how to change the name of your llc in south carolina [Definitive Guide]

Last updated : Aug 9, 2022

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hi everyone i'm attorney aidan durham with 180 law co in colorado and welcome back to all up in your business in this episode of all up in your business i'm going to explain how you can go about changing the name of your business but first don't forget to like subscribe and share and check the description for links to additional information and resources and i have a really exciting announcement we have merch now that's right now you can show off your love of trademarks and support your favorite youtube lawyer with exclusive products from our inherently distinctive line i am rocking the inherently distinctive flowy women's tank complete with rocky logo on the back of course or turn heads with our classic all up in your business line featuring our auiyb mascot rocky what can be better than rocky's face on your face or rocky's ugly mug on your mug i mean come on scroll down or check the merchandise tab on my channel page to check it all out and start shopping okay now on to changing your business name there are a lot of reasons you might want to change the name of your business maybe you've grown tired of your business name or you've changed the types of products or services that you offer and your business name no longer you know really reflects what you're doing or maybe you didn't do a thorough enough search before you started your business and now you find yourself in some kind of a trademark infringement issue or maybe you're like me and you named your business after yourself then got divorced and now you want to change your business name from the law office of aiden h kramer to 180 law co whatever the case may be for a lot of small businesses there will come a time when you decide it's best to change the name of your business first word of warning as with most things having to do with your business every state is different the rules and procedures for changing a business name will at least be slightly different in each state and states use different terminology the names of forms and terminology used in the forms will be different so just know that the stuff i'm talking about is generally true for all businesses but the specific details and process may look different for you if you're operating as a sole proprietor this is usually a very easy thing to do let's say you're a sole proprietor so you're running a business on your own and have not registered as an llc or a corporation and you've been doing business under your legal name if you want to change that and do business under a different name or brand it's really just a matter of filing a trade name or dba registration for the sole proprietorship you would do this by filing the appropriate form with the secretary of state's office in your state in colorado this form is called a statement of trade name but like i said other states will call it something else or let's say you are already operating under a dba or a trade name that's not your legal name if you decide you want to do business under a different name again it's really just a matter of registering that new dba or trade name so just like with the first example you would file a statement of trade name or whatever the form is called in your state the only difference here is that you will then want to withdraw the previous trade name or dba registration the process is pretty similar if you have an llc or a corporation and you're operating under a dba or trade name llcs and corporations are permitted to operate under a name which is different from the name of the llc or the corporation just like with sole proprietors the llc or corporation would file a statement of trade name to register the dba then if you want to later change that you would file another statement of trade name to register the new dba then withdraw the previous registration you can use this same approach if the llc or corporation is not currently under operating under a dba if you want to change the name that your business is operating under or your business's brand you can do so by registering the dba or trade name of the llc a few important things to note here first it's important to understand the difference between the entity's name and a dba or trade name a dba does not actually change the name of the entity itself a dba means doing business as so it quite literally means that the company is doing business as a different name an llc or corporation can have multiple dvr dba registrations it's not like you're limited to just one so when i say that a company can change its business name by registering a different dba or trade name i really mean that you can change the name that you're doing business under but you're not actually changing the name of your business second the forms that you'll use may be different if you're registering a dba for an entity versus registering it for a sole proprietorship in colorado for example we would use the statement of trade name of an individual form for a sole proprietor and the statement of trade name of a reporting entity for an llc or corporation again the specific forms are going to be different in every state the process is a little different if you're operating as an llc or corporation and want to actually change the name of the entity itself i mean actually changing the registered name of the llc or corporation not changing or adopting a new dba or trade name first we need to check the company's operating agreement or bylaws to see if there are any specific requirements or instructions or anything related to changing the company's name for example many llc operating agreements will require that the members consent to the name change if your company's operating agreement or bylaws address it then you need to do whatever they say most often they'll say something like the company may conduct business under any name which the members determine and there will be some kind of requirement for either a majority or a unanimous unanimous vote if that's the case then it is important to document that vote so you can easily demonstrate that you have complied with the operating agreement this is typically accomplished with meeting minutes or a written consent in lieu of a meeting even if your llc's operating agreement or corporate bylaws don't address the name issue your state's laws most likely do every state will require some form of consent by the businesses owners or officers in order to change the business's name check the description by the way i am going to link to a sample written consent in lieu of a meeting so you guys can get a better sense of what that is so once we've got the consent portion out of the way we can actually get to changing the name we'll typically do this by amending the llc's articles of organization or the corporations articles of or incorporation this by the way is why the states require consent to change a business name we're not just changing a name we're changing the company's formative document which governs the entire existence of the company in colorado we would file amended or amended and restated articles of organization with the secretary of state to change the name of an llc again th

Thanks for your comment Nichelle Talamentez, have a nice day.
- Latosha Cimini, Staff Member

coming up with a business name is one of the most important steps in forming a business your name affects your branding and your image as a company let's get you started on the right path of picking a solid business name in South Carolina South Carolina is an excellent place to form a new business with low labor costs and tax burdens and a highly rated ease of doing business every state has slightly different requirements for naming a business follow along closely to learn the required steps for naming a business in the state of South Carolina in this video we will go over how to name your business based on your business structure branding and brainstorming business names and how to check your names availability be sure to ask yourself the seven essential questions we provide before you make this critical business decision 1 choose a business structure you'll need to determine your company's business structure before deciding a name as different business structures have different naming requirements there are formal business structures like LLC's and corporations and informal business structures like sole proprietorships and general partnerships in this first section we'll talk about the naming requirements of each informal business structures if you are operating under a sole proprietorship your company must operate under the surname of the owner in order to use a different name the owner must file a DBA or doing business as also known as an assumed name fictitious name or trade name general partnerships are similar to sole proprietorships with the difference being that partnerships consist of two or more people a general partnerships name must consist of the surnames of all the partners like a sole proprietorship if you want to operate under a different name you need to file for a DBA LLC or limited liability companies if your company is an LLC your name must include the phrase limited liability company or one of its abbreviations LLC or L LLC with a period in between each letter restricted words such as Bank Attorney law office etc may require additional paperwork and may also need a licensed professional to be part of the LLC your name can not include words that could confuse your LLC with a government agency such as FBI Treasury or State Department South Carolina does not have any specific naming requirements for LLC's beyond was just listed corporations if your business is a corporation or a c-corp your name must include the words corporation company incorporated limited or an abbreviation of any of these here are some state specific requirements for South Carolina corporations your name cannot include words that could confuse your corporation with the government agencies such as FBI Treasury State Department etc when choosing your business structure you may hear the term S corp which isn't actually a business structure but a type of tax structure used by an LLC or corporation if your business is taxed as an S corp follow South Carolina's naming requirements for the business structure you chose for all business structures your name must be distinguishable from other existing businesses in South Carolina a couple examples of names not being distinguishable would be Auto Store Inc versus Auto Store LLC the only difference in the name is the business structure changing the words the and or a in front of your business name does not make it distinguishable for example the auto store Inc auto store Inc and an auto store Inc are not distinguishable from each other using an ampersand instead of and or vice versa such as Smith and Smith is not different enough from Smith and Smith using an ampersand your business name can't have words that sound identical to another business with a different spelling boys Inc with an S and boys Inc with a Z are not distinguishable to branding and brainstorming when picking your business name you'll also want to consider whether your legal business name will be your brand name or if you will have a separate brand name your legal name is what is listed on your formation documents this includes words required based on your business structure such as LLC Corp or company your brand name is the name you use to market your company and the name that clients and customers see and use when deciding what to name your business decide on your branding strategy using these three options do you want your business's legal name to also be your brand name such as Tiffany and Co do you want your legal business name to be different from your brand name hewlett-packard is HP do you want to have a legal business name and several different brand names Gap Inc is their legal business name but there brand names are GAAP Old Navy and Banana Republic while you're thinking about how to brand your business start brainstorming some business names you should start by brainstorming at least four to five potential names the goal is to come up with a few catchy and creative names then check to see if they are available a good brainstorming session should last 15 to 45 minutes and it's important that you're comfortable think snacks water a comfy place to sit and your favorite pen use a timer and don't stop till it goes off if you need more time take a 15-minute break walk around a bit grab some more water and start again after doing some brainstorming and coming up with a list of a few business names to choose from ask yourself these questions to help pick a name or refine some of the names you have is my name simple and shorter rather than longer a simple name will be easier to remember easier to talk about and easier to write you can avoid some hassle by having a simple and short name shorter business names are easier to remember and generally simpler than long business names if your business name is too long there's a possibility that your clients call you by a nickname that you have no control over and doesn't do your business any favors how does the name sound when I say it out loud don't just read the name actually say it out loud say your name slow fast and with the different emphasis to make sure it doesn't end up sounding like something else is it easy to pronounce spell and does the acronym look okay along the same lines as having a simple name a business name will be more memorable if it's easy to pronounce and spell another important thing to keep in mind is if the acronym of your business ends up spelling something you don't want to choose a name for your business only to find out the first letter of each word spells out flop did I include a geographical location in my name by including a location in your name you may limit your business and growth potential customers and other states may not consider contacting you if they think you are only trying to do business in a specific location how does the name compare to other businesses in the industry look at your potential competitors names does there seem to be a format that other businesses in the industry follow when naming their businesses does your name stand out in a bad way you want a name that's unique and grabs attention but not one that will make you seem unprofessio

Thanks Shawnee your participation is very much appreciated
- Latosha Cimini

About the author

Latosha Cimini

I've studied differential topology at Cameron University in Lawton and I am an expert in financial economics. I usually feel energetic. My previous job was library assistant I held this position for 4 years, I love talking about boxing and chess. Huge fan of Nicki Minaj I practice equestrian: dressage and collect petroliana.