Company name of a company What is it? Name and company name

A company's business name is a concept that generally generates a certain degree of confusion. This is mainly due to the fact that it does not necessarily coincide with its trade name. Here we will explain what it is in detail and what the difference between the two is.

What is the name of a company?

The company name is the official name by which a company is known. In other words, the name of the legal entity that makes it possible to identify it unequivocally. It is the name used for formal legal and administrative formalities and appears in the company's deeds and founding documents.

A company's name or company name is mandatory. In other words, no company can be registered in the Commercial Register as a legal entity without it. Nor can there be two companies with the same company name. This is checked at the time of registration and at the time of granting.

Name or company name?

This is undoubtedly the main source of confusion as the company's trading name does not necessarily have to be the same as its particular company name. In fact, it may have more than one such name, depending on whether it works on the basis of different brands.

A very simple example that I am sure you can understand the difference is this. Imagine a person called Francisco González García. That is the name that appears on his DNI and the name he uses to carry out any formal or official procedure. It would therefore be the equivalent of the company name of any company. On the other hand, his family and friends call him Paco. This nickname would be the equivalent of the company's commercial name.

Now let's extrapolate this example to the business world. Think of Inditex, the most important textile multinational in Spain and one of the most powerful in the world. Its company name is Inditex SA. However, nowhere does it sell fashion garments under that name. It does so through the trade names of its brands (Zara, Stradivarius, Pull & Bear, etc.).

Something that can also help you differentiate the company name from the trade name of the company is the presence or absence of a suffix. By this we mean that the company name of a legal entity will always have one of the following labels at the end in order to identify the type of company it is:

• SL. Limited Company.
• SA. Public Limited Company.
• SLNE. Sociedad Limitada Nueva Empresa.
• SAL. Public Limited Company.
• SLL. Labour Limited Company.
• SCoop: Cooperative Society.
• SCom: Sociedad Comanditaria Simple.
• SC. General Partnership.

As has become clear, the name of a company does not necessarily have to coincide with its corporate name. In fact, in the event of having to carry out any formal procedure, it is essential to know what its legal name is for legal purposes. We hope we have been of help in resolving your doubts in this regard.