Reserving a business name, state by state.
A name reservation puts a hold on the exact name you want, on the state's register, before you are ready to form anything. It gives you time to settle a partnership, line up funding or finish a brand without watching the name go to somebody else in the meantime. Every state runs its own register and its own route from a reservation to a formation. Pick yours.
Four things a reservation actually does.
Reserving a name is a small filing that people either skip and regret, or make far too early. These four are the parts that decide which of those it turns out to be.
It takes the name off the board
The reservation marks your name as spoken for on that state's register for a set stretch of time. Nothing else happens. There is no entity, no tax identity and no bank account behind it, and the hold is a register entry rather than a trademark. It reserves. That is the whole job.
How long the hold runs
Every state sets a term for the reservation, and your state page gives it. The useful move is to reserve when you are close to filing rather than on the day you first like the name, because the clock starts at the reservation and not at the formation you eventually make.
Availability comes first
A reservation only works on a name the register will accept, so the check against what is already on file comes before anything is filed. It runs on the exact string you intend to form under, in that one state, which is why near-misses and half-decided spellings are worth settling first.
Turning it into a formation
A reservation is a step toward a filing, not the filing itself. When you are ready, the reserved name carries into the formation documents you file with the same state. How that conversion is handled, and what has to reference the reservation, is covered on your state page.
The register is per state. So is the hold.
Pick your state.
Each state page covers why a reservation is worth making in that state, the term of the hold, how the request is made, and how the reservation converts when you form. Start with the state you intend to register the company in, not the state you happen to live in.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
You give us the name and the state. We check it against the register, file the reservation, and keep the term in front of you so the hold does not quietly run out while the decision is still being made.
Fix the exact name
The spelling, the spacing, the punctuation. A reservation holds a string, not an idea, so the version you reserve should be the version you intend to trade and file under.
Search the register
We run the name against what is already on file in that state before anything is submitted, which is the difference between a reservation that lands and one that comes back.
File the reservation
The reservation goes in with your state, and the name is held on the register for the term that state allows. You get the confirmation and the date it runs to.
Convert when ready
When the decision is finally made, the reserved name carries straight into the formation filing with the same state, on the same register, and the hold has done the job it was there to do.
Reserve close to the filing. The clock does not wait for the decision.
The rest of Secretary of State directory.
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.
Secretary of State
The Secretary of State, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State annual report
The annual report, state by state
All 51 states → HubArticles of Amendment
Articles of amendment, state by state
All 51 states → HubBusiness license
Business license requirements, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State business search
Secretary of State business search, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State Certificate of Good Standing
Certificate of Good Standing, state by state
All 51 states → HubEntity conversion
Entity conversion, state by state
All 51 states → HubSecretary of State DBA
Secretary of State DBA, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Secretary of State directory.
The questions people ask before they reserve.
What does a name reservation actually do?
It records your chosen name on a state's business register as held, for a period that state sets, so the name is not available to the next applicant while you get ready. It does not create a company, a tax identity or any trading right. It is a placeholder on one register, and everything else still has to be filed afterwards in the normal way.
Do I have to reserve a name before forming?
No. Formation filings clear the name at the point they are made, so a company formed today never needs a reservation. Reservations exist for the gap: a founder waiting on a co-founder, funding, a lease or a brand decision, who does not want to discover on filing day that the name has gone. If you are filing this week, skip it.
How long does a reservation last?
Each state sets its own term, and your state page gives the one that applies to you. The important part is where the term starts. It runs from the reservation, not from your formation, so reserving very early spends the hold on the least useful part of the process. Reserve when the filing is close enough to see.
What happens when the hold expires?
The hold is temporary by design. When the term ends, the name is no longer being held for you, and the register treats it as it would treat any name nobody has claimed. Nothing is taken away from you, because a reservation never gave you anything beyond the hold. If the name still matters, that is the point to either file or look at your state's options.
Does a reservation protect the name in other states?
No. Business name registers are run state by state, so a hold in one state has no effect on the register next door and no effect on anyone trading under a similar name elsewhere. If the name matters across state lines, that is a trademark question rather than a reservation question, and the two are answered by different offices on different terms.
Can I reserve a name in more than one state?
Yes, and companies planning to register in several states sometimes do, because each register is separate and each one is claimed separately. It means a separate request, a separate term and a separate date to watch in every state. Worth doing where the name is genuinely central to the plan; heavy going where it is not.
Keep going, in order.
Secretary of State directory
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Open the index → IndexAll 51 state guides
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