Choosing and protecting a business' name

Verified 06 October 2023 - Directorate for Legal and Administrative Information (Prime Minister)

Naming a business is obligatory. It's about his corporate name.

Examples of company types concerned are: SARL: titleContent, EURL: titleContent, SA: titleContent, LOCK: titleContent, SASU: titleContent, CNS: titleContent. In order to define the legal entity that is the company, we are talking about a legal person.

Choose Name of a business must be made front of draw up its statutes.

The company name is the corporate name.

She's obligatory and helps identify the business.

The associates or shareholders must choose set and freely the name of the company.

The company name may include letters and numbers, or even some special characters. It may be fanciful, in connection with the activity carried out or simply take the name of a partner.

FYI

It is possible to use the name of a founder or partner as a corporate name. The business may continue to use it even after the partner or founder has left.

The name of the company must appear in the statutes business.

It must be immediately preceded or follow-up a reference to its legal form (either initials or the development of initials)

Businesses by shares (SA and SAS) and private businesses (SARL) must also state their share capital before or after the name of the company.

Please note

If the company is a civil business, then we are talking about corporate name.

A business becomes proprietor of its name at the time of its registration.

Before choosing The name of a business, it is advisable to check that it has not already been chosen by another company.

For check availability, you can consult for free the Data Inpi database.

Free search for company name availability on Data Inpi

You can complete this search with a more detailed (paid) request for similarity from the Inpi.

Check availability of a brand, logo, domain name, design (fee)

Change your name is possible.

This change occurs by performing a amendment of the statutes of the business.

FYI

This change is possible only with theagreement of the majorityof associates or shareholders. The rules of quorum depend on the social form.