Telephone Numbers
Telephone Numbers
Things to Consider When Choosing a Company Name in Estonia
For detailed information +90 542 381 3868 'Call.
"What's in a name?" pondered Shakespeare's Juliet. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."
It's hard to argue with that in principle, but Shakespeare was not an Estonian e-Resident running a location-independent business in a global economy.
And like it or not, the word 'rose' already carries certain qualities, such as appearance, scent, and mood. These qualities create feelings and expectations within us when we hear the word - we create mental images based on our shared understandings.
We all know a rose is beautiful, colorful, and smells nice. If you called it a compost dump instead, the associations in your mind would be different. You probably wouldn't smell it so closely… Why risk it?
Therefore, when it comes to your business, naming really matters.
First, you need to be found in the first place - and if someone is looking for flowers and bouquets, they are looking in gardens, not in dumps. The biggest difference from Shakespeare's time today is, of course, that this also applies to automated online searches.
Then you need to be chosen - because whether you are looking at a list of flowers or a list of freelancers, at some point there will always be an element of choice.
This means you need to stand out on that page of search results, or in a trade directory, or a social media feed. About 5 and a half million new businesses are opened every year. And many will be competing with you.
You need to make sure your roses smell sweeter than anyone else's to your perfect customer! That's why getting the right name is important.
Many startup companies spend a large portion of their funds on expensive branding agency support at this point, but sometimes they come up with names that seem safe and boring, or nonsensically weird... So, there is a lot to be said for thinking creatively as a solo entrepreneur. And choosing a name for yourself that reflects your true ambition and vision.
Choosing a name for your new business is one of the earliest decisions you will make, and one of the most important. Here is a series of steps to help you do it right. You will need to complete them all in the end, but the order may vary and may involve circling around a few times.
Although you can change your business identity and brand later (see below), this always has costs. Therefore, whatever your plans are for your business, you ideally want to choose a long-term name - a name that can grow with you, if that's your plan.
When you start a business, compared to freelancing, you create a new legal entity, and at this point, you might decide to show this in the name as well - by choosing something that is not personally connected to you in any way, who you are, or the size/stage of your business.
This is great if you plan to grow and hire in the future to collaborate with other freelancers to fulfill certain contracts or to employ staff in Estonia or elsewhere. A different company name can be chosen that includes the right search keywords and suggests appropriate values to help you market your product or service right from the door.
If you want to sell your business, it is better not to have it personally connected to you by name. Alternatively, you may be known as an expert in a subject and never consider scaling up. Your existing reputation is a significant part of your brand value, and you are setting up a limited company (like an e-resident business in Estonia) for legal or practical reasons.
In this case, it makes sense to lean into your identity and personal brand and go with something like "Jane Smith Consulting" - but keep in mind that it can be more difficult to claim the relevant domain names and social media usernames unless your name is quite unusual. (If you are really named Jane Smith, you may need to add an adjective or otherwise change things up a bit.)
The most important thing to consider in this choice is how you will describe or present your business to others - are you a consultant, or are you running a consulting business? A subtle difference, but an important one.
Even if you feel you have already committed to that brilliant brand name that came to you in a dream, it is really important to stop and think, to consider other options. The first idea is not always the best, and you want to try not to get too attached to what you first thought of. You will refine it later. In this generative stage, there are no bad ideas - follow word associations, capture everything, no matter how random.
Here are some sources of inspiration:
Try combining them in different or unexpected ways, while avoiding boxing yourself into a corner that might be misleading. You can do this in a document or a whiteboard application. Or unleash your inner preschooler and print your words to cut out and rearrange paper pieces. This can help you see the possibilities in a new way.
To use my personal example, I knew my e-Resident business in Estonia would work creatively with brands and publications in the emerging technology industry, which includes many blockchain startups as well as other futuristic niches. So, I wanted to convey this connection - but also embrace generating new ideas and innovation.
At this stage, while narrowing down the possibilities and playing with your list, try to come up with a few options, just in case.
Now is a good time to involve others, including friends, family, former colleagues, potential business partners, and - most importantly - potential customers. What do they read into a possible business name that you might have overlooked?
As a digital nomad, international freelancer, or solo entrepreneur with a location-independent business, some of the questions you should particularly explore are:
Remember that the final decision is entirely yours. No one understands your business as well as you do, so while encouraging suggestions and ideas from others, make them understand that your final choice will be made alone!
Although your business is location-independent, it still needs to be legally registered somewhere, so you need to check if your preferred company names are available there.
Many digital nomads choose to register a limited company in Estonia because it is the world's most advanced digital society and provides e-Residency to anyone who wants to manage their business within the European Union - wherever they are in the world.
As part of Estonia's digital-first business transparency environment, it is very easy to check the availability of the name on our website as part of the registration process.
You will see instantly if the name is suitable for registration as a limited company, along with advice on Estonian companies or EU trademarks that might be similar.
Remember that the name of a company must be different from other business names entered in the records. The name should be written in the Latin alphabet, avoiding special characters and symbols if possible.
It is likely that your preferred company names will have a few similarities with existing companies. It is useful to know this as you will want to avoid any confusion for marketing and legal reasons, but this should not usually prevent you from choosing a name you love. Obviously, it is important that you do not appear to be trying to pretend to be the other company or to present yourself as related to them; otherwise, their lawyers may have an opinion on the matter…
You will need a domain to create a unique name online, and it is hard to imagine a business without even a basic website for contact information. Depending on the role of this site in your business plans, it may also be necessary so that you can be found and have confidence in your service (e.g., an e-commerce site where customers buy directly needs to be reassuring and clearly defined).
Pay attention to location-specific domains as they can add specific connotations — .eu is managed by the European Registry for Internet Domains (EURid), which ensures that all .eu domains are registered by residents of the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway. If your business is an e-Resident in Estonia, you can have this assurance and brand value wherever you are in the world.
However, some already have a different meaning, such as Colombia's .co domain, which Google now accepts as linked to businesses anywhere in the world, and .io, which is widely used by technology companies and startups and has nothing to do with the British Indian Ocean Territory!
Although I was sure that BlockSparks was completely original, the .com was NOT originally available to me! Someone liked the sound of it years ago and squatted on it. I bought everything else and was happy with a .io domain, and was later able to purchase and redirect the .com upon renewal, and now I only use it for mail! Domain farming was once a lucrative business for some, but they faced legal trouble in this area if opportunistic entrepreneurs bought existing trademarks and well-known brand names.
Ideally, you also want to have consistency between your social media accounts and related services, so an easy way to check availability is to use namecheckr — enter your preferred brand name into Namecheckr and see what is on offer. While Namecheckr does not offer other TLDs besides .com, which will be taken 99% of the time, it is great for social media as well.
Therefore, if you see that all your social accounts are available, it is worth checking your domain on a service like Whois, or going directly to a domain registrar to see the variations they have, especially if you are ready to buy.
You may find that Namecheckr is not a panacea, it has some obvious omissions - no Instagram? TikTok? Alternatives include Namechk, Claimbrand, and KnowEm UserName Check (which probably still looks like MySpace exists, but seems to work pretty well.)
Get Information on Becoming an E-Resident and Opening a Company in Estonia
Once the name of your business is decided and registered, you can leave this decision behind you - unless, of course, you later want to CHANGE the name of your business.
There can be several reasons for any business to change its name.
However, unless you have a reason like one of these examples, especially if you are essentially conducting the same professional business activity, think long and hard before changing your name.
If it is more of a sideways nudge than a major pivot you have in mind, then maybe a new social media account, or even a new website for a trial project is the way to go - and you can still state that you are 'trading as XXXX OÜ', so you don't lose the brand value and goodwill of your old business.
Still want to change the name of your business? No need to worry, World Company Setup is here for you! And as with most things in Estonia, it is both simple and 100% digital. As always, you do it all with your e-Residency digital ID card, directly in the business register.
Obviously, this is not a typical service because most customers never need it, so for World Company Setup, this is an additional fee from our menu of extra services. There is a fixed fee of €49 plus the state fee (€25 for a solopreneur OÜ) for World Company Setup to manage your company name change.
If you prefer to do it yourself instead, then it is certainly possible…
Go to https://rik.ee, log in to the Estonian company portal, click on the current name of your Estonian company, and start the petition for change.
You will need to have made all the above decisions about what to call yourself, as the first thing you will do is go to the 'business name' tab and select the new name you want to use. The system will at this point automatically check for matching trademarks and names, just as it did when you first registered.
Assuming everything is fine with your new business name, you can edit your articles of association directly in the Commercial Register, you no longer need to download and edit it offline.
Of course, if you have more than one shareholder, this can be more complicated, especially if the majority share is not an e-resident, but everything can be done and there are template wordings (e.g. for shareholder resolutions) to make things easier.
All shareholders will need to digitally sign the name change resolution, and the dates of the two documents (the amended articles and the resolution to make the changes) must match.
The processing times for the Estonian commercial register are usually up to 5 business days, after which you are free to trade and operate under your new business name.
+90 542 381 3868
+971 58 5204103