Choosing a name for your Limited Company in Montenegro
One of the most thrilling parts when starting your new business is to choose the fitting name.
Your instinctive reaction might be to hit up the search engine of your choice to see if you can find a name check tool.
Unfortunately such a tool is not available in Montenegro. What you should do instead is to write us an e-mail with your desired company name and we will make a call to the Company Register to confirm whether your desired name is still available.
What are the Rules and Regulations for company names?
Montenegro’s Company Act 2020 (65/2020) clearly outline to which you as a company director (or board of directors) need to adhere when choosing a company name.
Before you start coming up with versions of the future name of your business, you should take into consideration the following guidelines.
(1) the name does not pose a threat to coercive regulations and public morality, and does not include offensive wording
(2) avoid registering a company name that is too similar to an already existing company operating in Montenegro, or, which has been operating in Montenegro in the past 10 years
(3) do not attempt to use a name that suggests that your company is linked to any public administration or government entity in Montenegro
(4) it is legally required to include the words “D.O.O.” (Limited Liability Company) at the end of your company name
Tips for choosing a company name
If you are a creative person, you probably have no shortage of ideas for coming up with your future business name.
Which is a great thing.
But keep in mind that your business name will follow you along your business journey for a long time. That is why you need to choose it wisely and carefully make your final decision BEFORE you start registering a domain name for your website, creating business cards and other promotional material.
As I have mentioned above in the naming guidelines, you need to look out for a unique company name that will set you apart from your competitors and avoid confusion. For example if there is already a company called “Sunrise Rentals” in Montenegro, you should not name your company “Sunrise Consulting”.
At worst, the other business with the similar name to yours can accuse you of trademark infringement. At best, your brand will be mistaken for another brand which is rarely a good thing.
Further, do not attempt to choose a name that can easily be misspelled or hard to grasp. Keep in mind that you are operating in a foreign country where not everyone speaks your native language. One particularity in Montenegro is that the letter “C” is not pronounced as “K” as is often the case in English and other foreign languages. Take “Canada” as an example – in Montenegro’s language this would be pronounced something like “Tsanada”.
It also best to check if the name you have come up with has no negative meaning/connotation in Montenegro. How would it feel to operate a business with a name that describes a curse word or stirs very negative emotions due to some historical event?
Imagine what consequences it could have for your business: your suppliers, bankers, lawyers, accountants, public clerks would be prone to making mistakes which would require effort to correct.
Also be aware that your name does not get too lengthy because the corresponding stamp that is still widely used in business does only have limited space to spell out your company name. Generally I would recommend using somewhere between one and three words (or four if you keep it short) for your business name.
Another important aspect nowadays is certainly the web-friendliness of your business name. Ideally you should have a name that can easily correspond to a domain name that is still available. There are ample sites you can go to for a quick domain availability check. One example is GoDaddy.com. This is how it looks like to search for a domain. As you can see, it will also show you variations of the domain name and show different domain registers. You should either pick a .com or .me domain for you Montenegro-based company – .me is the official domain suffix for Montenegro if you have not known yet.
In the end, if you want to acquire new customers, be sure that you are easy to find on search engines such as Google or Bing.
One thing that you maybe should do prior to all other steps is to make a thorough search engine request to see if there are other companies operating under the same or very similar names. If this is the case, you should keep on brainstorming and searching until you hav found something more unique.
Lastly, be sure to pick a name that is appropriate for your expansion plans. For example if you incorporate a business under the name “Kotor Rentals” and want to expand into other regions within Montenegro (or the Balkans, Europe, or Worldwide) you might have a hard time addressing potential customers properly. Or, if your business name is “Carl’s Radio Repair Shop” but you also offer service and repairs for air conditions, you would probably need to change your business name at some point.
If you have trouble coming up with a name yourself, there are options online such as the Turbologo Name Generator.
Just type in some keywords and the industry you are in, and the name generator will spit out name ideas.
Well, in any case, do your research, and then send us your name ideas via e-mail so we can check if they can be used inside Montenegro. However, give it some thought first. Though your company name can be later changed, this incurs additional costs and effort.
Find a balance, do not rush out and take this decision impulsively. But also do not get stuck in analysis paralysis. Creating and choosing a business name for your new company is the first step in your new journey as an entrepreneur, and who knows, maybe in the future this company name will be something you will be known for.