When you incorporate a company in Canada you will be required to provide a Nuans name search report or similar name search report for the province or territory you wish to register in. Some provinces and/or territories will require you to provide a Nuans name search report or a similar name search report when you register a business name, sole proprietorship or partnership as well. A Nuans name search report or similar name search report will list usually in five pages all of the names that are similar to the name you wish to register. The government scrutinizes this report prior to allowing your registration to be accepted.

Some provinces and/or territories, such as Alberta and Ontario, do not require a name search when registering a business name, sole proprietorship or partnership and you are allowed to register any name even if someone else has come along and registered the name first. However, if you are incorporating you will always be required to provide some form of name search report no matter what Canadian jurisdiction you are registering in.

The search house that does your name search will do a pre-search for you as part of that service. Name searches can run from $20.00 to $60.00 depending on who is doing the search for you. Depending on the search house's policy you will be allowed so many choices of names to search. Some search houses will allow you unlimited preliminary name searches until you find the right name as long as you order the full name search you need through their service. You need to shop around for this. Other search houses will only provide you with a certain number of preliminary name searches. This is because there is a cost to the search house for each search they do whether it is a preliminary name search or a full Nuans name search report. You must be careful to be very descriptive with your name otherwise if there is a limit on the number of pre-searches that will be done, you may have to pay more for further searches.

The preliminary name search simply helps to ensure that the name you picked has not been taken by another person, partnership or company prior to your ordering a full name search to be used upon registration.
You may be wondering why you have to do a preliminary name search in addition to ordering a name search or Nuans name search report. The name search report costs money and you want to make sure that the report you purchase is going to be accepted. Search houses are trained to know how to pre-clear a name BEFORE ordering the full search to give you a better chance of having your name cleared by the government once the registration is submitted. You do not want to have the search house just order the name search and find out after you have paid money that you cannot use the report because there are conflicting names showing up on it.

There is no guarantee that a name search is going to be accepted by a government, even if a search house does the search, because the different jurisdictions in Canada have different rules. Some jurisdictions such as the eastern provinces, the Yukon and the federal government will even reject a proposed name based on another name already registered that sounds like the name you wish. You therefore need to have an experienced search house do a preliminary name search for you to cut down the odds of your name being rejected. If you have chosen a service that provides for unlimited preliminary name searches with the purchase of a name search report then you will save money in the long run.

In cases where you are not required to provide a name search for a business name, sole proprietorship or partnership, you still need to clear the name. It would be foolish to go ahead and register a name that is the same or similar to another name since this would end up being competition for you. Further if that business finds out that you have registered the name and they are highly placed in the marketplace they could take you to court to force you to change your name. The onus is on you to ensure your name is clear. Do not think that you can just go into the phone book or search over the internet to see if anyone is using the name. That will not provide you with an accurate listing. Your name should be checked by a professional since they know how to search the Nuans name database in Canada and will obtain more accurate results.

In cases where you do not need a full name search, you can still check the name by ordering a name search, however, some search houses will offer for a nominal price a preliminary name search and will clear your name in advance of registration. This services is great for when you are registering in a province or territory, such as Alberta and Ontario, where a full name search is not required.

Preliminary searches have their limitations. The search provides "exact match" results only. This is why an official NUANS report is required in order to register a corporation. Unique names or names that sound the same and are spelled differently only show up on the full name search. However, the preliminary name search weeds out most of the conflicts in advance and gives you a better chance of not wasting your money by having to re-order the search.

As a member of a search house I have found that people frequently mistake a name search for a corporate or business name search. If you are wanting to search a company to see if it is registered or you need information about a company, business name, sole proprietorship or partnership such as the address, its owners, directors, officers or other principals and their addresses you would need to perform a corporate or business name search. A corporate search, or corporate profile search as it is called in Ontario, is what is done to find out information about a company that is already registered. A business name search, trade name, sole proprietorship or partnership name report is what is provided when you wish to find out information about either one of those. Before purchasing any name search report be sure that you are ordering the right search. If you have any concerns about what to order feel free to contact the writer. Everyone calls them something slightly different so check first before sending in your order.