Company name generator
Naming a company is four decisions that almost everyone arrives thinking is one. The name on the register, the name you trade under, the brand people repeat, and the domain you can actually own are governed by four different rulebooks — and the expensive order to discover that in is after incorporation.
Which name is which
What sits on the register at Companies House, and the only one of the four with a statutory rulebook. It must end in Limited or Ltd — Cyfyngedig or Cyf in Wales — it cannot be the same as a name already registered, and it cannot use a sensitive word without permission. This is the name on your certificate of incorporation, and almost nobody outside your accountant will ever say it out loud.
What you actually trade under, if it differs. It has fewer rules but not none: a trading name may not include Limited, Ltd, LLP or plc, because those endings mean something specific about liability and using one you do not have is a misrepresentation. It is not registered anywhere, which means it protects you from nothing on its own.
What customers call you, and the only one of the four that has to be memorable, sayable and defensible. This is the one worth spending the effort on — and the one every generator that returns a list of words leaves you to judge alone.
The only one of the four that is first-come, first-served and instantly, unambiguously answerable. It is also the one most likely to kill a name you have already grown attached to, which is why every candidate here is checked against the registry as it arrives rather than at the end.
The order that works
Start with more candidates than you need, because the checks downstream will remove some of them and you do not want to be choosing under pressure. Twenty is about right; the free run gives you five to judge the quality on first.
The domain check happens here, as the names arrive, because it is the fastest of the three and the most likely to eliminate. Then take what survives to the Companies House name availability checker and a trade mark search. Then file. Doing it the other way round is how a company ends up trading under its second choice.
Begin the briefWhat “same as” actually means, why punctuation is ignored, which words need permission, and the 160-character limit nobody mentions until you hit it.
How to name a UK limited company