Minnesota LLC Name Search

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

You want the name to be unique and easy to remember while being legally acceptable and 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.

Minnesota LLC Entity Search 

The most important consideration when choosing an LLC name in Minnesota 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 Minnesota

Go to the Minnesota Secretary of State 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 Minnesota.

2. Check Minnesota’s LLC name regulations

In Minnesota, your LLC name must include “limited liability company” or an abbreviation (LLC or L.L.C.) and cannot have words that could confuse your LLC with a government agency.

Additionally, your business name cannot imply involvement in any illegal activity, must be distinguishable from all other business names in the state, and cannot include words like bank, insurance, or university without state approval.

3. Check Trademarks

Check with the US Patent and Trademark Office to ensure the name has not been trademarked and is thus 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 Minnesota LLC Name Reservation

To reserve an LLC name in Minnesota, start by visiting the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website, creating an account, and going to the name reservation application.

You’ll just need your proposed business name, your name and address, and your email. 

Enter all the required information and your electronic signature, and move on to payment. Alternatively, you can complete and mail a paper form. 

Doing Business As (DBA)

Even after all this work, you may want to do business under a name other than your LLC. For this, 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 Minnesota, a DBA is known as an assumed name. To register an assumed name in Minnesota, go to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s website, sign into the account you created, and choose the assumed name button. The fee is $50.

Additionally, you’ll follow these instructions from the Secretary of State:

“After filing with this office, you must publish Certificate of Assumed Name or Amendment to Certificate of Assumed Name with a qualified Legal Newspaper for two consecutive issues in the county where the principal place of business is located. After publication, the newspaper will return an affidavit of publication which should be retained by the business.”

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.