Business name checker
See what public sources say about your name before you commit
testname check is a free name check for founders. Enter a name for a company, a product or a brand. The report covers domains, company registers, handles and software registries and ends in a verdict: go, caution or stop. It needs no account. .com, .net, .org, .io, .ai, .app, .dev, .co.uk, .uk and .de are looked up directly at the registries. .co and .eu are only a hint via DNS.
- queries in one run
- 31
- public sources
- 20
Shortlist done, favourite in the deck, only the domain checked
It is late. The shortlist has three names. The deck already carries the favourite. What has been checked: the domain and one handle.
That is a reasonable start. It is not a name check. A free domain does not make a free name. A company register, a trademark or a software registry can hold the same name. The documented cases below show how that goes.
What a name found taken too late costs
Four documented cases, each with its source.
Linko, 2014: the start-up received a cease-and-desist letter from Linko Data Systems, a US company its own name search had missed. That company had filed a trademark in the classes Linko was about to launch in. Finding the new name, Inbot, took over a month. Source: a guest post by Olga Steidl of Inbot on tech.eu, 27 October 2014.
- Mondo to Monzo, 2016 The UK bank Mondo had to change its name after a trademark dispute. Users helped crowdsource the new name. On the day of the reveal, someone at rival Starling Bank had already registered getmonzo.co.uk. Source: TechCrunch, 26 August 2016.
- Muzmatch to Muzz, 2023 Match Group, the company behind Tinder and Match.com, sued Muzmatch over its name. The courts found trade mark infringement and passing off. The Court of Appeal upheld that in April 2023 (Match Group LLC v Muzmatch Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 454). The app now trades as Muzz.
- kik and left-pad, 2016 In March 2016 Kik claimed the npm package name 'kik'. npm gave it to Kik. The author unpublished all 273 of his packages, including left-pad. Builds of many thousands of projects failed for about two and a half hours. Source: npm blog, 23 March 2016.
What one report covers, beyond domains and handles
Who works out the go, caution or stop, and how, is set out on the page on how the check works. It also says what to do after a stop.
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A real report: Brightloom
Report of 29 October 2026, markets EU, UK and US, with software registries. Verdict Stop: 'Brightloom is hard to use as it is.' A UK company with the same name exists, so the name cannot be registered as a UK company.
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Domains row: Caution
3 of 12 endings free, .com taken. brightloom.com was registered on 6 February 2026. .ai was free.
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Company registers
The check searches Companies House with its published rules on 'same as' names and sensitive words. It also searches GLEIF, SEC EDGAR and Wikidata (as 'already known').
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Every finding with its source
Each finding shows its source, the time it was retrieved and a link to the record, so you can click through. What a source does not say clearly is shown as 'open' with a link. It is never guessed.
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Reason and next steps after a stop
The report gives a one-line statement, the reason with its source and recommended next steps. For Brightloom: choose another name if you need a UK company, secure getbrightloom.com or brightloom.ai, and check 10 social platforms yourself.
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Shareable by address
A report can be shared by its address. An example report for the name Fernwyn is open to anyone.
Not a trademark search, not legal advice
Read a go as: public sources show nothing against the name at the time of the check.
Does the check cover trademarks?
No. The check does not search trademarks. The report links to USPTO, TMview and UK IPO so that you can search yourself. Before you file or launch, check trademarks yourself or with a lawyer.
Is this legal advice?
No. It is a review of public sources, not legal advice. The result is not a statement about your rights.
Which handles are checked?
Bluesky and GitHub handles are checked. X, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and other networks appear as links with the name prefilled. You check them yourself, because their terms forbid automated queries.
Where the findings come from
Every verdict rests on public records, not on opinion.
The check searches Companies House (UK), using its published rules on 'same as' names and sensitive words. It also searches GLEIF, SEC EDGAR and Wikidata, the last as 'already known'.
After a stop, the report shows the reason with its source, for example the Companies House finding. Below it, a table per area opens each row to its evidence: source, retrieval time and a link to the record.
Free, no account: type a name, get the report
The check is free, needs no account and sets no cookies. It stays free. A paid report added later would be optional. What happens to a name after you type it in is on the page on how the check works. The same page covers the UK, the US and the EU.
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Type a name
A company, product or brand name. Nothing else is asked.
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Read the report
Names are kept in a cache for 24 hours only. The check's own logs contain neither IP addresses nor names.
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Share it by address
A report has its own address. An example report for Fernwyn is open to anyone.
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No commission behind the links
testname earns nothing from registrars: no affiliate links, no commissions, no partner agreements. The links lead to the registries and registers themselves. Should this change, such links will be labelled.
Check the favourite tonight
Run your name, or open the example report for Fernwyn first and see how a report reads.