Preflight a business name
Check the things a machine can actually verify — live registry data, not guesses — and see plainly what still needs a human. Nothing here will tell you a name is safe, because nothing honestly can.
verified — checked, with evidence attention — worth investigating judgment — cannot be automated unknown — nothing inferred
Three states, and the third is the point
Naming tools want every answer to be green or red, because a verdict feels like a product. That forces a judgement where none is available, and the place it happens is precisely where the money is. So this one reports three things instead of two.
Verified means a machine determined it and can show you the evidence: an RDAP response from the authoritative registry, or a rule applied to the characters you typed. Attention means something real that you should look into before committing. Judgment means the question cannot responsibly be automated by anyone — not by us, and not by the tool that gave you a green tick for it.
There is a fourth, and it is the one most tools quietly discard. Unknown means a registry did not answer clearly and nothing has been inferred from that. A checker that turns silence into “available” is guessing in the single direction that costs you a rebrand, so this one leaves it as what it is.
A tool that searched trademark registers for your exact string and reported “no conflict found” would be worse than no tool at all. Trademark conflicts turn on whether an average consumer would be confused between two marks used on similar goods or services. That takes in near-identical spellings, names that sound alike, translations, and marks that are not registered anywhere but have been used in trade for years.
An exact-match search misses all of it, and hands you a clean bill of health you would be entitled to rely on. So this site does not issue one. It opens the right search on the right register and explains how to read what comes back. The long version.
Then do them in the right order
Most people check the domain first, fall in love with whatever is free, and discover the expensive problem after the logo is drawn. Trademarks first, company name second, domains third, handles last — the reasoning, and what each step actually involves, is on the checklist.
Questions
The checker says a domain is unregistered. Can I buy it?
Probably, but not certainly. Unregistered in the registry means no record exists today. It does not mean a registrar will sell it to you at the standard price: some strings are held back by the registry as premium or reserved, some TLDs require you to qualify, and a domain released from a previous registration can be in a redemption window where only the former holder can act. Check with a registrar before you commit to the name.
A domain is registered but the site is blank. Is it really taken?
Yes, in the only sense that matters to you today. A large share of registered domains are parked, defensive registrations, or simply forgotten. Some are for sale and some are not, and finding out means approaching the holder. What you cannot do is use the domain because nothing appears to be there.
Why does this check ten TLDs and not a hundred?
Because a hundred results is noise. The set here covers the endings people actually type and the ones that carry conditions worth knowing about. If you have a specific ccTLD in mind, the local presence page is the one to read first — for several of them the question is not whether the string is free but whether you are allowed to hold it.
Do you store the names I check?
No. The lookup service receives the reduced label, queries the registries, returns the answer and keeps a cached copy of the registry result for a few hours so repeated checks do not hammer the registries. It does not record who asked. Your last search stays in your own browser so you are not retyping it, and you can decline even that.
Start here
- Why an exact-match search misses what mattersThe single most expensive misunderstanding in naming
- What a domain lookup actually tells youRegistered, available, parked, reserved — four different things
- The pre-commit checklistEverything to settle before the name goes on anything expensive
- Brainstorming names that clearA naming process that runs the cheap checks before anyone gets attached
- Company name rules in ten jurisdictionsWhat each registry treats as “the same” name, compared
- GlossaryThe vocabulary of registries, registers and disputes, defined
Checks and reference pages reviewed 2026-09-27. Information about naming, domains and trade marks, offered for general guidance. Not legal advice.