Check whether your business name is available before you register. This tool searches EU company registries and trademark databases to help you avoid conflicts and choose a name that's available across major EU markets.
Reference
EU Company Name Rules Checker
Check a name against each EU country's company naming rules
EU Company Name Rules Checker
This checks your name against company naming rules — required legal form, restricted words and permitted characters. It cannot tell you whether the name is already taken: use the official registry link below for that.
Enter your proposed business name above to run the checks.
This tool performs basic naming rule checks only. Always verify availability in the official company registry before registering your business name.
Guides & Resources
3 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
Choosing a Business Name That Works Across EU Languages
The EU has 24 official languages and hundreds of regional dialects. A brand name that sounds premium in one country can be vulgar, ridiculous, or simply unpronounceable in another. Before you invest in a name, it is worth spending an hour checking how it lands across the key EU markets — because rebranding after launch is far more expensive than testing early.
Read guide →3 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
Business Name Conflicts in the EU: What Happens If Someone Else Has Your Name
Registering a business name without checking for conflicts first is one of the most expensive mistakes a European founder can make. A cease-and-desist letter can arrive years after launch, forcing a rebrand that costs tens of thousands of euros and wipes out brand equity you have spent years building. Understanding how conflicts arise — and how to prevent them — is essential before you file any registration.
Read guide →4 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
Business Name vs Trademark vs Domain: What to Protect First
Most founders treat their business name, trademark, and domain as one thing — but legally they are three distinct protections, issued by three different authorities, covering three different rights. Getting the sequence wrong is a costly mistake: a competitor can register your brand as an EU trademark while your company name sits untouched in the Handelsregister, or a cybersquatter can grab your .com the day you announce your company. This guide explains what each protection actually covers and the right order to move through them.
Read guide →3 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
How to Check Business Name Availability in the EU (Country-by-Country Guide)
Registering a business name without checking availability first is one of the most common — and expensive — mistakes new founders make. Each EU country runs its own registry, applies its own uniqueness rules, and reserves the right to reject names that conflict with existing registrations. This guide walks you through the official search tools for the five largest EU economies and explains how to use the BRIS system for a cross-border check.
Read guide →3 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
Company Name Availability Checker: Austria, Belgium and Netherlands Guide
Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands each run distinct national business registers with different search tools, name distinctness rules, and required legal form suffixes. Whether you are incorporating a GmbH in Vienna, a BV in Amsterdam, or an SRL in Brussels, knowing exactly where to search and what the registrar looks for saves you rejected applications and wasted notary fees.
Read guide →4 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
Company Name Registration Requirements by Country: DE, FR, NL, ES, IT Guide
Company name registration is not uniform across the EU. Germany insists your name must be "sufficiently distinctive" for its district; Spain requires a formal certificate of name availability before you can even draft articles of incorporation; Italy leaves the check to your notary on the day of signing. Understanding the rules in your target country before you file saves weeks of delays and avoids rejection fees. Here is what you need to know for Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy.
Read guide →3 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
Domain Name + Business Name Alignment Strategy for EU Companies
Registering a business name and securing the matching domain should happen in parallel, not sequentially. Founders who register the company first and then search for a domain often discover their preferred domain is taken, squatted, or prohibitively expensive — and end up with a brand-domain mismatch that costs them in SEO, customer trust, and marketing spend for years. Here is how to do it right.
Read guide →3 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
EU Business Register (BRIS): How to Search Company Names Across 27 Countries
The EU Business Registers Interconnection System (BRIS) is the official cross-border company search tool linking all 27 member state registers in one portal. Before you register a business name or sign a contract with a European company, BRIS is the fastest first check — but it has real limits that every founder and compliance officer needs to understand.
Read guide →3 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
EU Trademark Search Before Registering a Business Name: What You Need to Know
Many founders make the mistake of checking business name availability only in the commercial register — then discover months later that an existing EU trademark covers the same name for their industry. A company name registration and a trademark are separate legal instruments, maintained in separate databases, by separate authorities. This guide explains both, shows you how to search EUIPO step-by-step, and tells you when the overlap becomes a real legal risk.
Read guide →4 MIN READ·GuideApr 2026
Sole Trader vs Limited Company Name Rules in the EU
Sole traders and limited companies face fundamentally different naming rules across the EU. While a GmbH or SARL can choose almost any distinctive name (within the rules), a sole trader in many EU countries is legally required to trade under their own name — at least for their primary registration. Understanding these distinctions before you choose your entity type can save you from a rebranding headache later. Here is how the rules break down in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain, and Italy, and what changes the moment you incorporate.
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