A preliminary check of the availability of a limited liability company name can be made by mailing a name availability inquiry letter to the Secretary of State's office in Sacramento. A Name Availability Inquiry Letter form is available in PDF file format and can be viewed, filled in, and printed from your computer using the most current version of the Adobe Reader (available for free from Adobe's website). Email or online inquiries cannot be accepted at this time. If you have a recurring need to search limited liability company name availability, you may establish a prepaid account with the Secretary of State's office, so that you can inquire about the availability of a limited liability company name through a telephone technician for a fee of $4.00 per search. For more information about prepaid accounts, please contact the Accounting Office at (916) 653-1233. (Please note: It takes about two weeks to establish an account.)

Checking the availability of a limited liability company name does not reserve the name and has no binding effect on the Secretary of State, nor does it confer any rights to a name.

A request to reserve a limited liability company name can be submitted in person to the Secretary of State's office in Sacramento or can be addressed in writing to the Sacramento office. Fees and instructions for reserving a limited liability company name are included on the Name Reservation Request Form. The Name Reservation Request Form is available in PDF file format and can be viewed, filled in, and printed from your computer using the most current version of the Adobe Reader (available for free from Adobe's website). Email or online requests for reservations cannot be accepted at this time.

If you have a requirement to reserve limited liability company names on an ongoing basis, you may establish a prepaid account with the Secretary of State's office, so that name reservations can be made through a telephone technician for a fee of $4.00 per search and $10.00 per reservation. For more information about prepaid accounts, please contact the Accounting Office at (916) 653-1233. (Please note: It takes about two weeks to establish an account.)

A name reservation is made for a period of 60 days, and can be renewed, but not for consecutive periods, to the same applicant or for the benefit of the same party. (California Corporations Code section 17053.)

The following is general information about name availability and name style requirements relating to limited liability companies.

• Proposed limited liability company names are checked only against currently reserved limited liability company names and active limited liability companies of record in the California Secretary of State's office. Since there is no legal requirement that limited liability company names be checked against other business entity names, limited liability company names are not checked against general partnership, limited partnership, limited liability partnership or corporate names, nor are names checked against trademarks, service marks or local fictitious business names filed at the county level.

• The Secretary of State's office cannot file a document which contains a name that is "likely to mislead the public or which is the same as, or resembles so closely as to tend to deceive," the name of a domestic or foreign (out-of-state or country) limited liability company that has registered with this office or a name which is under reservation for another limited liability company. (California Corporations Code section 17052.)

• A limited liability company may adopt a name that is similar to, but not the same as, the name of an existing domestic or foreign (out of state or country) limited liability company if the existing limited liability company consents in writing to the use of the name and the Secretary of State's office finds that under the circumstances the public is not likely to be misled. The consent letter should be submitted on the letterhead of the consenting limited liability company, signed by an authorized officer of that company. If a proposed name is reserved utilizing consent, a currently dated consent must accompany each renewal request.

• The limited liability company name may not falsely imply governmental affiliation.

• All names must use the English alphabet or Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) or a combination thereof. Roman numerals are treated as letters and not translated into their numeric equivalent. Symbols are not allowed in an entity name; except, an ampersand & may be used in an entity name as a conjunction in place of the word "AND".

• There is no distinction between upper and lower case letters, typeface or font.

• The name of a limited liability company cannot include the words "bank," "trust," "trustee," "incorporated," "inc.," "corporation," or "corp.". (California Corporations Code section 17052(d).)

• The name of a limited liability company cannot include the words "insurer" or "insurance company" or any words suggesting that it is in the business of issuing policies of insurance and assuming insurance risks. (California Corporations Code section 17052(d).)

• The name of a limited liability company must end with the words "Limited Liability Company", "Ltd. Liability Co." or the abbreviation "LLC" or "L.L.C." (California Corporations Code section 17052(a).)

• Fictitious business names filed with the county cannot include word(s) indicating corporate or limited liability company status unless organized as such pursuant to the laws of the State of California. (Business and Professions Code section 17910.5.)