Louisiana Business Name Availability Checker
Data verified August 10, 2026 · Official database: Louisiana Secretary of State
LLC filing fee
Name reservation cost
Reservation hold non-renewable
Quick answer: Louisiana screens a new LLC name against registered trade names, not only against companies. La. R.S. 12:1306(A)(3) lists them in the same sentence as corporations, partnerships and reserved names, and the Commercial Division search shows the consequence plainly: one query returns companies, trade names, trademarks and service marks in a single result list. Two more rules are Louisiana’s own. The name itself may not contain the phrase “doing business as” or the abbreviation “d/b/a.” And the reservation is a single 120-day hold that cannot be renewed, so the clock here runs once.
How to check a name in Louisiana
The checker above is the fast first pass. The four screens below follow CORA, the Commercial Division’s public records search. Read it knowing what it actually contains: this is one register for entities, trade names and state trademarks together, which is exactly the set § 1306(A)(3) tells the Secretary of State to compare your name against. What you find is preliminary. The Secretary of State rules on the name when your articles of organization are examined.
Step 1: Open the CORA business search
Open the Commercial Division search. Search Type offers three routes: Search by Entity Name, Charter Number, Trade Registration Number, or Name Reservation Number, and Officer Name or Agent Name. That middle option is worth noticing before you start, because it means an active name reservation is a numbered public record here, not a hidden hold. Leave the selection on the first radio. Entity Name is the only required field on the page.
Step 2: Type the distinctive words, without the ending
Type the words that make the name yours into Entity Name and leave off the ending, because § 1306(A)(1) treats “limited liability company,” “L.L.C.” and “L.C.” as designators rather than as part of the distinctive name. The Search Hints under the field push the other way, advising you to “use the full name to limit results.” That suits someone looking up a company they already know. When you are testing a name you do not have yet, the shorter term is the safer pass, because it surfaces the near matches a longer string would hide.
Step 3: Read the Type column, and read what is bold
The results carry Name, Type, City and a Details button, above the line “Active records are shown in Bold.” The Type column is where Louisiana differs from most registers: this capture returns Business Corporation (Non-Louisiana), Limited Liability Company (Non-Louisiana), Trademark, Trade Name and Trade Name/Service Mark rows for the same query. Every one of those is a record the Secretary of State may compare your name against. Bold is your first filter, and the detail screen is the second.
Step 4: Open the record and read Status with Annual Report Status
The detail screen opens with Previous Names, which matters when you are checking whether a name is genuinely free: a company that has renamed keeps its old name attached to its record. Status and Annual Report Status are separate lines, so a record can read Active while its report standing says something else. The whole screen is free; the View Shopping Cart button on the search page is for ordering certified copies, not for reading records.
Louisiana LLC naming rules
The rules sit in La. R.S. 12:1306, which is unusual in keeping the designator, the comparison set and the regulated words in one section:
- Required ending: “limited liability company,” the abbreviation “L.L.C.,” or the abbreviation “L.C.” A low-profit company uses “low-profit limited liability company,” “L3C” or “l3c” instead.
- A banned phrase: the name may not contain “doing business as” or “d/b/a.” Louisiana keeps the legal name and the trading name as two separate records.
- The comparison set: every Louisiana corporation, partnership and LLC, every foreign entity of those types registered here, every name reserved under § 12:1307 or § 12:1-402(A), and every trade name registered with the Secretary of State.
- No borrowed authority: the name may not imply the company is an agency of the state, of a political subdivision, or of the United States, and it may not deceptively suggest a charitable or nonprofit nature.
- Regulated words come with waiting periods, not just approvals. Banking words (“bank,” “savings,” “safe deposit,” “trust,” “building and loan,” “homestead,” “credit union”) need the office of financial institutions commissioner’s written approval dated at least fourteen days before the certificate of organization issues. “Engineer,” “surveyor” and their derivatives need ten days’ written notice to the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board, or its signed waiver, and “architect,” “architectural” and “architecture” need the same ten days to the Louisiana State Board of Architectural Examiners. “Insurance” is allowed only to an independent insurance agency or brokerage firm.
Reserving a name in Louisiana
A reservation is $25 on Form 398 under La. R.S. 49:222(B)(1)(a), and it holds the name for 120 days.
The word that matters in § 12:1307 is “nonrenewable.” The statute grants the exclusive right for “a nonrenewable period of one hundred twenty days,” so unlike states that let a hold roll over, Louisiana gives you one window and no extension. Plan the filing date backwards from it. Two other mechanics are in the same section: the right can be transferred to another person by a signed notice naming the transferee, and the holder can terminate it early by signed notice. Both moves cost the same $25 as the reservation itself.
Trade names in Louisiana
Louisiana runs a single state-level DBA system with no parish filing anywhere in it. Every filer, whether an LLC, a corporation, a partnership or a sole proprietor, registers a trade name with the Secretary of State on Form 309 for $75, and the registration lasts ten years under La. R.S. 51:216. Renewal runs for successive ten-year terms, applied for within the six months before the term expires. Business owners in fourteen named parishes, including Orleans, East Baton Rouge, Jefferson, Caddo and Lafayette, must file their business documents online through GeauxBiz rather than by mail.
The registration grants no trademark right on its own: § 51:222 gives the infringement action to the owner of a registered mark, and a trade name is defined separately from a mark. What it has instead is blocking power inside the register. Because § 1306(A)(3) screens entity names against registered trade names, an active trade name will stand in the way of a later LLC name that is not distinguishable from it. That is the reverse of how most states treat a DBA.
If your Louisiana name is taken
Louisiana writes out, in more detail than any other state in this guide, when a conflicting record stops counting. § 1306(A)(3) lists six conditions, and five of them are about a company that has stopped being a real business:
- Consent, plus a rename. The other registrant consents in writing and files the document to change its own name, effective no later than the moment you start using the old one.
- Authorized for two years, never actually trading. Failure to file a Louisiana corporate franchise tax return for two consecutive years is stated in the statute as prima facie evidence of exactly that.
- Five years of unpaid state taxes. A company that has not paid the taxes it owes the state for the preceding five consecutive years is no longer a blocking record.
- A revoked charter with the same two-year tax gap, or an unauthorized foreign corporation with no franchise tax return for two years.
- A long-abandoned dissolution. A company that filed for dissolution or withdrawal more than five years ago and never obtained its tax clearances also drops out.
- A trade name conflict is still a conflict. None of the six escapes is about trade names, so a live registered trade name has to be dealt with on its own terms.
These are grounds the Secretary of State applies, not a self-service override, so the practical step is to gather the record you are relying on and raise it with the Commercial Division rather than filing and hoping.
If the search comes back clear, you can start your Louisiana LLC with that name. The articles of organization are $100 on Form 365 today, and there is a date on that number: Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session raises it to $125 on October 1, 2026, along with the annual report from $30 to $35 and the trade name registration from $75 to $95. The $25 reservation is untouched by the act.
Official Louisiana sources
- CORA Commercial Division search: entities, trade names and state trademarks in one register
- La. R.S. 12:1306: the designator, the comparison set, the six exceptions and the regulated words
- La. R.S. 12:1307: the nonrenewable 120-day reservation, its transfer and its termination
- La. R.S. 49:222: the $25 reservation, the $100 articles of organization and the $75 trade name registration
- Secretary of State forms and fee schedule: Form 398 for the reservation and Form 365 for the articles
- GeauxBiz: the online filing portal, mandatory in fourteen parishes
Frequently asked questions
How do I check business name availability in Louisiana?
Search the Secretary of State's Commercial Division records at the CORA business search. Leave the Search Type on "Search by Entity Name," type the distinctive words of your name into the Entity Name field and press Search. The results mix companies, trade names and trademarks in one list, and the page states that active records are shown in bold. What you find is preliminary; the Secretary of State decides the name when the articles of organization are examined.
Does a registered trade name block my Louisiana LLC name?
Yes. La. R.S. 12:1306(A)(3) names trade names registered with the Secretary of State in the same list as corporations, partnerships and LLCs, so a live trade name is a conflicting record. This is why the search returns trade names and service marks alongside companies. Louisiana runs its DBA system entirely at the state level, so there is no parish index to check separately.
How much does it cost to reserve a business name in Louisiana?
The reservation is $25 on Form 398 under La. R.S. 49:222(B)(1)(a) and holds the name for 120 days. The hold cannot be renewed. It can be transferred to someone else by a signed notice, and it can be terminated early by the person holding it, each also $25.
Can I use "d/b/a" in a Louisiana LLC name?
No. La. R.S. 12:1306(A)(2) bars the phrase "doing business as" and the abbreviation "d/b/a" from the entity name itself. Louisiana keeps the two records separate: the LLC has a legal name, and any trading name is a trade name registered on its own filing.
What happens to my Louisiana filing fees after October 1, 2026?
Act 921 of the 2026 Regular Session raises Commercial Division fees on that date. Articles of organization go from $100 to $125 and the annual report from $30 to $35. The $25 name reservation is not changed by the act, and the trade name registration goes from $75 to $95. Check the Secretary of State's fee schedule before you pay.