Choosing a Company Name

Company names in Ireland must be pre-approved for availability and acceptability.

The Companies Registration Office (CRO) has an advanced electronic name reservation system. A company name can be refused if:

It is identical to or too similar in style to a name already appearing on the register of companies
It is offensive
It would suggest state sponsorship
It is generally recommended that company names include extra words so as to create a sufficient distinction between names
Certain words and their abbreviations, together with accents and punctuation marks, are not sufficient to distinguish between company names
Place names are not considered to be a sufficient distinction between company names e.g. Ireland, Dublin
Similar descriptive elements e.g. staff/employment agency, or the inclusion of only a general or weak qualification such as holding, group, systems, services, solutions, enterprises, international, etc. may not be regarded as a sufficient distinction between company names
Names that are phonetically and/or visually similar will be refused. This includes names where there is a slight variation in the spelling and the variation does not make a significant difference between the names
A number on its own will not be accepted as a sufficient distinguishing mark, unless the company concerned is part of the same group and a letter of association is provided
If a name includes words which imply specific functions e.g. holding, group, further information may be required by the CRO to support the application
Names containing certain words cannot be used unless approved by relevant bodies. These include the words bank, banc, banking, banker, insurance, re-insurance and assurance, society, co-op or co-operative, university, institute of technology, regional technical college