Name Content

The name of your business entity can contain letters in the Roman alphabet (A – Z), numbers (0 – 9), or any of the following special characters: ! # ' $ & % ( ) * + , - . / : ; =  < > ? [ ] \ ^. French characters are also allowed.

Note that the name must start with a letter or a number, and that no more than 50 per cent of the name can be made up of special characters. Formatting (e.g., bold or italic font) is not allowed.

Saskatchewan entities may have a name in English and Cree, Dené, Michif, Lakota, Nakota, or Saulteaux.  The following indigenous language characters are accepted:

Ā Á À Ą Ą́ Â Å
Ē É È Ę Ę́ Ê Ë
Ī Í Ì Į Į́ Î Ï
Ō Ó Ò Ǫ Ǫ́ Ô Ö
Ú Ù Ų Ų́ Û Ü
Ɂ Ł Ç C̀ C̄ Č Ǧ Ġ Ȟ Š S̀ Ž Ŋ

Brackets in a Name

The use of brackets in a name implies an affiliation with an existing name, in which case a consent letter is required.

English and French

Your entity name can be in English, French or both. Names that are both English and French must be direct translations of each other.

English and Indigenous Language Names

Your Saskatchewan entity name can be in English and Cree, Dené, Michif, Lakota, Nakota, Dakota, or Saulteaux.  English and Indigenous Language names must be direct translations of each other.  

Descriptive and Distinctive Elements

Your entity name must include both a descriptive and a distinctive element.

The descriptive element explains what type of business you intend to carry on. For example, if you named your business Suzy’s Shoe Store Ltd., “Shoe Store” would be considered the descriptive element.

If you intend to carry on several lines or types of business using one entity, the descriptive element in your entity name can be more general. For instance, you might choose to name your entity Harvey’s Holdings Ltd. or Vern’s Ventures Ltd.

Note that if you choose a general descriptive element, your name may not receive very strong name protection within your industry. For instance, if there is a trucking company named Vern’s Ventures Ltd., and another business owner wants to register a competing company called Vern’s Trucking Co., they will be able to do so.

You cannot choose a descriptive element that might mislead customers. For example, if your business involves ranching, you will not be allowed to use a word like “machinery” as your descriptive element.

The distinctive element distinguishes your entity from others that provide the same or similar goods and services. For example, if you named your business Bob’s Transport Corp., “Bob’s” would be considered the distinctive element. 

Years in Names

You can include a year as the distinctive element in your entity name. For example, you may choose to name your business Anna’s 1950s Dresses Inc.

In some cases, there are restrictions on which year you can use. If your entity is succeeding another business that has an identical name (minus the year) and that intends to stop operating, the year should appear at the end of your entity name.

If you submit your name request in December, you can use either the current year or the upcoming one.
If you submit your request in January, you can use either the previous year or the current one.
If you submit your name request between February 1st and November 30th, you must use the current year in your entity name.

Legal Endings

Depending on what type of entity you wish to incorporate or register, you may need to add a legal ending to the entity name. The entity type determines what kind(s) of ending(s) the name can have, as outlined in the following table. A blank space in the table means that an ending does not apply to a given entity type.

Entity Type	Limited or Ltd.	Limitée or Ltée	Incorporated or Inc.	Incorporée or Inc.	Corporation or Corp.
Business Corporation	x	x	x	x	x
Business Name (e.g. sole proprietorship or partnership)
Condominium Corporation					*
Co-operative	x	x
Credit Union	x	x
Limited Liability Partnership
Non-profit Corporation			x	x	x

*Condominium Corporations must use Corporation in their name.

An entity name can only contain one legal element. The legal element must be the last term in the name.

If your entity name is in English and French, it must include legal endings in both languages. Both endings must be the same type, and must either be written out in full (e.g., “Incorporated” and “Incorporée”) or abbreviated (e.g., “Ltd.” and “Ltée”). You cannot mix and match ending types.

If your entity name is in English and an Indigenous Language Name, the legal ending will be applied on the English version of the name.

Restricted Words

There are some words that the Corporate Registry will not allow you to use in your entity name.

In most cases, you cannot use the name of another province or territory, such as Newfoundland. You are only allowed to do so if your business was originally incorporated or registered there and you are now registering to operate in Saskatchewan.

Your entity name cannot include the terms “trading as,” “operating as,” “operated by,” “doing business as” or “a division of,” or any of the related abbreviations.

Words that the majority of the public would consider vulgar or offensive are also prohibited.

Financial Terms

Unless you have consent from the Financial and Consumer Affairs Authority, you cannot use any of the following terms in your entity name: “trust,” “loan, “mortgage,” “finance,” “financial,” “financing,” “reinsurance,” “acceptance,” “fiduciary” or “fiducie,” “trustco,” “payday,” “banking,” “bank,” “credit,” “caisse populaire,” “insurance,” “insurer,” “underwriting,” “assurance,” “surety,” “securities exchange,” “stock exchange” or “warranty.

Implied Connections to the Provincial Government

You cannot use words like “Saskatchewan” or “provincial” in ways that suggest your entity is linked to the Government of Saskatchewan.
Implied Connections to Post-Secondary Institutions
In most cases, you cannot use the following words:

• “university”;
• “varsity”;
• “college”;
• “institute”;
• “school”;
• “education”; or
• “academy.”

Using these terms might mislead customers by giving them the impression that your business is affiliated with or endorsed by the University of Regina or the University of Saskatchewan.

Implied Connections to Professional Associations

If your proposed entity name includes terms that relate to a designated profession (e.g., accounting or engineering), you may need to get a letter of consent from the appropriate professional association before you can use the name.

Implied Connections to Royalty

You cannot use an entity name that suggests you have a connection to any current member of the Royal Family. This means your name should not include phrases like “King Charles” or “Prince of Wales.”