Guidance

Choosing a Business Name

Before proceeding with the incorporation of a business name, you must first decide upon the proposed name for your business name, 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 business name, 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 business name 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 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, 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.

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 euro (€10) fee for every proposed name. If you wish to accelerate the name approval process, an additional fee of twenty euro (€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 incorporation of business name 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