One thing Georgia has in common with all U.S. states is that you must ensure your business name is available before filing your Articles of Organization with the Secretary of State to officially start an LLC in Georgia.
After you confirm your name’s availability and register it, further steps help stop other businesses from using it and enable you to create an online brand presence.
We’ll cover all of those in this post.
Why do you need to do a business entity search?
A business entity search is essential when starting an LLC because it confirms whether your chosen business name is available in your state.
If you don’t do a business entity search in Georgia and your name is already registered to an existing entity, the Georgia Corporations Division will reject your LLC formation application.
Georgia state naming guidelines
All U.S. states have naming guidelines you must adhere to when choosing your LLC business name.
In Georgia, those guidelines include:
- Distinguishable: Your LLC’s name must be unlike any other entities registered with the Georgia Secretary of State.
- Required terminology: Your LLC name must include “limited liability company” or “limited company” (“Ltd.” and “Co.” are allowed as abbreviations inside those phrases), or LLC, L.L.C., LC, or L.C.
- Language requirements: You must spell your name using English letters, Arabic or Roman numerals, and standard keyboard symbols.
- Maximum characters: Your name must not exceed 80 characters.
- Restricted terminology: You cannot use words like corporation, incorporated, professional corporation, limited partnership, or limited liability partnership, abbreviations of these words, or “DBA.”
- Restricted government terms: You cannot use words that might confuse your business with a government department, like the State Department, Treasury, CIA, etc.
- Georgia Department of Banking and Finance approval: Using any of the following words may require approval from the GDBF: bank, banker, banking company, bankruptcy, savings & loan, credit union, trust, or trust company.
- Education terms: Using the words university or college may require approval from the relevant state agency.
- Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner approval: Using any of the following words may require approval from the Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner: assurance, insurance, reassurance, reinsurance, fidelity, surety, or indemnity.
Pro tip:
For further information on LLC name requirements, read the Georgia state statute.
Conducting a business name search in Georgia: step-by-step guide with tips
Georgia has strict naming guidelines, including not using a name similar to a registered name.
You can check for existing entities with names like yours by using the Georgia Corporations Division’s online business search tool. This tool provides all registered entity names and crucial information about an entity’s status. Keep in mind that the Secretary of State says this search “is not intended to serve as a name availability search”; the state reviews your name when you submit your filing or name reservation.
Georgia corporations division’s business search page
You can search for a business entity by business name, control number, registered agent name, officer name, or designated agent name, and choose Starts With, Contains, or Exact Match. We will search by name.
Your first step is to visit the Georgia Corporations Division’s business search page, which brings you to the page below:
Here, you enter your desired business name, select contains, and press search. I’ll use Georgia plumbing as an example:
Reviewing the results
The results page displays all registered entities matching your search query and provides the business name, control number, entity type, principal office address, registered agent details, and current status.
Clicking on a name displays further details about the business, including its date of formation, NAICS code, state of formation, and whether it was dissolved.
At the bottom, you’ll see links to the business’s filing and name history and a return to search button.
- Filing history shows all documents filed by the business with the Georgia Secretary of State, including the LLC formation documents and annual registrations.
- The name history shows whether the business ever changed its name or used a fictitious name (DBA).
Fees
You must account for certain costs when starting an LLC in Georgia.
Fortunately, Georgia State doesn’t charge to register a business name because you register one when forming your business.
For example, registering an LLC costs $110 ($100 + $10 service charge), and your name is included in that fee. Expedited processing is available on top of the filing fee: $120 for 2 business days, $275 for same-day, or $1,200 for 1 hour.
You can also pay to reserve a business name for 30 days, online or by mail, which costs $35 ($25 + $10 service charge).
Fictitious name/DBA/assumed name
A fictitious name (Doing Business As) or an assumed name, depending on the state, is one you use that isn’t your LLC state-registered name.
You can verify that your chosen DBA is available by searching the Clerk of the Superior Court county trade name records.
Once you confirm availability, file your DBA Georgia with your location’s Clerk of the Superior Court.
The filing fee is set by state law (O.C.G.A. 15-6-77), so check with your county clerk for the current amount and filing procedures. All counties require you to complete an application process.
Georgia also requires that you publish a DBA notice in a local newspaper once a week for two weeks. The Georgia Superior Court Clerks’ Cooperative Authority website provides the names of each county’s official DBA publishers and filing instructions.
What can you do once you have an available business name?
Once you know your new name is available, you can either form your LLC in Georgia or reserve your business name to stop someone else from using it.
Consider name reservation
Entrepreneurs not ready to form their Georgia LLC can reserve their desired name for 30 days on the Georgia Secretary of State’s website (or by mail), where you’ll find step-by-step instructions and links to the relevant departments.
The fee for reserving your LLC business name in Georgia is $35 ($25 + $10 service charge).
Consider trademarking your name
You can trademark your new LLC name or any other branding you’ll use to identify your new business, including your logo or slogan in Georgia or nationwide, to stop others from infringing upon your intellectual property.
To register a trademark in Georgia, visit the Trademark and Service Mark Application And Forms webpage.
To register a trademark nationwide, visit the United States Patent and Trademark Office website, where you should also search to ensure your chosen LLC name isn’t already registered as a trademark to avoid trademark infringement.
Consider domain registration
Most businesses need an online brand presence, which includes a website, social media platforms, and an appropriate domain.
You can check if your LLC’s name is available as a domain (and if not, choose something appropriate) using a domain registration service that can also register it for you.
Conclusion
That’s how to do a business entity search in Georgia.
The key to ensuring your name’s availability is taking the steps slowly and checking that it hasn’t already been registered as a trademark on the Georgia trademark database and the USPTO website.
And if you’d like further help in starting an LLC in Georgia, our Georgia LLC guide has easy steps that cover everything you need to know.
FAQ
You can’t register a new business using a name previously registered with the Georgia Secretary of State. So, when starting a new business in Georgia, an entity search helps you confirm whether your desired name is available and not overly similar to an already registered entity.
Use the Georgia Corporations Division’s online business search to check for existing entities with similar names. The search isn’t an official name availability check; the Secretary of State reviews your name when you file or reserve it.
The cost of reserving a business name in Georgia is $35 ($25 + $10 service charge), and the reservation lasts 30 days.
To use a DBA in Georgia, you must apply with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county where you do business.
Your LLC name must be unique and include “LLC,” “L.L.C.,” or another approved term. It can’t exceed 80 characters, use misleading words, or imply it’s a government agency. Certain terms like bank, university, or insurance may require state agency approval before use.
Say another entity has already registered the LLC name you want to use; here, you can register a DBA in the county you do business in, which enables you to use your desired name while complying with Georgia’s legal naming requirements.