Introduction
Choosing a unique company name is one of the most critical steps in setting up a business or a company. The name chosen should comply with the rules of the Companies Act, 2013, or the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. Specific rules and guidelines must be followed when choosing an acceptable name for an LLP or a company.
Generally, an acceptable name for a company or LLP has three parts: the Name part, the Object part, and the Constitution part. For instance, if the name is ABC Solution Private Limited, “ABC” represents the name part of the company, “Solution” represents the Object part, and “Private Limited” means the Constitution part of an acceptable name of the company or LLP. Let us look at the three parts in detail.
How to Choose Your Company Name – Guidelines & Process
1. NAME PART
According to the Companies Act or the LLP Act, every company should have a unique and acceptable name in accordance with the guidelines. The company name must not resemble or be the same as that of an entity trademark or LLP of the same industry that already exists. For instance, if there is a company called ABC Potables Private Limited, then there cannot be any company that exists or runs with the same name in the same field, and it should not even be ABC Potables LLP. However, a company with the same name in a different field may be acceptable. Therefore, it is the founder’s responsibility to ensure the sanctity of the names while choosing the business.
2. OBJECT PART
The object part of the company name is essential as it tells what the company deals with or is all about or the nature of the business. In short, the object part of the acceptable name defines the company’s business or activity. Even though the companies may have or share the same company name, if their company’s objectives are different, in this type of situation, the same company’s name is acceptable and is allowed to be registered. Anyway, the company needs to name its object part very clearly. Company names without an object part can be rejected during the registration process. Here are some of the well-known object parts, Technology, Textiles, Hospital, Pharmaceuticals, Medicals, Trading, Aviation, Shipping, Information, Manufacturing, Electricals, Mobiles, Containers, Designs, Foods, Hotel, Restaurant, Motors, Power, Steel, Holding, Construction, Real Estate, Financial, Travels, Energy, Solar Power, Garments, Plastics, and Interiors and so on.
3. CONSTITUTION PART
The constitution part of the company name represents the type of business or entity. Private Limited Companies are defined as Private Limited Company or Pvt. Ltd Company; Limited Companies are presented by LTD Company or Limited Company; One Person Companies are defined by OPC or One Person Company, and LLP or Limited Liability Partnership presents Limited Liability Partnerships.
Minimum Authorized Capital for Certain Words
Certain words that can be used in a company’s name require the company to possess a minimum amount of authorized capital for its business. Below is the table with details of the word and the required minimum amount of authorized capital.
| Words that can be used in the name of a company | Authorized capital required |
| Corporation | Rs. 5 Crore |
| The company’s name is international, Universal, Continental, Asiatic, Globe, and Intercontinental, with Asia being the first word. | Rs. 1 Crore |
| Industries / Udyog | Rs. 1 Crore |
| If International, Globe, Universal, Continental, Inter-Continental, Asiatic, or Asia is applied within the name (with or without brackets) | Rs. 50 Lakhs |
| Hindustan, Bharat, India is the first word of the name | Rs. 50 Lakhs |
| Enterprises, Businesses, Products, Manufacturing | Rs. 10 Lakhs |
| If Hindustan, India, or Bharat is applied within the name (with or without brackets) | Rs. 5 Lakhs |
Naming Guidelines
As per the Companies Act, 2013, or Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, specific rules and guidelines must be followed when naming a business entity or company. Here are some rules and guidelines to keep in mind when choosing a unique and acceptable name.
- It is not acceptable if the Plural Version of any of the words is used in a company name that is already running in the market. For example, you cannot name your company ABC Steels Private Limited if a company already exists and has the name ABC Steel Private Limited.
- It is not acceptable if you change the case or type of letters or punctuation marks or the spacing between letters of an existing company name to make it a unique company name. For instance, ABC Construction Private Limited was changed to Abc Construction Private Limited.
- It is not acceptable to try to join or separate words, such as “do not change ABC Construction Private Limited to A B C Construction Private Limited,” etc.
- It is not acceptable for you to change the tense or number of a word in the company name that works in the same field or industry. For example, ABC Construction Private Limited cannot be changed to ABC’s Construction Private Limited.
- The use of different spellings or phonetic spellings with variations cannot be accepted as a unique name.
- It is not acceptable to intentionally misspell certain words in the company name to make it unique because the name is checked only with the correct spelling or words.
- Adding internet-related designations like .com, .net, .edu, .gov, .org, .in, and so on to make it a unique name is not acceptable.
- It is not acceptable to add any familiar names, the name of a place, or titles to make a unique name. However, in some cases, names with places may also be allowed. To get this, you have to submit a letter of no objection from the existing company by way of a board resolution.
- Different combinations of the same name or words are not acceptable. For example, Manufacturers and Traders cannot be accepted as Traders and Manufacturers.
- Specific criteria qualify the names as undesirable.
