What is in a Name? Finding the right name for your business can be tough, but follow these 7 steps (and links), and you will find the way.

1. Make a list of possible names for your business. Use a Thesaurus to find similar words to the obvious ones, as popular domain names will already be taken, or they will be super expensive.

2. Once you have cut the list down to three or four final names, do a poll. Ask friends to give their opinion. Make sure to look at both the written and the spoken perspective. A name may be perfect in written form, but a tongue twister when said out loud.

3. Come up with an easy to read and remember domain name for your website. Since this URL is always all lower case, the spelling should be intuitive. Look up available domain names on the WHOIS.

4. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a trademark check tool that can tell you if the name is already trademarked. Infringement can be costly, so we highly recommend that you do not skip this step.

5. When the final name is locked in tight, register the name. This is what the Small Business Administration says about “DBA”.

“Registering your business name involves a process known as registering a “Doing Business As (DBA)” name or trade name. This process shouldn’t be confused with incorporation and it doesn’t provide trademark protection. Registering your “Doing Business As” name is simply the process of letting your state government know that you are doing business as a name other than your personal name or the legal name of your partnership or corporation. If you are operating under your own name, then you can skip the process.

Register in your state agency. The State of California has different rules and fees than other states. If you are using your own given name, you can skip this step.

6. To protect the name, you should think about Trademarking it. A business lawyer can give you advise on this and other legal protections for your new business.

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