Business plans: choosing and registering a name

Lynne Franks talks about choosing and registering a name for your new business.

What's in a name?

The very first page of your plan should always be the cover sheet, featuring the company name, a logo if you have one, and your contact details (address, phone, fax, and email) plus the words 'private and confidential'.

By now, you should have an idea of what you want to call your enterprise. It may be as simple as using your name, particularly if you are going into the service area, such as marketing services.

Alternatively, you may have been inspired to think of a word or phrase that resonates with your personality or sense of humour, and at the same time is appropriate for the business.

There are specialist companies all over the world that get paid a lot of money to come up with a new brand name for the corporations that can afford to pay them. This is unlikely to be the route you'll be taking at this point, but I'm sure you are a creative entrepreneur with your own imaginative ideas. So hire yourself! Put your creativity to work in order to find the right name for your enterprise.

Make the name easy for people to remember and pronounce. Consider whether or not the name will work well in the industry you're entering, and make sure that it hasn't been overused.

Researching and registering

The easiest way to check on name usage these days is, of course, the ubiquitous Internet. You'll get immediate feedback as to whether or not the name you're thinking of is already overused. It's also very possible that one day you'll want your own website, so don't choose a name that you can't register because someone else has the same one.

Once you've settled on a name, register it as a website name as soon as possible. It's easy and inexpensive and will protect you, even if you don't use it as such for a while.