Are all names acceptable for Companies?

Are all names acceptable for Companies?

Apart from a few exceptions, almost all names are accepted by the Companies House while forming a company. Following are the exceptions:

1. The proposed name should not be the same as that of a company already incorporated
2. Words such as “Group” and “International” should be supported by evidence of other related companies or companies that operate in a minimum of two countries. In order to use reserved words you will have to apply separately
3. Words that can cause offence are generally not allowed in a company's name

In case the name selected by you is similar to that of another company then that company could object within a period of 12 months. In such a case you would be forced to change the name of your company. You can avail our updated system to check whether or not the name selected by you is similar to that of another company in the Companies House Register.

Important Notice - Similar Names
Since October 2009 Companies House have started exercising stricter regulations in regards to similar names. Unfortunately our current company name search engine can only specify if a name has or hasn’t been taken. For example, XYZ Ltd will be unavailable on our search as the name is already taken. XYZ GB Ltd would appear to be available. However this is not the case, “GB” falls into a category of words and expressions that Companies House feel do not separate the latter from the former. Therefore the company would be rejected. Other such words/expressions that fall into same category are:

• Company
• Com
• co.uk
• International
• Net
• Org
• Services
• UK
• United Kingdom

For the extensive list of words/expressions take a look here.
Please note that if you already owned XYZ Ltd and wanted to form XYZ GB Ltd this would be possible. You would just need to create a supporting document detailing your ownership or directorship of the original company.
Companies House will also reject names split up with punctuation marks. Once again, using XYZ Ltd as our example company, all the below would also be rejected.

• XY-Z Ltd
• XY and Z Ltd (or &)
• XYZ! Ltd
• @XYZ Ltd
.