What's in a Name?

author: Dustin Wetton

This has been another good week for Laurus Law. Mei and I both attended an MCLE program hosted by the North County Bar Association titled “How to Negotiate Leases.” This lesson focused on how professionals should negotiate their commercial leases during the current real estate market conditions. It was a very interesting seminar and something that I think Mei and I can definitely use in the future. Later that day, I went to a Symantec seminar for businesses at Dave and Busters. It was my first seminar/event at Dave and Busters. I was surprised by how they were able to have a showroom that clouded all the noises of the games and the bar. At this conference I was reminded of how much I really don’t know. The IT world has IT people in it for a reason, it really is a learned field. This weekend Mei and I will be out of town to celebrate the country’s birthday. I’ll be up in Lake Arrowhead, CA and Mei will be in London. It will be a great weekend. Happy Birthday America.

Today’s topic for our blog is on names. Why did we choose “Laurus” as our name? Laurus means success, triumph, and victory in Latin. The origins of the word come from the Laurel tree, in which the bay leaves of the tree were used to create the wreathes that used to crown the heads of the victors of the Olympic Games. Thus, we got our logo from that story as well. Our legal name is Laurus Law Group, LLP. But what if we wanted to be called something else? Did you know that depending upon the type of entity you are your business name must sometimes contain certain words?

If you are curious about starting your own business or have often thought about what your business/company would be called if you have one, than this is a great blog for you. There are numerous ways to form your own business. What I mean is that you can be a sole proprietor, a partnership, a limited partnership, a limited liability company, a limited liability partnership, or a corporation. And yes, there are even more options of entities to create, but I am going to keep it simple.

A sole proprietor is the simplest way of owning a business. Normally, if you do this, the name of the company is under the business owners name. If you wish to have it anything either than just your first and last name, you must file a fictitious business name with the county your business operates in. Thus, while you pretty much can be called anything you want, it must not conflict with an already registered name and must be appropriate according to the county. The same is true for partnerships.

If you wish to create a limited partnership, your business must have “L.P.” listed after it or “limited partnership.” Thus, you can be called “Dusty’s Restaurant, LP.” Therefore, if you wish to be an LP you must have the status declared in the name of your business.

The same guidelines apply to a corporation. By incorporating with the secretary of state of the state in which your business operates in, your company name must include “inc.” or “corporation” or “ltd.”

Thus, while you may wish your business to be called just “Bob’s”, you may not be able to if you are formed under a certain entity. Why all the fuss? Actually, it has a lot to do with legal notices and litigation. Because businesses are treated like individuals in the legal world, they can often be sued individually from their owners. Yet, if the owners disappear during litigation, then the business is just a ghosts with no fruits to pay out. In order to show who owns the business and how the business is protected, legislation has been written to requiring the above wording to ensure that everyone knows what type of business entity the company is. Thus, the proper notice is given to the public so that people, and their businesses, can be held accountable.

If you have any questions or comments on the blog, email us at: blog@lauruslaw.com.