available and legally acceptable before nailing it down. 

You don’t want to run into an issue later that could impact the success of your business.