Keep a Business Name Evidence Log Before You Commit

A business name evidence log is a short record of what you checked, where you checked it, when the result was observed and what still needs attention. Its job is to preserve the limits of a result. A green domain chip from last week should never quietly become a claim that the name is available everywhere today.

You do not need another scoring spreadsheet to do this. Keep one page per serious finalist and update it when a relevant fact changes. This guide focuses on that record and its handover. For the initial search process, use the separate business-name checking guide; for choosing between finalists, use the shortlist comparison guide.

Record the question before recording the answer

Start with the candidate's exact spelling, your intended product and the markets you plan to serve. Include any spelling variants you searched. A result for one spelling in one territory does not answer every question about a similar-sounding name elsewhere. Keep the launch context beside the evidence so someone else can understand what the search was intended to establish.

Write the question narrowly: whether a particular domain showed a registration route, whether a company-register search returned a close match, or whether an app listing used similar wording. Avoid a single status called safe. Those observations concern different systems, and the next action may differ for each one.

Copy this evidence-log template

Use the following fields in a document or spreadsheet you control. The blank entries are deliberate: they are a working template, not completed checks. If several people are helping, give each row an owner and keep the latest update separate from the original observation.

Save enough context to reproduce the search. A screenshot can help explain the observation, but a cropped tick without its source or timestamp is weak evidence. Do not include passwords, payment details or private account links in a log you plan to share. Use public result links where possible and keep any sensitive working notes in restricted storage.

Give unknown results their own status

A timeout means the check did not finish. It does not mean no match exists. A partial response means only the returned coverage can be described. Distinguish these states from a completed search that returned no matching records for its stated query. This is especially useful when one platform responds and another is temporarily unavailable.

For a hypothetical candidate, an honest row might say: company search not checked; owner to review the relevant register before committing. That is more useful than leaving the row blank or copying a reassuring domain result into it. Keep any example in your own document clearly separate from observations about your actual finalist.

Keep company, trade-mark and domain evidence separate

Companies House guidance explains restrictions on the same or similar registered company names. The UK IPO search service is a separate place to investigate similar UK trade marks. Record which source you used rather than treating a company search as a trade-mark search. Neither an entry in your log nor a tool's score replaces qualified advice about a possible conflict.

For a US-facing launch, the USPTO's federal searching guidance is a relevant starting point. Label that scope as federal. Do not relabel it as a search of every US business, every state register or all rights associated with a name. If you have not investigated another relevant source, leave that coverage open.

ICANN describes RDAP as a way to access current domain registration data. Keep the exact domain and extension with that observation. Registration data and a registrar's purchase offer answer different practical questions; confirm the actual registration route, price and terms with the registrar before buying.

Choose recheck triggers instead of inventing an expiry rule

This worksheet does not assign every result a universal lifetime. Set practical review triggers around decisions: before buying a domain, before approving public launch material, after a spelling change, or when entering a new market. A useful note explains what changed and which checks that change affects, rather than telling the team to repeat everything without a reason.

If you add a new extension, recheck that domain route. If you change the product or intended country, revisit the scope of the relevant name checks. If an app-store lookup failed, retry the missing source and retain the failure note until there is a replacement observation. For platform-specific work, the app-name guide explains the separate checks.

Keep earlier observations rather than silently overwriting them. A simple dated update beneath the original row is enough for a small project. This lets a collaborator see why yesterday's decision differs from today's, and prevents an old exported report from being mistaken for an automatically refreshed monitor.

Finish with a decision and an open-items handover

End the log with three short notes: why the candidate fits the brief, which compromises you accept, and what must be resolved before the next commitment. Assign an owner to unresolved items. Keep personal preference separate from observed evidence; a name can sound excellent and still need investigation.

AI Name Sprint offers free exploration after sign-in, with fair-use and spending safeguards. When you have a finalist, a full report costs £5.99 once, or £19 once for 20 full reports with non-expiring credits. Preview the report structure before purchasing. Treat saved reports as decision records; reopening one is not a promise that every external source has been checked again.