Naming Your Texas LLC

Your LLC Business Name Must Be Unique

The business name you have chosen cannot be used by any other LLC or corporation in the state of Texas. This is why you should check business name availability on the TX SOS website.

Your LLC Business Name Must Not Be Confusable With Another Business Name

It’s not enough for your TX LLC name to be unique. It also cannot be similar to the name of a corporation or LLC in Texas. For example, you cannot use the following factors to say your name is different from the name of another business:

• Suffixes, such as Corporation, Company, Incorporated, Incorporation, Limited, Corp., Co., Inc., Ltd., LLC, etc.
• Definite articles like “A,” “And,” “An,” “&,” “The,” etc.
• The singular, plural or possessive forms of a word
• Abbreviations, punctuation, symbols, fonts, typefaces, etc.

Your LLC Business Name Must Contain Certain Words

All LLCs must have the words “Limited Liability Company,” “L.L.C.” or “LLC” in their name. These words should normally come at the end of the name.

Your LLC Business Name May Have Other General Restrictions

Most states will not allow you to form LLCs with names that:

• Are very similar to the name of a federal or TX agency or organization (e.g., FBI, FDA, Texas Comptroller, Texas Police, Treasury, etc.)
• Suggest affiliation with a federal or state agency or organization
• Use the term “Olympic” or any terms that are trademarks of the Olympic organization
• Imply a purpose that it would be illegal for your business to carry out

Where prohibited by §31.005 and §181.004 of the Texas Finance Code, an entity name cannot include the words "bank," "bank and trust," "trust," "trust company" or a similar term, phrase or foreign language word unless accompanied by a no objection letter from the Banking Commissioner

Where prohibited by §61.313 of the Texas Education Code, an entity name cannot include the words "College," "University," "School of Medicine," "Medical School," "Health Science Center," "School of Law," "Law Center," or "Law School," whether in English or in another language, unless accompanied by a no objection letter from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Where prohibited by §5.062 of the Texas Business Organizations Code, an entity name cannot include the words "Veteran," "Legion," "Foreign," "Spanish," "Disabled," "War," or "World War" if the name implies the entity is created for the benefit of war veterans and their families, without written approval issued from a veterans organization pursuant to §5.062 of the Texas Business Organizations Code.

The words "insurance" or "surety" must be accompanied by other words that remove the implication that the entity purpose is to be an insurer