Do you already have a name or are thinking about a name for your business?
Approving your business name is the first step in the registration process. BC Registry Services have to approve your name if you are:
- Incorporating a company, society or cooperative
- Registering a Partnership or Sole Proprietorship
Download Name Approval Form
Filling out the Name Approval Request Form
You can have up to three choices of names on a Name Approval Request form. The Corporate Registry will only examine the request until a name is approved. For example, if your first choice is approved, they will not search the remaining two.
Your business name must have the following two things to be considered:
- The first part of your name must start with a distinctive non-descriptive word or phrase. For example, a geographical location, your name, a made-up word or phrase, or initials.
- The second part of your name must describe what type of business you are in. For example, shoe store, investments, or dog wash.
Therefore, "John’s Shoe Store" or "Vancouver Doggy Wash" will be approved but "The Shoe Store" or "The Doggy Wash" will not be.
Also, if you are incorporating a company, you must add a third component called the corporate designation. For example, Limited, Ltd., Corporation, Corp., Incorporated, Inc.
However, a corporate designation is not used if you are registering a Sole Proprietorship or Partnership.
Processing of your Name Approval Request form.
Mailing the Form
If you are mailing your request, the processing and having results mailed back to you can take three or more weeks.
Submitting Through the Richmond Chamber of Commerce
If you are doing your Name Approval at the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, our staff will contact you when your results are in. This can take from a week to 3 weeks. However, you can ask for a priority status (results within 24 hours) for an extra charge of $100.
