California Secretary of State Business Search
You can look up an existing business entity by completing a California business entity search.
Our California Business Search guide will give you instructions for looking up all business types, including corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs).
Recommended: Make sure your business name is available as a website domain. Search GoDaddy and secure your URL.
How to Perform a California Corporation Search
To complete a California Corporation Search, you’ll need to:
- Visit the bizfile Online Portal: Access the Official Secretary of State Search.
- Select Search Criteria: You can search by “Entity Name” or “Entity Number.”
- Enter the Name: For corporations, omit “Inc.” or “Corp” to see more results.
- Review Status: Check the “Status” column to see if the corporation is Active, Terminated, or Suspended.
- Access Filings: Click on the entity name to view the Statement of Information or Articles of Incorporation PDFs.
If you find that your business name isn’t available, we recommend taking a look at our Business Name Generator tool and our How to Name Your Business guide for help with coming up with a unique name.
When choosing a business name you’ll need to find out whether or not a good web domain name is available. Having a URL that clearly matches your business name is important.
Note on Foreign Corporations: If a corporation was formed in another state (like Delaware) but is registered to do business in California, it will appear in this search. These are listed as “Foreign” entities and must maintain a Registered Agent in California.
Reading the Corporation Search Results
When you find a business in the search results, the Status column will tell you its legal standing in California. Let’s break down what each status means:
- Active: The entity is in good standing and authorized to do business.
- Suspended/Forfeited: The entity has lost its legal rights to operate. This is usually due to failing to file a Statement of Information with the Secretary of State or failing to pay taxes to the Franchise Tax Board (FTB).
- Terminated/Dissolved: The business has been officially closed and no longer exists as a legal entity.
Note: The Secretary of State search only covers legal entities like Corporations and LLCs. If you are looking for a DBA (Doing Business As) name, these are registered at the county level in California.
As a result, you’ll need to visit the specific County Clerk’s office website where the business is located to perform a DBA search.
California Business Naming Guidelines
If you’re looking to start a new California business, your chosen name will need to follow both general state standards and the specific legal rules that apply for your entity type.
California Corporation Naming Rules:
- Your name must be distinguishable from the name of any existing business in California and must not be the same or deceptively similar to an existing corporate name. This includes California reserved names. We will help with this step in the search for your business name section below.
- The name of your corporation must not be one likely to mislead the public. A proposed name is likely to mislead the public in the following circumstances:
- It implies the corporation is a government agency
- It implies the corporation is a professional corporation under the Moscone-Knox Professional Corporation Act when it is not
- It uses a misleading identifier, e.g. includes the abbreviation LLC
- It creates the false implication that the corporation’s purpose is to be an insurer when it is not
Visit the California corporation naming statute for a full list of naming guidelines.
California LLC Naming Guidelines:
- The name of your limited liability company shall contain the words “limited liability company,” or the abbreviation “L.L.C.” or “LLC.” “Limited” may be abbreviated as “Ltd.,” and “company” may be abbreviated as “Co.”
- The name shall not include the words “bank,” “trust,” “trustee,” “incorporated,” “inc.,” “corporation,” or “corp.” and shall not include the words “insurer” or “insurance company” or any other words suggesting that it is in the business of issuing policies of insurance and assuming insurance risks.
- Your name must be distinguishable from any existing business in the state and shall not be a name that the Secretary of State determines likely to mislead the public. This includes California reserved names. We will help with this step in the search for your business name section below.
Visit the California LLC naming statute for a full list of naming guidelines.
California Business Entity Search FAQs
The easiest way to find out who owns a business in California is to search for the business’s filings with the California Secretary of State. Businesses are required to file certain documents with the Secretary of State, including their Articles of Incorporation (if they are a corporation) or Articles of Partnership (if they are a limited partnership) or Articles of Organization (if they are an LLC). These documents will list the names and addresses of the business’s owners and status of the business entity.
An advanced search for California Business Entities can be performed by going to the Secretary of State’s website and clicking on the “Businesses” link. From there, you will be able to select “Entity Name” from the drop-down menu and enter your desired search criteria.
If you are looking for a specific business entity, you may want to use the advanced search feature to narrow your results. For example, if you know the entity’s filing number, you can enter it in the “File Number” field to retrieve the filings associated with that number.
You can also use advanced search to find businesses that have been formed in a specific city or county. Simply select the appropriate option from the “Jurisdiction” drop-down menu and enter the desired location.
Naming a small business is often a do-it-yourself job. Small business startup budgets usually won’t support hiring someone to help name your business. For easy step-by-step instructions on naming your small business, visit our How to Name a Business guide.
The first step to naming your business is figuring out what business structure you will use for your new company. After that, you will brainstorm at least 4-5 possible names. The more you brainstorm the better. Once you have some names, you can test the names against best practices, name availability, and state guidelines.
Not sure what to name your business? Check out our LLC Name Generator.
Our top choice in web hosting and domain registrars is GoDaddy. We like their domain search tool — you can search for the exact name you want or make suggestions based on keywords and available names. There are also several other companies to choose from that will provide a good experience.
Visit GoDaddy to search for domain names.
Yes, you can. Neither the term “company” nor any of its abbreviations has any legal connotations. A company is simply an association of individuals.
If you choose to use a limited liability company structure for your new business, most states will require that you use LLC after the name. You can also use the full term limited liability company.
If you are marketing your business, you usually don’t have to use LLC after the name.
To verify an entity’s standing, perform a search on the Secretary of State website and check the Status column. If the status is “Active,” the business is currently authorized to operate. If you need official proof for a loan or contract, you can order a formal Certificate of Status (also known as a Certificate of Good Standing) online through the bizfile portal.
A Suspended or Forfeited status typically means the business failed to file its mandatory Statement of Information or failed to pay required taxes to the Franchise Tax Board. In this state, the entity loses its legal rights, including the right to protect its business name, meaning another party may be able to register it. Dissolved or Cancelled statuses mean the entity has been officially closed and no longer exists.
The Secretary of State search only checks if a name is available for registration within California, but it does not account for federal trademark protections.
Performing a search through the U.S. Trademark Electronic Search System ensures your chosen name does not infringe on someone else’s national brand rights, which helps you avoid expensive legal disputes or forced rebranding later.