Fictitious Name (DBA)
November 23rd, 2009 | 
Author: A fictitious name is commonly referred to as a DBA, which stands for “Doing Business As”. A fictitious name is any business name that does not contain your own name as a part of it. In some states, that means your legal name (frequently first and last).
If you are not a corporation and you plan to conduct business under a fictitious name, you must file a DBA. If you are a corporation, ownership of your name is ensured when you incorporate. Also, if your legal name is considered very common, you may be required to file a DBA.
Filing your DBA is one of the first tasks to be undertaken because every other piece of paperwork requires the business name. Your bank will also require a copy of your DBA before they will open a business account under that name. This is the only authorization they have for depositing or cashing checks made out to that business name or written against its account.
Your business name should be free of conflict with names already registered in your area. Find out if a corporation has staked a claim to your name by calling your state’s office of name availability. You may also wish to check the DBA books at the county clerk’s office. Finding out at a later date that your name is already legally registered to another business will result in your having to redo all of your paperwork.
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