Can I reserve a business name in Illinois before I file?

Yes. The Illinois Secretary of State charges $25 to reserve a name for 90 days. A reserved name shows as taken to everyone else's search.

How much does it cost to register a business name in Illinois?

The name itself is free to search. Filing the entity is what costs money: $150 for an LLC and $150 for a corporation, then annual report, $75 (llc) / $75 + franchise tax (corp), due before the first day of the anniversary month.

Are there words I can't use in an Illinois business name?

Words that imply a regulated business need consent first. In Illinois that includes Bank, Trust, Insurance, Fidelity and Guaranty. Names that suggest a government agency are refused outright.

How many new businesses start in Illinois each year?

The Census Bureau counted 199,404 business applications in the twelve months to August 2026, +14.5% on the year before. Not every application becomes a registered entity, but each one is a name someone intends to use.

Does an Illinois registration protect my name in other states?

No. It protects the name inside Illinois's registry only. Nationwide protection comes from a federal trademark, which is why the checker runs the USPTO search alongside the Illinois lookup.

What does an Illinois LLC name have to end with?

One of the state's accepted designators — LLC, L.L.C. and Limited Liability Company. The checker searches the name with and without the suffix, because the suffix alone never makes a name distinguishable.

Illinois Secretary of State business search — LLC name check, trademark & domain lookup

Illinois cut its LLC fee from $500 to $150 a few years ago, which set off a wave of new filings and a much more crowded name registry in Chicago's industries. The state search is also one of the harder ones to automate — which is why a manual check on the Secretary of State's site is still worth doing for any name you're serious about.

Run the Illinois check — One search covers the Illinois registry, federal trademarks and the domain. Free, no signup.

Check this name →

How to check a business name in Illinois

Start with the registry. Search the Illinois registry for the exact name; it's the check that decides whether you can file at all.
Then the two checks the state doesn't do. A federal trademark reaches across state lines, and the .com decides whether customers find you — both run here automatically.
Lock it in. Illinois will hold it for 90 days for $25. The system of record is the Illinois Secretary of State; confirm there before paying a filing fee.

Illinois naming rules: what the Illinois Secretary of State will and won't accept

Every Illinois filing is screened for a single thing before anything else: the name must be distinguishable upon the records of the Secretary of State. In practice that means a name that differs from an existing one only by punctuation, spacing, capitalization or the entity suffix will be refused. An LLC name must end in LLC, L.L.C. and Limited Liability Company; a corporation uses Corporation, Corp., Incorporated and Inc., among others.

Certain words trigger a review. In Illinois that list includes Bank, Trust, Insurance, Fidelity, Guaranty, Engineer and Cooperative — using one implies a regulated activity and the filing will be held until the relevant regulator consents.

On cost: forming an LLC costs $150, a corporation $150 and a name reservation is $25 and holds the name for 90 days. Online llc filings ~10 business days; 24-hour expedited for $100.

Keeping it: Annual report, $75 (LLC) / $75 + franchise tax (corp), due before the first day of the anniversary month. Skip it and the state eventually dissolves the entity, releasing the name back into the pool.

Per the Illinois Secretary of State, (217) 782-6961 — official website (fee schedule). Fees change; confirm before filing.

How busy is Illinois right now?

In the year to August 2026, Illinois recorded 199,404 new business applications — +14.5% on the year before, the 6th-highest total of any state and 15.7 per 1,000 residents (ranked 28th per person). October was the busiest month with 20,578 applications, and Illinois accounts for 3.2% of all U.S. filings.

Each application is a competitor for the same short, natural-sounding names, so the more active the state, the less a week-old search result is worth.

Where America starts businesses — all 50 states ranked →

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Formation Statistics (monthly, not seasonally adjusted). 2019 comparison: 117,302 applications in calendar 2019.

What people are checking in Illinois

24 Illinois names were checked on this site in the past 90 days, and 91% of them came back clear at the state level. The words that came up most: Care, Home, Hsy, Holly and Cooksey. (Aggregate figures only — we don't publish individual searches.)

How Illinois decides whether a name is taken

Three things the Illinois Secretary of State looks at, and one it doesn't:

Status. Only entities in an active status hold their names. Dissolved, revoked and withdrawn registrations release the name — with the caveat that a very recent lapse can still be reinstated, which our result notes when it applies.
Distinguishability. Your name must differ from every active Illinois name by more than punctuation, spacing, capitalisation or the entity designator. Two names that read the same aloud are usually treated as the same name.
Designator. The recorded name of an LLC ends in an LLC designator and a corporation's in Inc., Corp. or an accepted equivalent; leave it off and the filing is returned.
Not trademarks. The registry never checks the USPTO. A name can be free in Illinois and still infringe a federal mark, so run both — the checker on this page does.

Naming rules, fees and reservation windows come from Illinois statute and change; treat the Illinois Secretary of State's current guidance as final before you file. This is a practical guide, not legal advice.

About the Illinois Secretary of State

The Illinois Secretary of State maintains Illinois's registry of corporations, LLCs, and other registered entities — it is the system of record for Illinois business names. Useful official resources:

Official Illinois business entity search — the state's own lookup.
Illinois Secretary of State — official website — filings, forms, fees, and contact details.

Before you file in Illinois: a two-minute double check

Run the name through the checker above — registry, USPTO and domain in one pass.
Repeat the search on the official Illinois lookup, spelling the name exactly as it will be filed, with the designator.
For every match returned, note the status. Active blocks; dissolved or revoked usually doesn't; a recent lapse deserves a second look.
Compare spellings, not just exact hits — Illinois treats near-identical names as the same name.
Clear on both? Reserve or file straight away. Names are first-come, first-served.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reserve a business name in Illinois before I file?: Yes. The Illinois Secretary of State charges $25 to reserve a name for 90 days. A reserved name shows as taken to everyone else's search.
How much does it cost to register a business name in Illinois?: The name itself is free to search. Filing the entity is what costs money: $150 for an LLC and $150 for a corporation, then annual report, $75 (llc) / $75 + franchise tax (corp), due before the first day of the anniversary month.
Are there words I can't use in an Illinois business name?: Words that imply a regulated business need consent first. In Illinois that includes Bank, Trust, Insurance, Fidelity and Guaranty. Names that suggest a government agency are refused outright.
How many new businesses start in Illinois each year?: The Census Bureau counted 199,404 business applications in the twelve months to August 2026, +14.5% on the year before. Not every application becomes a registered entity, but each one is a name someone intends to use.
Does an Illinois registration protect my name in other states?: No. It protects the name inside Illinois's registry only. Nationwide protection comes from a federal trademark, which is why the checker runs the USPTO search alongside the Illinois lookup.
What does an Illinois LLC name have to end with?: One of the state's accepted designators — LLC, L.L.C. and Limited Liability Company. The checker searches the name with and without the suffix, because the suffix alone never makes a name distinguishable.

Still choosing a name? Try the Illinois business name generator — every idea checked against the same registry.

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