Corporation Names

If you are registering a corporation, your name must contain a distinctive, descriptive and legal term. If your name doesn't include these elements, your choice will probably be rejected and delay the start of your corporation's operations.

• Distinctive term - this term distinguishes your business from anyone else in the same type of business. For example, in "Bob's Courier Service Ltd." the distinctive term is "Bob's".
• Descriptive term - this term explains the type of business you will be operating. In our example, "courier service" is the descriptive term.
• Legal ending - all corporation names must have one of the following terms or abbreviations at the end of its name:
  • Limited or Ltd.
  • Incorporated or Inc.
  • Corporation or Corp.
  • Limitee or Ltee

If the name you choose uses the same distinctive term and does the same type of business as another business, you may not be able to register that name even if the descriptive terms are different. For example, if "Bob's Delivery Service Ltd." is already incorporated, we would not allow you to register "Bob's Courier Service Ltd.".

Business Names

If you are registering a sole proprietorship or partnership, your name must contain a distinctive element and a descriptive element. Names of sole proprietorships and partnerships cannot contain a legal term.

• Distinctive term - this term distinguishes your business from anyone else in the same type of business. For example, in the name, "Bob's Courier Service", the distinctive term is "Bob's".
• Descriptive term - this term explains the type of business you will be doing. In our example, "courier service" is the descriptive term.  

If the name you choose uses the same distinctive term and does the same type of business as another business, you may not be able to register that name even if the descriptive terms are different. For example, if "Bob's Delivery Service" is already registered we would not allow you to register "Bob's Courier Service".

Restricted Words

You may not be able to use the following phrases in your name:

• Saskatchewan or Sask.
• Operated by or o/b
• A division of
• Operating As or o/a
• Doing Business As or d/b/a
• Trading As or t/a;  

Do not use:

• brackets
• a year, or
• profanity or obscene terms.  

Acronyms

Names containing only slogans or acronyms (using the first letters in your business name to spell another word) cannot be protected and therefore cannot be registered.

There are also several terms that require special consents to use. These are too numerous to list, but any consent will be noted on the results of your name search.

Name Qualification Policy

The Name Qualification Policy outlines the restrictions with respect to names for corporations, businesses and non-profit corporations. Download a copy of this policy by selecting the link above.