How to Check If a Company Name Is Available
Most founders check domain availability first. That is the wrong starting point. A name can have a clean .com and still carry an active federal trademark conflict, fail in three international markets, and sound like a different company when spoken aloud. Here is the right order -- five checks, why each matters, and how to run them without paying a lawyer for the preliminary work.
The right order matters
Checking availability in the wrong order wastes time and creates false confidence. Domain checks take 10 seconds but tell you almost nothing about whether you can actually use the name commercially. Trademark checks take 15 minutes and eliminate roughly 30% of strong candidates. Running them in reverse order means discovering a trademark conflict after you have already bought the domain, created a logo, and told people the name.
Check 1: Phoneme and brand fit
This is the check most founders skip, and it is the one that would save the most time. A name can be trademark-clean, domain-available, and still be a bad name -- because it creates the wrong brand impression, is difficult to pronounce consistently, or sounds like a competitor when spoken at normal speech speed.
Run this check first because it is the cheapest filter to apply. If a name fails the phoneme fit test, none of the other checks matter.
What to check:
- Say it out loud five times at normal speech speed. Does it sound like one word or two? Does it create a clear single impression?
- Spell it to someone verbally without showing it. Ask them to write it down. If they spell it differently, you have a persistent friction problem.
- Listen to the dominant sound properties. Hard stops (Stripe, Slack) signal confidence. Nasals and liquids (Linear, Notion) signal calm precision. Does the impression match what your company does?
- Type the name into a phoneme analyzer to see where it lands across dimensions like Energy, Authority, Warmth, and Precision.
Check 2: Federal trademark search (TESS)
The USPTO TESS database is the authoritative source for active federal trademark registrations. A conflicting registration in your class is the most common reason a strong name becomes unusable. About 30% of well-designed name candidates have conflicts at this stage.
TESS is free to use but requires a few steps to use effectively:
How to run a TESS knock-out search
Tools that supplement TESS: Trademark.com, Corsearch Trademark Research, and TrademarkNow all offer paid comprehensive search reports ($200-$500) that search phonetic variants, international databases, and common law uses simultaneously. These are worth running before attorney engagement for any name you are seriously considering.
Federal registration is not required to hold trademark rights in the US. A business that has been using a name in commerce -- even without federal registration -- may hold common law trademark rights in their geographic market. TESS will not find these.
A basic common law check: search Google for the exact name + your industry. Search Google for the exact name in quotes. If you find a business using the name in your industry, that is a conflict regardless of whether they have a federal registration.
Check 3: Domain availability
The .com extension remains the default for credibility, especially in B2B. A company that launches on .io or .co is not disqualified, but the .com creates a persistent ambient friction -- customers assume the .com exists and type it anyway, landing on a parked page or a competitor.
What to check, in priority order:
- .com availability. Check at Namecheap, GoDaddy, or directly via WHOIS. If the .com is taken, check WHOIS for owner contact and recent traffic. Many parked .coms are for sale from the current owner.
- Who owns the .com? If the .com is owned by a company in your category, that is a material brand conflict beyond the trademark issue. If it is a parked domain with no associated brand, it may be purchasable for $500-$5,000 depending on desirability.
- Alternative TLDs. .io has become standard for developer tools and SaaS startups. .ai is overused (and registrar premiums are significant). .co is widely recognized. .app works for consumer mobile. Avoid obscure country-code TLDs (.ly, .gg) unless your brand is strong enough to carry the non-standard extension.
- Name + descriptor variant. If yourname.com is taken, check yournamehq.com, getyourname.com, yournameco.com. These are acceptable solutions for early-stage companies, with a plan to acquire the clean .com over time.
Check 4: Social handle availability
Social handle availability matters for two reasons: brand consistency (having the same handle across platforms reduces friction) and confusion (if another company owns the handle in your category, your posts may be mistaken for theirs or theirs for yours).
- X/Twitter handle. @yourname, or @yournameHQ if taken. Check whether the existing holder is active. Inactive handles (no posts in 2+ years) can sometimes be reclaimed through Twitter's trademark policy.
- LinkedIn company page. The URL is linkedin.com/company/yourname. Check if a page exists and whether it belongs to a company in your space.
- Instagram. Matters primarily for consumer brands. Check @yourname and note whether the existing holder is active.
- GitHub. If you are building developer tooling, a clean GitHub organization name matters. github.com/yourname.
- App stores. The Apple App Store and Google Play both allow you to check name availability before submission, but these are lower priority for the initial name check.
Check 5: State business entity registration
Most US states require a registered business name to be distinguishable from existing registered entities in the state. The entity search is typically free through your state's Secretary of State website and prevents name conflicts at the state registration level.
This is particularly relevant for: LLCs and corporations being formed in Delaware (a common incorporation state), California (large market with frequent conflicts), and your primary state of operations.
- Delaware: corp.delaware.gov/directweb.aspx
- California: bizfileonline.sos.ca.gov/search
- Most states: Search "[state] Secretary of State business entity search"
Important: a clear state entity search does not mean you can use the name nationally for trademark purposes. It only means no other registered entity in that state has claimed it. Federal trademark rights can still exist without state registration.
The check most founders skip: international conflicts
If you expect international customers in year one -- which is common for SaaS companies -- run a basic international check before committing. The most important markets:
- EU trademark (EUIPO). A European Union Intellectual Property Office registration covers all 27 EU member states. Search at euipo.europa.eu. An EU registration in a conflicting class creates exposure across an enormous market.
- UK trademark (IPO). Post-Brexit, UK trademark registration is separate from EU. Check at gov.uk/search-for-trademark.
- Canada (CIPO). Search at ised-isde.canada.ca/trade-marks. Particularly important for companies targeting North American markets.
- Cross-language meaning. Run the name through Google Translate in Spanish, French, German, Mandarin (romanized), and Japanese (romanized). Check for unintended meanings, negative connotations, or existing brand associations in any of those languages.
When a name fails a check
Finding a conflict at any stage is common. The right response depends on the check:
- Fails phoneme check. Do not proceed. Generate more candidates. A name that creates the wrong sound impression is a structural problem that marketing cannot fix.
- Trademark conflict found. Flag it. Do not abandon the name immediately -- assess whether the conflicting mark is live, in your class, and whether the goods/services are similar enough that a likelihood of confusion would exist. If the conflict is in a different class (Class 25 apparel vs. Class 42 software), it may not be an issue. Get attorney input before proceeding.
- .com taken but not in use. Attempt purchase. Most parked .com owners are open to selling. A reasonable first offer for a generic parked domain is $500-$2,000. Domain brokers like Sedo or Afternic can facilitate if direct outreach fails.
- Social handles taken but inactive. Check platform policies for inactive account reclamation. For X/Twitter, a trademark policy claim may succeed if the handle exactly matches your registered trademark.
- State entity conflict. Minor issue -- most states only require distinguishability, not uniqueness. "Stripe Inc." and "Stripe Analytics LLC" can coexist in Delaware. Consult your registered agent.
The full availability checklist
Before committing to any name, confirm each of the following:
- Name passes spoken clarity test (consistent pronunciation, unambiguous spelling)
- Name passes phoneme fit test (sound properties match brand impression)
- No live TESS registration in your primary classes (42, 35, 9)
- No live TESS registration for phonetic equivalents in your primary classes
- No common law use found for the name in your industry via Google search
- .com available, or parked domain is purchasable
- Key social handles (@name or @nameHQ) available on X and LinkedIn
- State entity search returns no conflicts in your incorporation state
- No EU/UK trademark conflict in your primary class (if international launch planned)
- No negative cross-language meaning in top 3 international markets
A name that clears all ten checks is genuinely available -- not just "available" in the sense that the domain is unclaimed.
Run the phoneme check first
Before you spend 30 minutes on trademark and domain searches, run any name candidate through the free phoneme analyzer. If it fails the sound test, none of the other checks matter.
Check any name free →