Name Availability Guidelines

Rhode Island's entity name standard is “distinguishable upon the record.” This means we will deny a request for a name that is identical or not distinguishable from a name on file in the active Corporate Database.

 The following examples will NOT make your name “distinguishable upon the record”:

  • An article: (a, an, the)
  • Plural forms of the same word: (City Girl vs. City Girls)
  • Obvious misspelling of the same name or word: (Cat vs. Kat, or Boyz vs. Boys)
  • An abbreviation in place of a complete spelling of the name: (Northeast Industries, Inc. vs. NE Industries, Inc or Rhode Island Appraisers, LLC vs. RI Appraisers, LLC)
  • Variations of the Same Word: (Finance Specialists, Inc. vs. Financing Specialists, Inc. or Possible Dreams, Inc. vs. Impossible Dreams, Inc. or Rhode Island Realty, Inc. vs. Rhode Island Real Estate, Inc.)
  • A change in a word or name indicating entity status: (Acme Enterprises, Inc. vs. Acme Enterprises Corporation vs. Acme Enterprises, LLC)
  • The addition of a numeric designation, unless consent is granted: (Gourmet Bakery, Inc. vs. Gourmet Bakery I, Inc. vs. Gourmet Bakery II, Inc.)
  • Differences in punctuation or special characters: (T-Bones, Inc. vs. T*Bones, Inc.)
  • Differences in capitalization: (T-Bones, Inc. vs. t-Bones, Inc.)
  • Differences in whether letters or numbers immediately follow each other or are separated by one or more spaces: (TNT, Inc. vs. T N T, Inc.)
  • An Arabic numeral representing a number, a roman numeral representing the same number and/or a word representing the same number appearing in the same position within otherwise identical names: (2 Brothers Pizza, Inc. vs. II Brothers Pizza, Inc. vs. Two Brothers Pizza, Inc.)

This preliminary name search is not statutorily required or binding upon the Department of State and does not ensure that the name will be available when filing your form.  The final determination will be made by this office at the time of filing.  It is suggested that you do not make any financial investments (i.e. signs, letter head, business cards etc.) or execute documents based upon a preliminary name availability search.

If your entity was first incorporated in another state or country and the preliminary name search shows your entity name is not available for use in Rhode Island, follow the steps on your qualification instruction sheet to record a name under which your entity can conduct business in Rhode Island.

Visit our Corporate Database to check the availability of your entity name.