Changing Your Company Name
Having registered your business you are not stuck with the name forever. Companies can and do change their name for many reasons, whether due to an error in the company name at time of incorporation, or at a later date as the business evolves and moves in a new direction.
ABC ENGLAND LTD
ABC INTERNATIONAL LTD
Name changes can be completed online with Companies House. This requires the submission of form NM01 to Companies House via their web filing service.
Why do people change their company name?
Errors at the time of incorporation. Unfortunately this is more common than you may think. Even though our website displays the name to be registered on almost all pages during the registration process people occasionally overlook typing errors and submit company names with misspellings in them.
Suitability and rebranding. Over time your business may change direction and the official company name may no longer be suitable or relevant. For example, a company may have started life as ABC SAFETY SIGNS LTD but has since progressed to selling a wide range of safety products and not just signs.
Mergers and restructuring. As companies evolve they can acquire or merge with other companies to become a bigger and stronger business. This may result in a new name being used to represent the 'group' nature or new merged companies names.
Embarrassing Names. The very famous Trotters Independent Trading is an example that abbreviations can create an embarrassing business name. We have seen several companies using initials or acronyms that may offend or make people laugh. In some cases it is deliberate but for others they choose to change their company name.
Sensitive names. Certain words and phrases can only be used if a company can provide sufficient evidence that they are pre-eminent in their particular field. In such a case a company may decide to change the company name to include such a phrase once they are well established.
Trademark infringement or similarity to existing names. When registering a company name you should not deliberately copy another businesses name or brand. Occasionally we see companies registered that include popular brands like SKY, VIRGIN, NIKE etc. This often leads to a legal notice from the company asking for the name to be changed.
Fortunately changing your registered name at Companies House is simple to do and only costs a few pounds. Most name change applications are accepted within just a few hours. A new certificate of name change is then issued. This is very similar to a certificate of incorporation.
Note: The previous company name will be recorded by Companies House. It is not possible to have this erased from the record. A search of Companies House would show that the company has changed its name. If you would prefer that your company does not have any name change history then the only way to achieve this is by registering a second company and dissolving (closing) the first.