Check your LLC name, state by state.
Three things decide whether a name gets through: the ending you put on it, whether the state treats it as distinguishable from what is already on the register, and whether any word in it is on a screened list. All three are set by the state, and the live check happens at the moment you file. Pick your state and run the rules before that.
Four things that change with your state.
Every state asks the same three questions about a proposed name and answers them differently. The fourth variable is time: how long a state will hold a name for you before somebody else can take it.
Which endings are accepted
Every state requires an entity ending on an LLC name. Most accept LLC, L.L.C. and Limited Liability Company. Beyond that the lists diverge: some states accept additional short forms, and an abbreviation that passes in one state is refused in another. Each state publishes its own list, and it is short.
Distinguishable, not different
A name has to be distinguishable from the names already on that state's register. Distinguishable is the state's test rather than yours: a name can read as clearly separate to you and still collide with an existing record. How close is too close is decided by the office examining the filing.
Screened and restricted words
Every state keeps a list of words it screens. Some are barred outright. Others are looked at more closely, usually because they imply an activity or a standing that has to be verified before the name can be used. One word is enough to hold up a filing that is otherwise clean.
How long a reservation lasts
Reserving a name takes it off the board for everybody else while you get ready to file. The window is where states differ most visibly: roughly sixty days in some, roughly a hundred and twenty in others. Reservation is optional everywhere, and it earns its place when filing is not imminent.
Same name, fifty-one registers. Only one of them decides yours.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers that state's accepted entity endings, how its distinguishability rule works in practice, the words it screens, how long a name reservation holds there, and how the name is carried into formation.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
The pre-flight check surfaces the rule violations that block names, so you stop guessing. The state's live match is the last word, and it happens when the formation document is examined.
Draft your candidate
Write the name with the ending you intend to use, and have a second choice ready. A rejection is resolved faster with a backup in hand than with an argument about similarity.
Run the pre-flight
We run the name against your state's rules: accepted endings, screened words, and how close it sits to what is already on the register. You see what would block it before the state does.
Look at the register
Optional, and quick. The state's public lookup shows what is already filed under a similar name, which is usually where the reason for a collision becomes obvious.
Reserve or file
If you are ready, the name is carried straight into the formation filing. If you are not, a reservation holds it for the window your state allows and formation follows later.
A name is not yours because it is available. It is yours when the state accepts the filing.
The rest of Change or convert.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Convert Corp to LLC
Corporation to LLC, state by state
All 51 states → HubConvert LLC to Corporation
Converting an LLC to a corporation, state by state
All 51 states → HubSole prop to LLC
Sole proprietorship to LLC, state by state
All 51 states → HubDBA filing
The DBA filing, state by state
All 51 states → HubLLC Domestication
LLC domestication, state by state
All 51 states → HubDBA filing
Filing a DBA, state by state
All 51 states → HubAmendment
Filing an amendment, state by state
All 51 states → HubForeign qualification
Foreign qualification, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Change or convert.
The questions people ask before they file.
Does an available name mean I can use it?
Not on its own. Availability is a snapshot of a register that changes as filings arrive, and the decision that counts is made when your formation document is examined by the state. A name that looked clear last week can be gone to a filing that landed on Monday. That is why the pre-flight check and the filing itself belong close together.
What does distinguishable actually mean?
It is the state's test for whether your name sits far enough from names already registered there. It is stricter than most people expect: small differences often do not count, and the examiner applies the state's own rule rather than a general sense of similarity. Because each state writes and applies its own version, the same pair of names can pass in one state and fail in the next.
Does the name have to include LLC?
It has to include an accepted entity ending, and LLC is the most common one. Most states also accept L.L.C. and the full Limited Liability Company. Some accept additional short forms that others do not. The list is set per state, so the safe move is to use an ending your own state publishes rather than one you have seen on a company in another.
Why do names get rejected?
Nearly always for one of three reasons: the ending is not on the accepted list, the name is not distinguishable from something already registered, or it contains a word the state screens. Those three are exactly what a pre-flight check looks for, and all three are fixable beforehand. A rejection after filing sends the whole document back and starts the wait again.
Should I reserve the name?
Reservation is optional everywhere and useful in one situation: you know the name you want but you are not ready to file. It holds the name for a fixed window, roughly sixty days in some states and roughly a hundred and twenty in others. If formation is happening now, reservation is a step you can skip, because the filing itself secures the name.
Can the same name exist in two states?
Yes. Each state runs its own register and screens against its own records, so the same name can be registered by unrelated businesses in different states. It is also why the check has to be run in the state you are filing in rather than in general. What clears in one register tells you nothing about the next one.
Keep going, in order.
Change or convert
Every hub in change or convert, in one place.
Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
Every filing a business does, organised by jurisdiction.
Open the index → ServiceCompliance calendar
Every deadline that touches your entity, watched.
Track deadlines → ServiceTalk to a specialist
A person who files these every day, not a call centre.
Get in touch →