Official entry points, not a search of our own

Official DBA name search by jurisdiction

Before filing a name, most people want to know whether somebody already has it. The answer lives in a government index, and every jurisdiction runs its own. This page routes you to the official one and tells you what it actually covers, which is rarely what the label suggests.

Two things this page deliberately does not do. It does not run a search for you, and it does not copy or republish anybody's registry entries. Searching happens on the authority's own site, under that authority's terms.

Read the scope before you trust a clear result

An empty result is weaker evidence than it looks. Some indexes list only registrations held centrally, while the filing you care about may sit with a county recorder. Others cover entity names but not the trading names layered on top of them. A name that looks free in one index can already be in use, and recorded, somewhere the index never reaches. Where an authority states its own scope, that wording is quoted below rather than paraphrased.

Availability is also not the same question as entitlement. Several registries say plainly that accepting a filing settles nothing about who may use a name. That distinction is set out on what a DBA is.

State and District of Columbia searches

20 published state guides carry a verified official search.

County and local searches

Where the filing itself is local, the index usually is too. These 9 county offices publish their own.

Where no search is listed

37 published jurisdictions have no entry point recorded here. The reason is stated for each rather than left blank, because "we could not find one" and "the authority does not run one" are different facts and only the second tells you anything useful.

the registry refused automated retrieval, so no entry point is asserted (32)

Alameda County, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Collin County, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Monroe County, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, San Diego County, Santa Clara County, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Westchester County

the authority publishes no online name search (5)

California, Fort Bend County, Massachusetts, Nevada, Tarrant County

A refusal by a registry is recorded, never worked around. Where the authority blocks automated retrieval this site says so and sends you to the guide, which carries the office, the official term and the filing route from sources that were retrievable.

After the search

Finding the name free is the start, not the end. The filing still has to go to the right office, in the right form, for the right fee, and several jurisdictions want it lodged again on a cycle. Start from the finder for your jurisdiction, or read the LLC route or the sole proprietor route first.