Can you use 'The' in a business name?

paulac · 15-04-2011 3:24pm #1

Hi,

I'm setting up a business and was wondering if you can use 'The' in a business name. For a business where the individual is the owner and service that the customer ultimately will be buying i.e say I was a tax accountant- could I call my business 'The Tax Accountant' or 'The Dog Trainer' or 'The Communication Coach' or whatever it is. It implies that you are the only one which obviously wouldn't be true!

Is there any restrictions like that on business names? The reason I'm asking is that by having a name like that gives the impression that you're the genuine article or the original so I thought that perhaps others in the trade would have a problem with it.

I'm setting up as a sole trader and there are lots of people doing what I want to do so I need something that is cocky, confident and does exactly what it says on the tin.

I know that there are lots of companies that organise pub crawls but there is one that is called The Dublin City pub crawl so I was just wondering!!

Also, opinions would be appreciated! If someone did call themselves 'The Tax Accountant' or whatever, would you think it was pretentious?

Thanks,

Paula

Coriolanus · 15-04-2011 3:33pm

No idea, but an alternative if you can't or if it's already reg'd would be to buy the domain dogaccountant.ie/com and use that as your business name.
The .ie/.com could be an issue though, you might want to gather up the common domains and name iterations, the fees are usually minimal if all you want to do is set up a redirect.

VitaminDave · 15-04-2011 3:34pm

As far as I know, you can call your business whatever you like (as long as it's not defamatory or offensive of course!) Check the CRO website to see if the name you're thinking of is free and then go for it! BTW, if you want to register a .ie domain name for your website etc., life will be much easier for you if you register your chosen name with the CRO and get a number. There's pretty much no restrictions on .com, .net etc. but you'll get better search engine results for local searches with a .ie. Good luck with the new venture!

Dave.

Hill St Blue · 15-04-2011 3:40pm

I registered a business with the CRO as 'The --- ---' so there's no problems with doing that at all.

writhen · 15-04-2011 3:56pm

I've registered a business name (RBN) with "The" in it. Don't know if you can incorporate a company with it in the title. Ring the CRO and check - they are usually quite accomodating.