Company name instructions
There are many ways to form a company name.
It is common to combine the location and the operations of the business. You can even use your own name as the company name. The company name can also be an imaginary word or a combination of common words that form an inventive entity.
The more inventive the company name is, the stronger protection it will have. An inventive company name is distinctive from other registered company names and easier for your customers to remember.
We recommend that your company name’s spelling follows Finnish spelling rules. Read the instructions on company names at Kielitoimiston ohjepankki provided by the Institute for the Languages of Finland (in Finnish).Open link in a new tab
The PRH checks company name filings in the following respects:
Indication of corporate form
A company name must contain an indication of the corporate form, whereas an auxiliary company name must not contain any indication of it.
As for parallel company names, they must contain an indication of the corporate form. Read more about the indications in parallel company names.
Indications of corporate form
| Corporate form | Indication |
| Private trader | Indication not mandatory. Tmi or Toiminimi are often used in practice. |
| Limited company | Osakeyhtiö or oy. |
| Public limited company | Julkinen osakeyhtiö or oyj |
| Real estate corporation or mutual real estate corporation | Osakeyhtiö or oy, because this is a limited company. The words real estate or mutual real estate need not be included, even though this is often done in practice. |
| Limited partnership | Kommandiittiyhtiö or ky. The name shall not include the name of a silent partner. |
| General partnership | Avoin yhtiö (NB. the abbreviation ay must not be used). Family names of the partners, for example Virtanen & Sjölund are accepted as indications of a partnership; hence avoin yhtiö need not be included in the name. |
| Cooperative | Osuuskunta, Osuus- or the abbreviation osk. Person names must not be included. |
| Branch of a foreign trader | The name of a branch shall include the company name of the foreign trader in its registered form with an addition that indicates that it is a branch. The addition can be for example sivuliike Suomessa (branch in Finland), filial i Finland (in Swedish) or filial. |
Individuality
What is an individual company name like?
According to the Finnish Company Names Act, the name must individualise the holder’s company. It is easiest to describe individuality by examining expressions that when used alone, are not enough to make the company name individual. Unacceptable names include:
- a simple indication of the type of business (e.g. Construction Company Ltd)
- name of the goods or services offered (Candy Wholesaler Ltd, Business Consultants Ltd)
- common first or family names (John Ltd, Smith Ltd)
- general place-names (Helsinki Ltd)
- combinations of letters and figures that cannot be pronounced as words (XVX Ltd, 100 Ltd, X4R=66 Ltd)
- common verbs or adjectives on their own (Running Ltd, Best Ltd)
A business cannot obtain an exclusive right to any of these through registration. In practice, names of this kind can be registered after something else is added to them, such as a place name, a person name, an inventive word or a letter combination etc.
Domain extensions .fi, .com, .net, .org, .int, .mil, .edu, .biz and so on do not increase the company name’s individuality, and are not enough to eliminate confusing similarity. For example, Phone.fi Oy or Phone.com are not individual company names.
Finnish domain name
Finland’s country domain name is . fi which is controlled by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. The domain name is the part between www. and .fi. For instance, the word “esimerkki” is the domain name in the internet address www.esimerkki.fi. A domain name cannot include a full stop (.).
Granting a domain name has different requirements than registering a company name.
If you have an exclusive right to a registered company name, it does not necessarily guarantee that you can register a corresponding name as a domain name. On the other hand, a registered domain name does not guarantee that you may register it as your company name. When the PRH registers company names, it does not examine confusing similarity with existing domain names.
Examples of company names and domain names:
The company name is Example Oy -> a corresponding domain name consistent with the company name would be “example”. This would result in a website address www.esimerkki.fi.
The company name is www.example.fi Oy -> The company name includes a full stop (.) which means that a domain name consistent with the company name cannot be registered.
You can apply for a fi domain through a domain agent. Read the instructions for applying for a .fi domain at the Traficom website.Open link in a new tab
The Traficom website also includes a domain name search function where you can check if the domain you wish to apply for is available. Search .fi domains in the Traficom domain name search.Open link in a new tab
Distinctiveness
A company name must differ from names that have already been registered.
Therefore, a company name that is similar or very much alike another registered name cannot be registered. The names must not be identical in writing or when pronounced. Different indications of corporate form do not make the names more distinctive.
Examples:
"Jarcom Ltd" and "Jarcom General Partnership" cannot be registered side by side, because the corporate form does not make a distinction between them.
"Besstion" and "Bestion" cannot be registered side by side, because they are identical with regard to their pronunciation.
Non-confusability
A company name shall not be confusable with another’s protected company name, secondary symbol or trademark.
As a norm, confusability comes into consideration only if the lines of business are the same or very similar. By simplification it can be said that company names within the same or very similar lines of business must differ more from each other than those in different lines of business.
If the owner of a conflicting company name gives his written consent to the registration, a company name may be registered despite its confusability. The deed of consent has to be enclosed with the registration notice.
Examples of company names that are confusable in the same line of business:
“LP Construction” and “LP Constructor”
“Net-Wedge Ltd” and “Net-Wedge Finland Ltd”
“Kulta-Katriina” (trademark for coffee) and “Kahvikauppa Kulta-Katriina” (Coffee shop Kulta-Katriina).
Family names
A company name shall not, without proper permission, contain anything that can be understood as the family name of somebody else. The use of one’s own name on the other hand, is quite usual. The PRH usually regards as family names those names that are used only as family names and that therefore do not have a specific meaning.
However, first names can be used freely – for example “Toy Shop Laura”. The business need not employ anyone by that name.
Examples:
“Art Shop Virtanen” requires that the business operator's family name is Virtanen.
“Art Shop Metso” can be registered even if the business operator's family name is not Metso, because in Finnish the word “metso” is also a noun meaning the bird ‘western capercaillie’.
Others
A company name shall not contain (without permission) anything that can be construed as
- another person's artist name or the title of another person’s protected literary or artistic work
- the protected national or international designation or abbreviation of the designation
- the name of a foundation, association or similar organisation
A company name shall not be liable to mislead the public. Examples of misleading names are company names containing a name other than the trader’s, or when a company name refers to a business other than the one filed for registration as the company’s line of business.
In addition, a company name shall not conflict with morality and public order. Therefore, it must not refer, for example, to illegal activity.