How to Choose a Business Name in the UK: Checks Before You Commit
Search for business name ideas and you’ll get page after page of generated lists — two hundred names for a cleaning company, three hundred for a bakery, most of them puns. They’re fun for ten minutes. What none of them tell you is whether the name you like is actually usable: whether you’re allowed it, whether someone down the road already trades under it, and whether a customer can find you after hearing it once over the phone. That’s the part that matters, so that’s what this guide covers.
Start with the plain version
Before you reach for anything clever, write down the boring option: your town, or your own name, plus what you do. Hythe Plumbing. Sarah Jones Cleaning. Weald Tree Surgery. It won’t win an award, but it does three jobs at once. It tells a customer what you do before they’ve read anything else. It tells them where you work. And it quietly helps you get found, because the words people type into Google — “plumber hythe” — are already in your name.
That last point is bigger than it looks. Google’s rules for your Business Profile say the name on it must be your real-world business name, with no extra keywords stuffed in. So you can’t call yourself “Dave’s — Emergency Plumber Hythe” on Google unless that’s genuinely what’s painted on the van. If the trade and the town are in your actual name, they’re there legitimately. We go into why that matters in SEO for tradesmen and local SEO for small businesses.
A clever name can still work — plenty of good businesses have one — but it has to be carried by everything else: signage, reviews, word of mouth. The plain name starts earning on day one.
The legal rules: sole trader vs limited company
The rules depend on how you’re set up. If you’re not sure which you are yet, our online checklist for starting a business walks through the order of things.
| Sole trader or partnership | Limited company | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the name is registered | Nowhere central — you simply trade under it | Companies House, when you incorporate |
| Must it be unique? | No central check, but you mustn’t pass yourself off as another business | Yes — it can’t be the same as a name already on the register |
| ”Ltd” or “Limited” | Not allowed — it would mislead customers | Required at the end of the name |
| Sensitive words (e.g. “British”, “Royal”, “Association”, “Institute”) | Need permission before use | Need permission before use |
| Offensive names | Not allowed | Not allowed |
Two things catch people out. First, a sole trader using a trading name still has to show their own name and a contact address on invoices and business paperwork — the trading name doesn’t replace you, it sits alongside you. Second, a Companies House name being accepted doesn’t mean it’s safe to use. Companies House checks its own register, not trademarks, and not the plumbing firm in the next town that has traded under the same name for twenty years. The full list of sensitive words and the current rules are on GOV.UK, and they’re worth ten minutes of your time before you commit.
The four checks that actually matter
These take an evening, cost nothing, and save you from the expensive mistake of rebranding a year in.
1. Is the .co.uk free? Your website address and your email will be built on it, so check it before you fall in love with the name. If yourname.co.uk has gone, adding your town usually solves it. We’ve written a whole guide on choosing a domain name, so we won’t repeat it here — just don’t order the van livery until you’ve checked.
2. Search it on Google, with your area. Type the name and your town, then the name and your trade. If an established business nearby already uses it — or something close to it — walk away. You’ll be fighting them for search results, their unhappy customers will leave reviews on your profile, and in the worst case you’ll get a solicitor’s letter. Check Google Maps too, and Facebook, where plenty of small businesses exist without a website.
3. Check the trademark register. The UK Intellectual Property Office has a free online search. If your name, or something very like it, is registered as a trademark in your line of work, pick another. Availability on Companies House or as a domain is not permission.
4. Say it out loud. Ring a friend, say the name once, and ask them to spell it back. If they hesitate — “is that with a K?”, “one word or two?” — you’ll hear that same hesitation from customers for as long as you trade, and some of them will give up and search for someone else. Clever misspellings, silent letters and numbers all fail this test.
Don’t box yourself in
A name that’s too narrow feels precise today and pinches later. Ashford Boiler Repairs is perfect until you start fitting bathrooms. Canterbury Dog Walking is awkward the day you move to Faversham, or start boarding cats.
The fix isn’t to go vague — “Premier Solutions” tells nobody anything. It’s to name the trade at the level you expect to work in a few years. Ashford Heating & Plumbing leaves room for bathrooms. Kent Dog Walking survives a move up the road. Think about where the business is heading, not just where it starts.
The same goes for personal names. Putting your own name on the business builds trust in a local trade, but think about whether you might sell it one day, or take on a partner who’d rather not work under your surname.
Decide once, because it goes everywhere
Your business name ends up on your van, your cards, your invoices, your Google Business Profile, your Facebook page, your website and every directory listing you ever create. Changing it later means redoing all of them — and until you’ve caught every one, customers see two names and wonder which one is real.
That’s why it’s worth settling the name before anything is printed. Once it’s decided, the rest follows in a sensible order: register the domain, set up your Google Business Profile, get the van signwritten, then the website. And if you’re a sole trader using a trading name, your website needs to show your own name and address alongside it — the details are in our guide to website legal requirements.
Here’s where we declare our interest: we build websites for new UK businesses. Once your name is settled and your Google Business Profile is up, our team designs and builds your website from that profile, on a free .co.uk domain, live within 48 hours of the domain being registered — with hosting at £24 a month including VAT as the only cost, and no minimum term. If that would save you a job, see how the free website offer works.
The short version
Start with the plain name — town or surname plus trade. Check the rules for how you’re set up. Then run the four checks: domain, Google, trademark register, and the out-loud test. Leave room to grow, and decide it once, before anything is printed. The name doesn’t have to be brilliant. It has to be yours, clear, and easy to find.