States have prescribed a list of permissible/required prefixes or suffixes and the list of terms that cannot be used in the name of a nonprofit organization.(Corporations)
Statewise naming rules for corporations
| State | Corporate Designators and other naming requirements |
| Alabama | Must use “corporation,” or “incorporated,” or an abbreviation of one of such words. |
| Alaska | Must use any one of the suffixes “corporation”, “company”, “incorporated”, or “limited”, or an abbreviation there of. Negative words: “city”, “borough”, or “village” or otherwise imply that the corporation is a municipality. |
| Arizona | Must use “association”, “bank”, “company”, “corporation”, “limited” or “incorporated” or an abbreviation of one of these words or its equivalent in any language. Negative words: “bank”, “deposit”, “credit union”, “trust” or “trust company” unless it also has a license to operate one. May not use “limited liability company” or “limited company” or the abbreviations “L.L.C.”, “L.C.”, “LLC” or “LC” |
| Arkansas | Must use “Corporation”, “Company”, or “Incorporated”, or an abbreviation. If the name ends with the word “Company” or the abbreviation “Co.” it cannot be immediately preceded by “and” or any symbol for “and” |
| California | No suffixes required |
| Colorado | Does not require the name to have any corporate designators like co, company, inc etc |
| Connecticut | Must contain any one of the following corporate designators -corporation, incorporated, company or the abbreviations corp., inc. or co. |
| Delaware | Must include any one of the following corporate designators – Association, company, corporation, club, foundation, fund, incorporated, institute, society, union, syndicate, limited, Co., Corp., Inc. or limited. |
| District of Columbia | Does not require the name to have any corporate designators like co, company, inc etc |
| Florida | Must add any one of the designators – ‘Corporation’, ‘Incorporated’ or their abbreviation to the chosen name. Must not contain the term ‘company’ or its abbreviation. |
| Georgia | Must include any one of the following corporate designators – corporation, company, incorporation, limited or their abbreviation, Negative Words – Words like insurance, assurance and surety in a name is not allowed unless approved by the Office of Commissioner of Insurance. Words like bank, credit union and trust requires to be approved from the Department of Banking & Finance. Words like college or university required to obtain approval of the Georgia Nonpublic Post secondary Education Commission. |
| Hawaii | Does not require the name to have any corporate designators like co, company, inc etc |
| Idaho | Must contain any one of the designators -incorporated, company, corporation, limited or an abbreviation for these designators. If the designator “company” or its abbreviation is used, it should not be immediately preceded by the word “and” or its symbols or abbreviation. (Names like XYZ & Co are not allowed). Name can be in any language, provided written in English equivalent in the application. |
| Illinois | Name should end with the abbreviation “NFP” if the corporate name in any way tends to indicate a purpose other than those related to nonprofit activities, may or may not end with corporate designators like ‘corporation’, ‘company’, ‘limited’, ‘incorporated’ or their abbreviations |
| Indiana | Must contain any one of the following corporate designators – ‘company’, ‘corporation’, ‘incorporated’, ‘limited’ or their abbreviation viz – ‘co.’, ‘corp’, ‘inc.’, ‘ltd.’, or similar other words or abbreviations from any other language. |
| Iowa | May or may not include a corporate designator like ‘Corp’, ‘Inc’, ‘Co.’. Name need not be in English. If the name is not in English , it should be reproduced using English letters or Arabic or Roman numerals in the Application for Incorporation |
| Kansas | Must include any one of the following Corporate designators – incorporated, association, church, club, college, company, corporation, foundation, funds, institute, limited, society, syndicate, union or an abbreviation such as Co., Corp., Inc, Ltd. Only roman characters or letters allowed in the name. |
| Kentucky | Must be followed by a corporate designators – ‘Corporation’, ‘Incorporated’, ‘Company’, ‘Limited’ or an abbreviation of these words like ‘Corp.’ ‘Inc.’ ‘Ltd’ or ‘Co.’. Additionally if a Nonprofit organization decides to use the word ‘Company’ or ‘Co.” the designator cannot be immediately preceded by ‘and’ or ‘&’. the designator ‘Cooperative’ only of it being instituted as a cooperative and is complying with the requirements for starting a cooperative as defined in the sections 272.020 to 272.050 of the KRS |
| Louisiana | May or may not include any corporate designators like ‘Corp.’, ‘Co.’, ‘Inc.’ etc. cannot use the name of any public property along with any other words like “fund”, “benefit”, ”foundation”, “benevolent”, “endowment” or “philanthropic” Negative terms: bank, banking, bankers, savings, trust, deposit, insurance, mutual, assurance, indemnity, casualty, fiduciary, homestead, ‘building and loan’, surety, security, guarantee, cooperative, state, parish, ‘redevelopment corporation’ ‘electric cooperative’ or ‘credit union’. |
| Maine | Does not need to be suffixed corporate designators like Inc., Corp, Co. etc |
| Maryland | Must contain any one of the following corporate designators – “Incorporated”, “Corporation”, “Limited”, “Inc.”, “Corp.”, or “Ltd.” |
| Massachusetts | Must include any one of the following corporate designators – “corporation,” “incorporated,” “limited,” or their abbreviations “Corp.”, “Inc.” or “Ltd.” |
| Michigan | Not required to use corporate designators like ‘corp.’, ‘Co.’ etc |
| Minnesota | Need not contain words like “corporation,” “incorporated,” “company,” “limited,” or an abbreviation of one of these words |
| Mississippi | Does not require use of corporate designators in the name, the secretary of state prefers that nonprofit organizations use any one of the following corporate designators with its name – ‘Corporation’, ‘Incorporation’, ‘Company’ or ‘Limited’. |
| Missouri | Does not require use of corporate designators like ‘Co.’, ‘Corp.’ , ‘Ltd.’ or any other such terms |
| Montana | Does not require the use of corporate designators like ‘Co.’, ‘Corp.’, ‘Ltd.’ etc |
| Nebraska | Does not require the use of designators like ‘Co.’, ‘Corp.’, ‘Ltd.’ Etc |
| Nevada | “Incorporated,” “Inc.,” “Limited,” “Ltd.,” “Company,” “Co.,” “Corporation,” “Corp.,” or other such designators which identifies it as being a corporation and not a natural person. |
| New Hampshire | Suffixes not required |
| New Jersey | Should use any one of the following words – ‘Incorporated’, ‘Corp.’, ‘Inc.’ or ‘Corporation’ with its name. Additionally, the name is always to be followed by the term – “A New Jersey Nonprofit corporation”. |
| New Mexico | Need not use corporate designators like ‘Co.’, ‘Corp.’, ‘Inc.’ etc with their names. |
| New York | must include ‘Corporation’, ‘Incorporation’ or ‘Limited’ or an abbreviation thereof, unless the organization is formed for Charitable or religious purposes. Negative words: ‘acceptance’, ‘annuity’, ‘assurance’, ‘bank’, ‘bond’, ‘casualty’, ‘doctor’, ‘endowment’, ‘fidelity’, ‘finance’, ‘guaranty’, ‘indemnity’, ‘insurance’, ‘investment’, ‘lawyer’, ‘loan’, ‘mortgage’, ‘savings’, ‘state police’, ‘state trooper’,’ surety’, ‘title’, ‘trust’ and ‘underwriter’. |
| North Carolina | May or may not use corporate designators like ‘Co.’, ‘Corp.’, ‘Inc.’, ‘Corporation’ etc. with its name. restricted words – Bank, Banker and Banking, Trust, Mutual Cooperative, Co-op, Insurance, Engineer, Engineering, Architect, Architecture, Architectural, Surveyor, Survey, Surveying, Certified Public Accountant and abbreviations of such, Wholesale |
| North Dakota | Suffixes not required. Use of words like “bank,”, “banker,” or “banking,” is prohibited in the name. |
| Ohio | Not required to use corporate designators like ‘Co.’, ’Corp.’, ’Ltd.’ Etc. |
| Oklahoma | MUST contain one of the following corporate designators – “association”, “company”, “corporation”, “club”, “foundation”, “fund”, “incorporated”, “institute”, “society”, “union”, “syndicate”, “limited”, “co.”, “corp.”, “inc.”, ” ltd.”, or their abbreviations thereof |
| Oregon | Suffix not required |
| Pennsylvania | Need not have any corporate designators like ‘Co.’ , ‘Corp.’, ‘Inc.’ etc |
| Rhode Island | Required suffix: “corporation,” “company,” “incorporated,” or “limited,” or an abbreviation of one of these words |
| South Carolina | Suffix not required |
| South Dakota | Must be suffixed by words: incorporation, incorporated, company, or limited, or the abbreviation, corp., inc., co., or ltd., or terms or abbreviations |
| Tennessee | Should not contain negative words like “bank,” “banks,” “banking,” credit union”, “mortgage”, or “trust”. |
| Texas | May include corporate designators like ‘Co.’ ‘Corp.’ ‘Inc.’ etc but the use is not mandatory |
| Utah | May but need not contain the designators “corporation,” “incorporated,” or “company” or abbreviations thereof. |
| Vermont | Allowed designators are ‘Corporation’, ‘Incorporated’, ‘Company’, or ‘Limited’. The suffix ‘cooperative’ can only be used if the organization is being formed as a cooperative |
| Virginia | May but need not use corporate designators like ‘Co.’, ’Corp.’, ’Inc.’, ’Corporation’ etc. as a suffix. The word “redevelopment” cannot be used in the name unless the nonprofit organization is established as an urban redevelopment corporation |
| Washington | Should not include suffixes “company,” “corporation,” “incorporated,” “limited partnership,” or “Ltd.,” “partnership,” or their abbreviations. A nonprofit organization MAY instead use corporate designators like “association,” “club”, “committee”, “foundation”, “fund”, “league”, “services”, “society,” or suffixes with similar import. |
| West Virginia | Must use corporate designators like “incorporated,” “company,” “corporation,” or “limited,” or the abbreviation “corp., “inc.,” “co.,” or “ltd.,” or words in another language with a similar import. The suffix “foundation” can be used only if specific permission is obtained. |
| Wisconsin | Must use corporate designators like “corporation”, “incorporated”, “company” or “limited” or the abbreviation “corp.”, “inc.”, “co.” or “ltd.” or words or abbreviations of like import in another language |
| Wyoming | None |
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