Guidance

Choosing a Company name

Before proceeding with the incorporation of your company, you must first decide upon the proposed name for your company, which will have to be approved by the Registrar of Companies.

Search of the proposed name

Once you decide upon the proposed name for your company, and before submitting an application for approval of the proposed name, you are advised to conduct an online search on the business entities' register of the Registrar of Companies in order to determine whether there is already a registered company with the same, or a similar, name.

In order for the proposed name to be approved, it must not be too similar to the name of an already existing business entity or be misleading or undesirable. In the case where your proposed company name is similar with the name of an already existing business entity, the proposed name can be examined only if together with your application for approval of the proposed name, you also submit a relevant consent from the existing registered business entity to use the said name.

Following the submission of application for approval of the proposed name, the Registrar of Companies will carry out a search, in relation to the proposed name of a company, which will not be limited only to Cypriot business entities. As a result of this search, the Registrar of Companies may reject a name for the purposes of protecting the reputation of an international organisation not registered in Cyprus (e.g. Coca Cola, McDonalds, etc). To this end, you are advised to conduct an online search over the existing registered trademarks so that you may determine whether a registered trademark with the same or a similar name already exists.

At the same time, if the name contains restrictive words or expressions, the necessary consent of the competent governmental authority or other body should be obtained and submitted.

Limited/Ltd

Depending on the type of company that you will choose to incorporate, the proposed name should bear as its last word the following:

• If it is a private company limited by shares or by guarantee, the word “ΛΙΜΙΤΕΔ” or “ΛΤΔ” or, in case the name of the company is written with latin characters, “LIMITED” or “LTD”;
• If it is a public company limited by shares or by guarantee and with a share capital, the words “ΔΗΜΟΣΙΑ ΛΙΜΙΤΕΔ” or “ΔΗΜΟΣΙΑ ΛΤΔ” or “ΔΗΜΟΣΙΑ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ ΛΙΜΙΤΕΔ” or “ΔΗΜΟΣΙΑ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑ ΛΤΔ” or “Δ.Ε. ΛΙΜΙΤΕΔ” or “Δ.Ε. ΛΤΔ” or, in case the name of the company is written with latin characters, the words “PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED” or “PUBLIC COMPANY LTD” or “PUBLIC CO. LIMITED” or “PUBLIC CO. LTD” or “PLC” or “PUBLIC LIMITED” or “PUBLIC LTD”.

Omission of the word “Limited"

A company incorporated as a non-profit company for the promotion of any public purpose, intending to distribute its surpluses or other income for the promotion of its objectives and under certain conditions, may apply to omit the word “limited” from its proposed name by submitting a letter together with the application for name approval.

Submission of the name approval application

The application for approval/change of name is submitted to the registrar of companies, via e-filing, by hand or by post, accompanied by:

• permission, consent or pre-approval by the appropriate governmental authority or appropriate body in case it is necessary for the use of words or expressions and/or due to the nature of business respectively;
• payment of ten euros (€10) fee for every proposed name. If you wish to accelerate the name approval process, an additional fee of twenty euros (€20) for every proposed name is required.

You are advised to refer to the main criteria of review and the most common reasons for rejection for further guidance.

The name approval results are available via e-services.

Once the name is approved, the application for the company’s incorporation must be submitted, in accordance with the legal form of the proposed entity/business, within six (6) months; a period during which the approved proposed name is reserved.

 e-name approval