Alaska Business Name Checker
Check if your business name is available in Alaska. Validate Alaska naming rules instantly and search the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing's database free — Alaska has no Secretary of State, so DCBPL is the authority.
Validate the name format, then search the official Alaska Division of Corporations, Business & Professional Licensing records.
1.Search the state registry (Alaska Division of Corporations, Business & Professional Licensing) for existing LLCs, corporations, and reserved names
2.Check federal trademarks at USPTO.gov — state approval does not protect you from trademark claims
3.Verify the .com domain is available for your name
4.Grab matching social media handles (Instagram, X, LinkedIn, Facebook)
5.Lock the name in by filing your formation documents — or reserve it first (details below)
Fee
$25
Holds the name for
120 days
How to file
Business Name Reservation Form 08-559, online or by mail
Renewable for another $25 with Form 08-4698. The state itself calls the reservation optional and generally not recommended if you are ready to file your formation documents.
How Business Name Availability Works in Alaska
Alaska is one of a handful of states with no Secretary of State. Business names live with the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (DCBPL) inside the Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development, and its free Corporations Database search covers every registered and reserved entity name in the state. Alaska even publishes a dedicated "Determine a Distinguishable Name" guide, so you can apply the state's own test before you file.
Naming rules follow AS 10.50.025 for LLCs — the name must contain "limited liability company," "LLC," or "L.L.C." — and corporations may use "Corporation," "Company," "Incorporated," "Limited," or an abbreviation. One Alaska-specific prohibition: names may not include "city," "borough," or "village" or otherwise imply that the business is a municipality. And if a competitor was involuntarily dissolved, its name frees up for anyone after six months.
Alaska's DBA system is unusually layered. Listing a DBA on your Alaska Business License (required for nearly all businesses under AS 43.70) gives you no exclusive rights at all. Exclusivity requires a separate Business Name Registration — Form 08-557, $25, valid five years — which in turn requires an active business license in that exact name. Plan for the full stack: formation ($250 for an LLC), business license, and, if you want the name locked, the registration on top.
Alaska Business Name Requirements
✓ Name Requirements
- • LLCs must include "LLC", "L.L.C." or "Limited Liability Company"
- • Corporations must include "Inc.", "Corp.", "Co." or "Ltd."
- • Must be distinguishable from every entity name registered or reserved with the Division of Corporations — the state publishes its own "Determine a Distinguishable Name" guide explaining the test
- • Cannot suggest a government affiliation
- • Cannot be misleading about business purpose
- • Governed by Alaska Statutes AS 10.50.025 (LLCs) and AS 10.06.105 (corporations)
✗ Restricted Words
- • "Bank" — requires approval from the Alaska Division of Banking and Securities
- • "Trust" — implies trust powers — Alaska Division of Banking and Securities approval needed
- • "Insurance" — requires clearance from the Alaska Division of Insurance
- • "City" — Alaska entity names may not include "city" or otherwise imply the business is a municipality
- • "Borough" — prohibited — implies a municipal government, which Alaska entity names may not do
- • "Village" — prohibited — implies a municipal government, which Alaska entity names may not do
- • "Olympic" — federally protected under the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act
How to Check Name Availability in Alaska
Use the tool above to open the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business & Professional Licensing search and look up existing LLCs, corporations, and reserved names. Alaska has no Secretary of State — business filings run through the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (DCBPL) — and exclusive name rights require a separate $25 Business Name Registration on top of your business license.
Search the USPTO database at uspto.gov — clearing the Alaska registry does not protect you from a federal trademark claim.
Check that the matching .com domain is available before you commit — renaming an LLC later means an amendment filing and new bank paperwork.
Confirm your name is free on Instagram, X, Facebook, and LinkedIn so your branding stays consistent everywhere.
Alaska lets you reserve a name for 120 days for $25 — Business Name Reservation Form 08-559, online or by mail.
What Registering a Name Costs in Alaska
| Filing | State Fee | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| LLC formation filing | $250 | One-time |
| Annual report / recurring fee | $100 | Every 2 years |
| Name reservation | $25 | Holds the name 120 days |
| Business Name Registration (DBA) | Alaska has two layers: a DBA listed on your Alaska Business License gives no exclusivity, while exclusive rights require a separate Business Name Registration (Form 08-557, $25, five years) — which itself requires an active business license in that name. | |
State filing fees as of 2026. See the Alaska LLC tax and fee calculator for the full annual cost picture.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I check if a business name is taken in Alaska for free?
Search the Corporations Database run by Alaska's Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing (DCBPL) — Alaska has no Secretary of State, so DCBPL holds the authoritative records. The free search covers registered entities, reserved names, and registered business names. Alaska also publishes a "Determine a Distinguishable Name" guide explaining exactly how the examiner compares names, which is worth reading before you settle on anything close to an existing name.
How much does it cost to reserve a business name in Alaska?
An Alaska name reservation costs $25 and holds the name for 120 days. File the Business Name Reservation (Form 08-559) online or by mail, and renew for another $25 with Form 08-4698 if needed. Interestingly, the state describes the reservation as optional and generally not recommended if you are ready to file — forming the LLC ($250 Articles of Organization) secures the name permanently, so a reservation only makes sense when formation is genuinely weeks or months away.
What suffix does an Alaska LLC name need?
Under Alaska Statutes AS 10.50.025, an Alaska LLC name must contain the words "limited liability company" or the abbreviation "LLC" or "L.L.C." Corporations must instead include "Corporation," "Company," "Incorporated," or "Limited" or an abbreviation of one of those words. The designator has to match your entity type — an LLC cannot style itself "Inc.," and a corporation cannot tack on "LLC."
How do DBAs work in Alaska?
Alaska has a two-layer system. Listing a DBA on your Alaska Business License (AS 43.70) lets you operate under the name but gives no exclusivity — multiple businesses can license identical names. Exclusive rights require a separate Business Name Registration (Form 08-557, $25, valid five years), and you must already hold an active business license in that exact name to file it. If owning the name matters, you need both layers, not just the license DBA.
Can my Alaska business name include the word "city" or "village"?
No. Alaska entity names may not include "city," "borough," or "village," and may not otherwise imply that the business is a municipality. This is a Alaska-specific prohibition on top of the usual restricted words — "Bank" and "Trust" require approval from the Division of Banking and Securities, and "Insurance" requires clearance from the Division of Insurance. Names that survive the search can still be rejected on these grounds, so screen for restricted words early.
When does a dissolved Alaska company's name become available?
When an Alaska entity is involuntarily dissolved, its name becomes available to new filers six months after the dissolution. Until that window closes, the name remains blocked even though the company is defunct. If the name you want belongs to a dissolved entity, check the dissolution date in the DCBPL database — you may only need to wait a few months, or the name may already be free. Voluntarily dissolved and active entities' names remain protected as usual.
Related Tools
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Official Secretary of State search portals for all 50 states — look up any registered company.
Checking a Name in Another State?
Searching Names Without a Secretary of State: Alaska's DCBPL
Every Alaska name search runs through the Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing — there is no Secretary of State. The DCBPL's free Corporations Database covers LLCs, corporations, partnerships, reserved names, and registered business names, and it is the same record set the examiner will check when your filing arrives.
Alaska is unusually transparent about its standard: the state publishes a "Determine a Distinguishable Name" guide that walks through what counts as a real difference. As in most distinguishability states, a different key word clears a conflict; changes to punctuation, capitalization, spacing, or the entity suffix do not.
One timing quirk worth knowing: when an Alaska entity is involuntarily dissolved, its name becomes available to new filers after six months. If the name you want belongs to a dissolved company, check the dissolution date before assuming it is off the table — or before assuming it is safe.
Alaska LLC and Corporation Naming Rules
Under AS 10.50.025, an Alaska LLC name must contain "limited liability company" or the abbreviation LLC or L.L.C. Corporations must include "Corporation," "Company," "Incorporated," or "Limited" — or an abbreviation such as Inc., Corp., Co., or Ltd.
Alaska bans municipal impersonation outright: entity names may not contain "city," "borough," or "village" or otherwise imply that the entity is a municipality. Regulated words carry the usual gatekeepers — "Bank" and "Trust" route through the Division of Banking and Securities, and "Insurance" through the Division of Insurance.
If you want to hold a name before forming, Alaska offers a $25, 120-day reservation (Business Name Reservation Form 08-559, online or by mail), renewable for $25 with Form 08-4698. Notably, the state itself describes the reservation as optional and generally not recommended when you are ready to file — Alaska would rather you simply form the entity, since filing the Articles of Organization ($250) is what actually secures the name.
Alaska's Two-Layer DBA System
Most states have one DBA mechanism; Alaska has two, and they do very different things. The first layer is adding a DBA to your Alaska Business License under AS 43.70 — nearly every business needs the license anyway, and listing a DBA on it lets you legally operate under that name. But it gives you zero exclusivity: any number of businesses can license the same name.
The second layer is the Business Name Registration — Form 08-557, $25, valid five years. This is what actually grants exclusive rights to the name in Alaska. The catch: you must already hold an active business license in that exact name before you can register it, so the two filings work as a pair.
For most founders forming an LLC, the entity name itself provides the protection and the DBA layers only matter for additional brand names. But if you plan to operate a second brand in Alaska, budget for both filings — the license DBA to operate, the registration to own it. Ongoing entity costs are moderate: Alaska LLCs file a biennial report ($100) rather than an annual one.
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