Self employment - naming business

General_Grant

Marcon said:

peppapig14 said:

I am looking to go self employed and start a cleaning business.
My chosen name is not listed on companies house, but Google searches show there are many  orgs with the same name - does that mean I can use the name or not 

If you are truly self employed, then companies house isn't relevant. You can use the name if you particularly like it - just check there are no other cleaning businesses in your vicinity, to avoid possible confusion. I wouldn't get too hung up on a 'unique' name - it's a cleaning business, and you are most likely to be known by your own name rather than a trading name, so possibly just trading as [your name] Cleaning Services might fit the bill?

MalMonroe said:

It'd be good if you could think of something with a double meaning - or something similar to a phrase or saying - for example, the hairdresser near me called her business 'Hairs and Grace's' because her name is Grace. 

Not necessarily - not everyone will understand the double meaning (and certainly won't be able to cope with an apostrophe!). A simple, memorable name which describes what you do is useful to potential customers, unpretentious and straightforward to find on google.

A Companies House check can be useful.  There may come a time when the OP may want to form a limited company for their business operations and knowing that the name is available helps.  In fact, it may even be useful to protect the name from being used by others by forming a company with the name even if it is not trading initially but a dormant company requiring minimum annual returns.

tightauldgit

Just to say that if you want to register a company name at Companies House it doesn't have to be the name of your business for trading purposes. You can trade as A1 THE BEST CLEANERS and register the company as BIRMINGHAM CLEANERS LTD at companies house.

So pick a name that works for your business to trade as and use that.  

Grumpy_chap

Sometimes even a different name in a different industry can come in for challenge from over-officious trade mark owners:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-64519500