Quick answer
An Estonian company name must contain OÜ, be written in Latin letters and differ clearly from every business name already in the Commercial Register, in spelling and in sound. The law sets no measure of how different is different enough: the registrar decides case by case. Before you apply, check the name in the e-Business Register name query and in the Estonian and EU trademark databases. In our practice, the name is the most common reason the registrar sends an application back for correction.
Most founders spend weeks on the business plan and minutes on the company name. The registrar sees it the other way round. Of all the rulings in which the registrar asks for a correction during company formation in Estonia, the largest share we see concerns the business name (ärinimi), well ahead of the address, the articles or the share capital. The rules themselves are short, and checking a company name in Estonia is free and takes about half an hour. The rest of this guide covers what the register accepts when you choose a company name and how to check it before you file.
Company Name Rules in Estonia: What the Commercial Code Requires
The Commercial Code (äriseadustik) sets the requirements for every business name. The table shows what each one means when you type a name into the registration form.
| Rule | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Legal form in the name | The name contains “OÜ” or “osaühing”, at the beginning or at the end: Nordwave OÜ or OÜ Nordwave |
| Clearly distinguishable | It differs from every registered and reserved name in spelling and in sound. Pill and Lill passed as different; Fotoluks and Photolux did not |
| Latin letters only | Cyrillic, Chinese characters, emojis and most symbols are out |
| Not misleading | It must not suggest another legal form, another line of business or a larger scale than the company has. Words like bank or insurance belong to licensed companies |
| No one else’s trademark | A trademark protected in Estonia, including an EU trade mark, needs the owner’s consent, unless you work in a field the mark does not cover or the word is generic |
| No one else’s name | A person’s name may appear only if they are a founder or shareholder, or with their consent |
| Place names and state bodies | A place name on its own is not enough; it needs a distinguishing word next to it, such as Baltic Nordwave OÜ rather than Baltic OÜ. Names of state and municipal bodies are not allowed |
| Good morals | No offensive or indecent names |
The second rule causes most of the trouble. The Commercial Code does not say how many letters apart two names must be. The registrar’s own guidance only says that names are compared by how they are written and how they sound, and that the final word belongs to the registrar. A company name that looks free in a quick search can still be refused because it sounds like an existing one. That is why the check below runs through several spellings, not one.
How to Check Company Name Availability in Estonia
Four checks cover almost every case. The first three are the ones the registrar itself runs; the fourth protects you after registration.
- Run the name query. The e-Business Register name query searches registered and reserved business names and Estonian trademarks at once. Select the legal form and try several variants: singular and plural, words written together and apart, and spellings that sound the same (Avenue and Avenüü, Nord Line and Nordline). If a close match appears, change the name now rather than argue with the registrar later.
- Check the trademarks. EU trade marks are valid in Estonia too, so search EUIPO eSearch as well, and the Estonian Patent Office for pending applications. When you find a match, two things decide whether it matters: the Nice class, which tells you whether the mark covers your line of business, and the type of mark. A word mark in your field is a real obstacle. A figurative mark whose word element is merely descriptive is not. The Supreme Court confirmed this in the Erial Ehitus case: a logo containing the word for construction could not block a construction company’s name. In our practice these are the hardest cases: no similar company exists, but a trademark does.
- Match the name to your field of activity. The registrar reads the name against the main activity you declare, which is how the “not misleading” rule is applied. Pick the EMTAK code in the activity search before you settle the name. Our guide to choosing and changing the field of activity explains how the code works.
- Check the domain and the market. The registrar does not check whether the .ee domain is free or whether a company abroad uses the same brand, but your customers will notice. A quick web search costs nothing and saves a rebrand.
Reserving a Business Name: When the €150 Is Worth It
You can reserve a business name in the e-Business Register before registering the company. The state fee is €150. The reservation holds the name for six months, can be extended once by three months, and each person may hold only one at a time. It makes sense when registration will wait: you are still applying for e-Residency, or a power of attorney has to travel from abroad. If you plan to file this week, skip it. The name query already tells you whether the name is available, and a registration application reaches the registrar just as quickly as a reservation.
If the Registrar Objects to the Name
An unsuitable name does not mean a refusal. The registrar issues a ruling that names the deficiency and sets a deadline to fix it, usually two weeks, and no new state fee is charged. Online, you pick another name and resubmit; the corrected application is reviewed within five working days. If the company is being registered through a notary, the founding documents have to be signed again, which costs about a week. The timelines for each route are in our guide to how long company registration in Estonia takes.
Renaming a company that already exists is a separate procedure: the shareholders decide and the articles of association are amended. We describe it in our guide to changing the name of an Estonian company.
Registering Your Company With a Name That Passes
Checking the name is part of every company registration in Estonia we handle. Before anything is filed, we run the name query in the variants the registrar uses and check Estonian and EU trademarks against your field of activity. Then we tell you plainly whether the name will pass or what to change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use the name query on the e-Business Register website. It searches registered and reserved business names and Estonian trademarks, and it is free. Search several spellings, because the registrar compares names by sound as well as by letters, then check EU trade marks separately in EUIPO eSearch.
No. The name can be in any language, as long as it is written in Latin letters, contains OÜ and differs clearly from existing names. Most companies founded by foreigners have English names.
No. The register records one business name and no trading names, so you can trade under a different brand. The brand is then protected only by a trademark, and it must not infringe someone else’s mark.
You get a deadline, normally two weeks, to submit a different name without paying the state fee again. Online the corrected application is reviewed within five working days; at a notary the founding documents are re-signed first.
