Massachusetts lesson 1 of 6
Name your Massachusetts LLC
The Corporations Division will reject a Certificate of Organization if the name is not distinguishable from an entity already on its records. At $500 a filing, checking first is worth the five minutes.
Required wording
A Massachusetts LLC name must contain the words Limited Liability Company, or the abbreviation LLC or L.L.C. The word Limited may be abbreviated to Ltd and Company to Co within the designator.
- Acceptable: Bay State Robotics LLC, Bay State Robotics L.L.C.
- Not acceptable: wording implying a corporation, bank, or insurance company without the relevant approval
The distinguishable standard
Massachusetts requires that a new entity name be distinguishable from names already on file with the Corporations Division. Punctuation, capitalisation and the designator alone are generally not enough to distinguish two otherwise identical names, so search the Corporations Division's entity database and consider a couple of backup names before filing.
Massachusetts does not run a low-cost, long-duration name reservation programme the way some states do. Most filers move directly from a clean search to submitting the $500 Certificate of Organization.
🇺🇸 Check United States company name availability
Search the official United States state registry before you file. Opens the government portal in a new tab.
Tip: also confirm the .com domain and matching social handles are free before you commit.
Key takeaways
- End the name with LLC, L.L.C. or Limited Liability Company.
- Names must be distinguishable from existing entities on the Corporations Division's records.
- Search before filing; there is no cheap way to reserve a name for long if a filing is rejected.
Official sources
Or let us file your Massachusetts LLC for you
Everything above is yours to use for free. If you would rather hand it over, we prepare and file the Certificate of Organization, act as your registered agent, and track your ongoing deadlines.
Last reviewed: September 2026 - reviewed by Gullia Filing Legal & Formation Team