Naming a Georgian Company: The Rules the Registry Applies and the Refusals to Avoid
The registry decides a company's name at the same moment it decides the registration, and a refused name sends the whole filing back. The rules are short but specific: the name must be distinguishable from every registered one, must not mislead, must carry its legal form, and must exist in Georgian. What each rule means in practice, which words need permission, and how to check before you file.
A company name is the first thing a founder chooses and the last thing they expect to be refused. In Georgia the registry examines the name as part of the registration and rejects a filing whose name breaks the rules, so a naming mistake costs the registration day, not just a form. The rules come from the Law on Entrepreneurs and from the registry's practice, and most refusals fall into a handful of categories a founder can check in advance.
1 day
Standard registration decision
Once the filing, including the name, is in order
Georgian
The mandatory version of every name
A Latin-script version may be added; it cannot replace the Georgian one
შპს
How an LLC's form appears in Georgian
The legal form is part of the registered name
What the law requires of a name
The name of an enterprise must be clearly distinguishable from the names of enterprises already registered, must not mislead as to the enterprise's legal form, activity or scale, and must contain the indication of its legal form. The name is registered in the Georgian language; a version in another language may be registered in addition.
- Distinguishable: not identical to a registered name and not so similar that the two would be confused; adding the legal form or a punctuation mark does not make a name distinguishable.
- Not misleading: a consultancy cannot call itself an institute or a bank, a one-person company cannot present itself as a group, and a name must not suggest a state connection it does not have.
- Legal form included: an LLC's name carries its form, in Georgian as შპს and in the Latin version as LLC or the equivalent.
- Georgian version mandatory: the registry registers the Georgian name; the Latin or other version is optional and secondary.
- Lawful and decent: names contrary to public order or morality, or that use protected symbols, are refused.
Words that need permission
| Type of term | What is needed before it can be used |
|---|---|
| Bank, insurance, exchange, payment services and other regulated activities | The relevant licence or registration, or the regulator's consent; the name follows the licence, not the other way round |
| Georgia, Georgian, state, national and similar references to the state | Permission where the word implies a state connection; descriptive use of the country's name is assessed case by case |
| Names of public bodies, cities and protected designations | Consent of the body concerned, or avoidance |
| Names or marks of other businesses | No permission mechanism at the registry: a name clear at the registry can still infringe a trademark |
| Professional titles such as advocate, notary, audit | The professional status the title implies |
Georgian version and transliteration
Every company name exists in Georgian script on the register. For a founder whose brand is in Latin letters, the Georgian version is normally a transliteration, and how it is transliterated matters: banks, the tax authority and courts will use the Georgian name, contracts in Georgia will cite it, and a transliteration that drifts from the brand creates two names for one company. The registry also compares the Georgian version against existing Georgian names, so a Latin brand that is unique may transliterate into something that already exists. Fix the Georgian spelling deliberately, once, and use it consistently everywhere the company appears in Georgian.
The registered name and the brand are separate questions. A company may trade under a brand that differs from its registered name, provided contracts and invoices show the registered name and the brand does not itself mislead or infringe. The brand is protected by a trademark at Sakpatenti, not by the company registry.
Next step
The name check belongs with the filing
A name is only really cleared when the rest of the file is ready to go in behind it, because a refusal costs the whole submission. Trustlex runs the preliminary check as part of preparing the registration.
See the registration routeChecking before you file
- 1
Search the registry for the exact name and for close variants in both scripts; an identical Latin name with a different Georgian transliteration is still a conflict.
- 2
Search Sakpatenti's trademark database for the same word in the classes your business will trade in; a clear registry does not mean a clear brand.
- 3
Fix the Georgian version and confirm it with a native speaker for meaning and for accidental similarity to existing names.
- 4
Prepare a second choice: if the registry refuses the first name, a ready alternative keeps the registration on the same day rather than restarting the filing.
The consultancy that called itself an institute
A founder wants to register an advisory company under a name containing the word institute, because it sounds established, and a Latin brand that transliterates awkwardly into Georgian.
- 1The registry treats institute as implying an educational or research organisation and refuses the name as misleading for a commercial consultancy.
- 2The founder's second choice is a distinctive coined word; a registry search shows no Georgian company using it, and a Sakpatenti search shows no trademark in the consulting classes.
- 3The Georgian transliteration is settled with a Georgian speaker, who catches that the first attempt read as an unrelated common word.
- 4The company registers on the standard track the same day, and the founder files the coined word as a trademark the following week.
Two rules refused the first name: misleading as to activity, and a transliteration that meant something else. A search and a second choice turned a refusal into a same-day registration and a clean brand.
Illustrative. Whether a particular word is misleading or restricted is decided by the registry on the facts of each filing.
Next step
Check the name before the filing
Our application checks your English name and its Georgian version against the registry as you type, suggests the transliteration, and flags restricted words before the filing is made, so the registration is decided on the first attempt.
Check a company nameGeneral information, not legal advice. Company naming is governed by the Law of Georgia on Entrepreneurs and the practice of the National Agency of Public Registry; restricted terms and similarity assessments are decided case by case and may change.