How to Do a Business Entity Search in South Dakota and Choose a Name for your LLC

If you’re planning on starting a South Dakota LLC it’s an exciting time, but there are also some serious considerations you’ll want to address. It can feel intimidating to start a business, especially if you aren’t fully sure how to get everything off the ground effectively. Among the first choices you need to make for your business is what you want to call it. Your startup needs a name, and it should be one that fits your niche and industry well.

Additionally, you need a business name that is clear and direct, and that will evoke emotion in your target customer base. After you locate that kind of name, the next step is to make sure it’s one that you can use, and doesn’t belong to another business already. If it’s already in use you’ll have to find a different one, so you might want to come up with a few separate ideas before looking to see if they’re available options.

Conducting a South Dakota business entity search will show you whether the name you want for your new business can be used, and whether it fits the state’s naming regulations. Here’s what to consider when you need to find the perfect LLC name.

Why Do You Need to Do a Business Entity Search When Starting an LLC?

Performing a business entity search involves looking to see if a business is registered in your state as a legal entity, along with discovering information about that business. There are several reasons you could want to see if a business is legally registered, but one of the main reasons is to determine if a name you want for your own business is available in South Dakota.

South Dakota naming guidelines

Before you officially choose a name for your business you’ll need to make sure it’s a name you can legally use. Most states have specific guidelines that business names must follow, and South Dakota is no exception. The main areas to consider are:

Conducting a Business Name Search in South Dakota - Step by Step Guide With Tips

To conduct a business name search in South Dakota you’ll need to use the Secretary of State’s website. The site has a specific page where you can put in a suggested name and get information on availability.

Once you put in a name you want to search for, you’ll be shown whether the name is available for use. In this case the name is already in use, so you would need to choose a different name for your LLC.

There is no fee to access this information, and it should be used for an exact search only. If you want to look for partial names or name variations, you can use the Business Information Search page to do that.

A Tip for Better Searching

Make sure you check your spelling, because searching for an exact match means that search term specifically, even if it’s spelled wrong. The site won’t correct for misspellings or other mistakes, and that could lead you to believe there is a business name available when that’s actually not the case. When you search, enter the name you want to register, exactly as you would use it in your business.

Reviewing More Results

South Dakota’s name availability search is a good one in that it clearly shows whether the name you want to use is taken or not. If there isn’t a registered business with the name you searched for, you’ll get a “No Results Found” message. However, the site also suggests that you look for variations of the name through the business information search page, to see if there’s a registered company that will be potentially too close to your name selection.

Reviewing More Results

Use of this page will help you clarify your options even further, and you can experiment with a number of naming variations until you’re satisfied that your potential business name is available, not too close to anything else, and the one you want to use.

What Can You Do Once You Have a Name That Is Available?

Once you have a South Dakota business name you want to use for your LLC, make sure it fits the naming guidelines approved by the South Dakota legislature. Then, you can either move forward with registering it and your actual business, or you can reserve the name if you’re not quite ready to start your business yet.

Reserving a Name

You can fill out a name reservation form and pay a $25 fee to hold the name you’ve chosen for 120 days. Make sure you do something with the name in that time period, though, or you’ll have to wait 60 days after expiration to reserve it again.

Registering a Domain

Also consider registering a domain with your new LLC name, and make sure the name doesn’t look or sound inappropriate when you run it all together as a web address. If it does, the time to make changes or adjustments is now.

Conclusion

You don’t necessarily need a memorable or catchy name to see business success, but it can certainly help you get noticed more easily. When you choose the right name your customers will know what you do, who you are, and what they can expect. Fortunately, there are a lot of options for naming your LLC in South Dakota. Meeting the state’s guidelines isn’t complicated, and you can have a business name you’re proud of.

FAQ

The main reason to perform a search for a business entity is to make sure the name you’re considering for your own business hasn’t already been used by someone else.

In South Dakota the way to check if an LLC name you want is still available is to use the business name availability tool on the Secretary of State’s website.

It costs $25 to reserve an LLC name in South Dakota, and it’s good for 120 days. If you don’t use it in that time, it will expire and the same person can’t re-register it until 60 days from the date of expiration have passed.

You’ll be required to register your DBA if you’re using a name other than the official name of your LLC. The filing fee is just $10, but it’s extremely important to get it registered so you’re not in violation of any laws or regulations while doing business in the state.

In South Dakota, the LLC naming guidelines include making sure you can use the name you want, adding the term “LLC” or a variation of it to the name of your business, and being clear on the intended purpose of your business. In other words, your name can’t be deceptive based on what your business does.

If the name you want for your LLC is taken you’ll have to pick a different one. You can also reach out to the business that has the name you’d like to use and see if they’ll agree to let you use it or a variation of it, but that can involve a lot of red tape. Picking a different name is by far the better choice.