Open your state’s website for filing steps and forms.
Florida LLC Name Availability
Florida’s Sunbiz search opens an alphabetical list at the names nearest yours, whether or not yours is on file. The Division of Corporations publishes a chart for three of the status labels in that list.
Check a business name.
We use a third-party name-check service for this preliminary check. It does not search the official state website directly.
Checking your name.
Checking name availability in your selected state.
Your result
Final name approval is made by the state.
About this check
Search the wording Florida compares
Suppose Business Enterprises, Inc. is already on file. Is Business Enterprises, LLC a different name? In Florida it is not.
Under § 605.0112(1)(b), an LLC name must be distinguishable in the records of the Florida Department of State, and five kinds of difference do not make it so. The Department’s Division of Corporations, which runs Sunbiz, gives examples in its FAQs:
- A suffix: Business Enterprises, Inc. and Business Enterprises, LLC.
- An article: The Kitchen, Ltd., Kitchen, Inc. and A Kitchen, LLC.
- The word “and” or the symbol “&”: Cheese and Crackers, LLC and Cheese & Crackers, Inc.
- A singular, plural or possessive form: Tallahassee Sport, Inc., Tallahassee Sports, LLC and Tallahassee’s Sports, LP.
- Punctuation or a symbol: Cookies ’n Cupcakes, Inc., Cookies-n-Cupcakes, Inc. and Cookies n Cupcakes! Inc.
Florida treats the names in each line as one name. Because a suffix does not count, the Division tells searchers to leave it out when checking availability.
Every entity and filing in those records is part of the comparison, so a corporation or limited partnership that shares your wording counts as much as an LLC.
Three kinds of filing are excepted: fictitious name registrations, general partnership registrations and limited liability partnership statements. Sunbiz lists those under separate searches. That exception applies to the § 605.0112(1)(b) comparison only; it does not address trademark or other rights in a name.
Section 605.0112(1)(b) also lets an LLC register a name that is not distinguishable from another entity’s if that entity consents in writing and the consent is filed with the registration. The two names still may not be identical.
When you file, the suffix goes back on, because § 605.0112(1)(a) requires the name to contain limited liability company, L.L.C. or LLC. A name also may not state or imply a purpose other than one authorized by chapter 605 and the company’s articles of organization. Nor may it state or imply a connection with a state or federal government agency, or with an entity chartered under United States law.
Find where your name would sit in the Sunbiz list
Before filing, the Division’s LLC filing page tells filers to search its records to determine whether a name is distinguishable and available. Search by Name is the page for that. On October 9, 2026 it had a single Entity Name field that accepted up to 45 characters and no filter for entity type or status.
What comes back is described in the Corporation Records Search Guide. Records are indexed in alphabetical order, and the filings closest to your entry are listed first. A partial name is enough; the guide’s example is Little Red Sch for Little Red School House, Inc.
A name that is not on file still gets a list. On October 9, a search for the made-up name Coquina Ledger opened at THE COQUINA LINE LLC and ran on through other Coquina names.
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Because the closest filings come first, a name matching your entry would lead the list.
Corporations, LLCs, a limited partnership and condominium associations share that one list, with no column for entity type. All of them are part of Florida’s comparison. To see a record’s legal form, open its page.
Names that sort before your entry are not in this first view. On October 9 it offered only Next List, and Previous List appeared after moving one page forward. Alphabetical order puts Tallahassee Sport ahead of Tallahassee Sports, so enter the shorter form and the longer ones follow it.
The list can show a hold the record page leaves out
The Division’s FAQs tie availability to the Status column and give a chart for three of its labels:
- ACTIVE or ACT: not available.
- INACTIVE/UA, printed in the list as INACT/UA: not available.
- INACTIVE or INACT: available for use.
INACT/UA is a hold. After an administrative dissolution or revocation the name is held for one year from that date, and after a voluntary dissolution for 120 days. When the period ends, the Division says the name is available for use by another party.
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Other labels appear in the same column. The Division’s status terms define NAME HS as a previous name of an entity; in the capture, document number L22000525050 is listed twice, once as NAME HS. Cross Ref is an entity’s name in its home state, and two more inactive labels mark a merger and a conversion.
The chart has no line for NAME HS or Cross Ref, so it does not say whether a name listed only under one of them is available. That is a question for the Division, whose contact page has a section for LLC inquiries.
Two spellings appear in the list, INACT and InActive. The chart has one line, INACTIVE or INACT, and the status terms do not explain the difference.
A record’s own page can hide the hold. On October 9, PICKLEBALL4OTHERS LLC was INACT/UA in the list above, while its record page showed Status INACTIVE.
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INACTIVE on that page does not mean the chart’s available line applies. Neither of the two INACT/UA records opened that day showed the /UA marker on its own page. What the page does give you is the event behind the hold: Last Event, ADMIN DISSOLUTION FOR ANNUAL REPORT, and Event Date Filed, 09/25/2026.
Take the hold from the list. The record gives the event and the date the holding period runs from.
Nothing in the list holds a name for you until you reserve it or file.
Reserve by signed letter, for one 120-day period
Section 605.01125 lets a person reserve the exclusive use of an LLC name. The application states the applicant’s name and address and the name to be reserved. If the Department finds the name available, it reserves it for 120 days, and the statute makes that period nonrenewable.
According to the Division’s FAQs, the application is a letter executed by the applicant. On October 9, 2026 the LLC fee schedule listed Name Reservation at $25.00, and the LLC forms page listed no reservation form.
The FAQ answer gives no mailing address; the Division’s contact page lists its mail and courier addresses. Because the period cannot be renewed, send the letter when you are close to filing.
A reservation can change hands. The holder delivers to the Department a signed notice that states the new holder’s name and address.
Filing the name later does not settle who owns it. Under § 605.0112(5), an LLC’s name is filed for public notice only, and filing alone creates no presumption of ownership beyond the common law.
Official Florida references
- Sunbiz Search by Name: form, list and record pages observed and captured October 9, 2026.
- Corporation Records Search Guide and Explanation of Status Terms: alphabetical indexing, list navigation and status definitions.
- Division of Corporations FAQs: non-distinguishing differences, status chart, holding periods and reservation letter.
- Fla. Stat. § 605.0112: name form, comparison scope, consent and public-notice limit.
- Fla. Stat. § 605.01125 and the LLC fee schedule: reservation period, transfer and fee.
- Florida LLC filing page, LLC forms page and contact page: name-search instruction, listed forms and Division addresses. All sources checked October 9, 2026.