How to check if a business name is available in Canada

There is no single Canadian database that tells you a name is free to use. Checking a name properly means running a few separate searches, each covering a different list of names, and then doing whatever your own registry insists on before it will accept the name. We call the whole sequence the name check.

The order below starts with the searches you can run yourself, then moves to the paid step your registry may require. Our name check checklist turns it into a list you can tick off for your province or territory, and it remembers your ticks on this device.

1. Search federal corporations

A corporation set up under federal law can trade under its name anywhere in the country, so a clash with one matters wherever you are. Use the federal corporation searchSource. What it takes: Free; no login neededSource. The federal search covers federally incorporated corporations only, not banks and other financial institutions or provincial and foreign corporations. Search by name, corporation number or Business Number.Source

2. Search your own registry

Each province and territory keeps its own records of the corporations and business names registered there. Search them for your name and for names that sound or look close to it. Every jurisdiction page on this site lists its official search and what that search costs. Check existing business names and trademarks too, not just corporation names.Source

3. Search the trademarks database

A registered trademark can stop you from using a name even after a registry has accepted it. Search the Canadian Trademarks DatabaseSource for your name. What it takes: Free; no login neededUnconfirmedUnconfirmed. We haven't confirmed this on an official page yet. Confirm with the registry: Search intellectual property databases. A trademark database search is only a first check: the trademarks office doesn't search for you.Source

4. Do what your registry requires

This is where the jurisdictions part ways. Some want a NUANS report, some want you to reserve the name with them, and some leave the checking to you.

A NUANS report. NUANS is the federal name search system; a report compares your name with existing corporations, business names and trademarks. For a federal corporation: The name search is part of the filingSource. The search costs $13.80Source. For a federal incorporation the NUANS search is part of the online application, so don't order a separate report first.Source

Some provinces want a report weighted toward their own records. Alberta, New Brunswick and Ontario require their own name search report, which the NUANS site does not sell.Source In Ontario, for a corporation: An Ontario-biased NUANS report from a private NUANS vendorSource.

A reservation with the registry. In British Columbia: A name reservation with the registrySource. The reservation costs $30 ($130 priority)Source. In Nova Scotia, A NUANS report isn't required, but uploading a recent one lowers the reservation fee.Source

Your own search, and nobody else’s. For an Ontario business name: Search the registry yourself; the registry does not check the name for youSource. Here the search in step 2 is the whole check, so do it carefully.

Skip the name altogether

If you are incorporating and don’t need a name yet, a numbered corporation avoids the name check. Federally, is that allowed? YesSource You can register a trading name later.

Registering a business name is not owning it

A registered business name for a sole proprietorship or partnership usually gives you no exclusive right to it. In Alberta, can two businesses register the same name? YesSource If you want to protect a name, a trademark is what does that, not the registration.