Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 590-7-20-.04 - Distinguishable Names

The Secretary of State will deny a request for a name certificate or proposed entity name if such requested name is identical to or not distinguishable from the name of any existing entity or active name reservation on file and of record with the Secretary of State pursuant to Title 14 of the Code. Without limiting the discretion of the Secretary of State to determine that a name is not distinguishable, a requested name shall be deemed "not distinguishable" from an existing entity name or active name reservation if the difference between the names results from any one or more of the following:

(a) An article (e.g. "a," "an," "the");

(b) Plural or possessive forms of the same word;

(c) Phonetic spelling of the same name or word;

(d) A conjunction or disjunction (e.g. "and," "&," "or");

(e) An abbreviation in place of a complete spelling of a word or name;

(f) A suffix added to a word or any other deviation from or derivative of the same word;

(g) The addition or omission of punctuation, symbols, special characters, or spaces;

(h) A symbol or special character in place of a word or name (e.g. "and" and "&"; "at" and "@");

(i) A numerical number in Arabic or Roman numeral(s) and the same number spelled out with letters of the alphabet; and

(j) A change in a word or name indicating corporate or business entity status.

Notes

Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 590-7-20-.04

O.C.G.A. §§ 14-5-23, 14-11-1105, 14-11-1106.

Original Rule entitled "Distinguishable Names" adopted. F. May 11, 2017; eff. May 31, 2017. Amended: F. Nov. 26, 2018; eff. Dec. 16, 2018.