Live Companies House data · 5.6m+ UK records

Brainstorm a company name you can actually register.

Describe what you do, and our AI generates ten distinctive UK company names — each one checked live against Companies House using the official Schedule 3 "same as" rules. Pick a winner you know is free to grab.

No credit card required
Free forever for solo founders
GDPR compliant
companynamecheck.uk/dashboard
northwind coffee
Northwind Coffee Ltd
14552981
Active
Northwind Coffee Roasters Ltd
08821044
Dissolved
Northwind Coffee House Ltd
11220039
Active
AI suggestions you could register today
Northwind RoastworksBorough Bean Co.Compass Coffee LabsMeridian Brew
5.6M+
UK companies checked against
< 800ms
Average search time
100%
Schedule 3 rule coverage
0
Cost to get started
The problem

Naming a company is two problems, not one.

You have to come up with a name that fits your business — and then verify nobody else has grabbed it under Companies House "same as" rules. Most tools only help with one. We do both, in the same flow.

The blank-page problem

Coming up with a name you actually like is hard. Every shortlist starts strong and ends with you doodling synonyms of "venture" in a notebook at midnight.

Every name you love is already taken

You finally pick one — and ten minutes later you discover a near-duplicate on the register. Back to the doodling. Companies House's own checker won't suggest anything new.

Checking a shortlist one-by-one is painful

The official tool is yes-or-no for a single name at a time. You paste, wait, paste the next, wait. Twenty candidates becomes an hour of clicking.

What you get

Brainstorm and verify, in one flow.

Generate ideas, shortlist your favourites, and find out which ones you can actually grab — without leaving the page.

Schedule 3 rules, faithfully implemented

Accent folding, & ↔ and, numeral ↔ word equivalents, disregarded suffixes, plural collapsing, the 60-character cap — all the same rules Companies House applies, end to end.

Live Companies House data

We hit the official Advanced Search and Basic Search APIs in real time, including dissolved, in-liquidation, in-administration and removed companies that the public search hides.

AI name brainstormer

Describe your business in plain English. Gemini-powered suggestions are tuned to avoid the disregarded fillers that weaken distinctiveness — and we batch-check availability for you.

Built for speed

Sub-second searches, parallel multi-name checks, and one-click links straight to the official Companies House record for every match.

Honest verdicts

Big green YES when the name is yours to take. Big red NO when it's blocked. Amber "you may still be able to register this" for dissolved-name edge cases. No jargon.

One click to register

When the name's free, we link you straight through to the Companies House registration flow with the name in hand. No re-typing, no re-searching.

How it works

Three steps, under a minute.

01

Type a name or describe your business

Search a specific name you have in mind, or describe what you do and let our AI generate ten distinctive candidates.

02

We check it against every UK company on the register

Live Companies House data, deduplicated across the basic and advanced search endpoints, normalised with the official Schedule 3 same-as ruleset.

03

You get a clear verdict — and a path forward

Green: register it. Red: see exactly which companies block it, plus AI alternatives that are actually free. Amber: dissolved match — may still be claimable.

Comparison

Why not just use the official tool?

You should — for the final pre-incorporation check. But the official tool isn't built for the messy, exploratory part of naming a company. That's where we come in.

Capability
CompanyNameCheck
Official checker
Searches the live Companies House register
Applies official Schedule 3 "same as" rules
Surfaces dissolved-name clashes
Sometimes
Bulk-checks a shortlist in one click
AI brainstorms registrable alternatives
Plain-English verdict (not a registry page)
Links straight to registration when free
Manual
Free for solo founders
See it in action

Type a name. Get an answer. Move on with your day.

No account needed to try it. Bring a name, get a verdict in under a second, and link straight to Companies House if the name is yours.

FAQ

Questions, answered.

How does Companies House decide if two company names are the "same as"?

Schedule 3 of The Company, Limited Liability Partnership and Business (Names and Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2015 lists the disregarded words (Limited, Ltd, Company, UK, Great Britain, etc.), character equivalents (& = and, + = plus, 4 = four/for, etc.) and punctuation/spacing rules that two names must differ by to be considered distinct. We implement those rules end-to-end so the verdict you see here matches what Companies House would decide.

Is this an official Companies House tool?

No. We are an independent service that uses the public Companies House API to fetch live data, then applies the official "same as" ruleset locally. We always link out to the official Companies House page for each match so you can verify yourself.

What does it cost to check a name?

Searching is free. Create an account to save searches, get AI-generated alternatives, and bulk-check shortlists.

Why did a name come back available here but get rejected by Companies House?

The "same as" rule is one of several name checks Companies House performs. They also reject names containing sensitive words (e.g. "Bank", "Royal"), names that are "too like" an existing name in their reviewer's judgement, and trademark conflicts. We check the algorithmic same-as rule precisely; the subjective "too like" check is not algorithmic and you should always run a final check on the official tool before incorporating.

Does a dissolved company name become available again?

Sometimes — Companies House keeps a name reserved for a period after dissolution. We flag dissolved matches separately with an amber "you may still be able to register this name" hint, but you should confirm with Companies House before incorporating.

Can I check several names at once?

Yes. The "I'm looking for a name" tab lets you describe your business in plain English, get 10 AI-generated name ideas, tick the ones you like, and bulk-check their availability in one go.

How fresh is the company data?

Every search hits the live Companies House Advanced Search and Basic Search APIs in real time, so you see exactly the same dataset the official register would show you — including active, dissolved, in-liquidation, in-administration, and removed companies.

Your next company name is one prompt away.

Sign up for free, describe your business, and walk away with a shortlist of distinctive names you know are free to register at Companies House.

No credit card. Cancel any time. Built by founders who picked the wrong name once, so you don't have to.