How to Change Your Ohio Business Name

How to Get a New Business Name

Executing a business name change requires planning. We detail the steps to change your Ohio business’s name below.

1.) Choose a new business name

Business owners sometimes find choosing a new business name the most challenging part of a business name change in Ohio. Be creative, but don’t let this be a stressful process! Many entrepreneurs choose a name that reflects their mission, products, or the name of the town where they do business. 

Ohio has a few rules about how your business can be named. In general, your business’s new name needs to:

• Be distinguishable from names already actively in use by other businesses
• Not use punctuation, articles, or words like Company or Inc. to distinguish the name from another business
• Not use words offensive to accepted standards of decency
• Not contain names or abbreviations implying that the business is affiliated with a governmental entity

These rules are fairly straightforward. However, confirming that your business’s new name is unique from others can be more difficult. We simplify part of the process for you with our Business Name Checker. Once you’ve confirmed that your name is unique and conforms to the rules, you’re ready to move on to the next step to change your business name in Ohio. 

2.) Gather information for filing your amendment

Once you’re ready to change your name, you’ll need to file a Certificate of Amendment to update your Ohio LLC or Corporate Formation documents. To complete a business name change in Ohio, usually, the Ohio Secretary of State will need to know: 

• The business’s exact current name
• The business’s Ohio registration number
• The business’s proposed new name, including LLC, Ltd., or other information identifying its business structure
• The purpose of the amendment 
• The date the name change should be effective (if not the date of filing)
• The signature of an appropriate party

Our comprehensive suite of business services also offers Ohio companies ways to make amendments easier.

3.) File your Ohio amendment

Once you’ve chosen a new name, figured out how to change a business name in Ohio, and completed your paperwork, you can access a variety of filing services online through the Secretary of State’s online portal. Here, you can make appointments for in-person filing, find forms to download and complete for mail-in filing, and access the portal for online submissions. We can also do this for you with our Amendment Filing Service. 

After You Change Your Business Name

Making a business name change in Ohio is only step one in freshening up your business image. After the paperwork has been filed, you’ll have to think about the practical issues that come with a name change. These include:

• Updating your business name on all of your contracts, agreements, and accounts
• Changing the company’s name on any employment contracts or independent contractor agreements
• Reviewing and updating marketing materials like business cards, stationery, website materials, logos, and more
• Ordering new t-shirts, uniforms, pens, stickers, and other giveaways to help clients remember your new business name

Make sure to budget time and money to handle these updates so you can coordinate them with the approval of your name change.

We can help

Our goal is to help make business name changes and ongoing compliance simple. We can quickly help make changes to your business with our Amendment Filing Service. And if you’re an early-stage entrepreneur who has yet to form a business entity or is making a full-scale business change, our Ohio LLC and Ohio Corporation Formation Services can get you up and running fast.

We can also help you keep your business legally compliant with our Worry-Free Compliance Service, which includes up to two amendment filings per year.