How should a tech startup check a new name before paying for brand identity?

Illustrative situation: two founders plan a seed round and a US launch four months away. They have named their expense-approval software Kestrix. The .com is for sale, the Instagram handle is free, and a branding agency has quoted a logo and identity scope. Nobody has searched the name. Six weeks into design, an investor’s lawyer finds a live federal trademark for a similar-sounding name on accounting software. The team must choose between a new name and a fight for this one, with a half-finished identity built on it. The scene is invented, and we did not search any name in this guide. It shows an order problem: identity work assumes the name is settled, and a name check costs least before that work starts.

Humbleteam, a digital product design agency, publishes this guide. It covers the order of checks, the searches a founder can run alone, the platform limits that shape a name, who runs which check, a scoring worksheet and what to do when a name has a conflict. Rules and limits are described as of November 6, 2026 and can change. This is not legal advice. A trademark attorney licensed where you launch decides whether a name is clear to use or register.

Why does the name check come before logo work?

A logo, site, deck, store listing and domain all carry the name. Change it and each one is redone. The USPTO calls likelihood of confusion the most common reason it refuses registration: a similar name on related goods or services, so customers may assume one source. Finding that after identity work means paying twice or defending the name.

Identity spend can be lost for other reasons. One of our earlier notes describes a $250,000 branding spend a startup abandoned four weeks after launch. A name conflict is a loss you can screen for first.

In what order should the checks run?

Cheapest first, with a hard stop after each step:

1. Write a one-paragraph brief: what the product does, who buys it and which countries matter in the first two years.
2. Say each candidate aloud and ask what it means in your launch markets.
3. Run a knockout search in the USPTO database, then check domains, handles and package names.
4. Send the three to five survivors to a trademark attorney for a clearance search and an opinion.
5. Start identity work on the name the attorney clears.

The USPTO lists conducting the clearance search among the benefits of hiring an attorney. Its own searching page says a database search cannot give a clear-cut answer about whether a name can be registered.

How do you run a knockout search in the USPTO database?

The USPTO’s Trademark Search system covers federal applications and registrations. Start with the exact wording; the USPTO calls this a knockout search. Then widen it. Search names that contain yours, search alternative spellings and pronunciations, and search each strong word alone and in combination.

Do not narrow by class early. Goods and services only need to be related, so a conflicting mark can sit in another class, and a class filter can hide it. Look at live marks first, but do not ignore dead filings: if the owner still uses the name, it can still cause legal trouble.

The database leaves out marks with rights but no federal registration. The USPTO says the examining attorney searches only the federal database; state registers and the internet are the applicant’s job.

For software, the USPTO class list puts electrical and scientific apparatus in class 9 and computer and scientific services in class 42. The Nice Classification, the international system behind those numbers, covers computer software in class 9 and lists software as a service in class 42. Depending on the product, classes 35 (advertising and business), 36 (insurance and financial), 38 (telecommunications) or 41 (education and entertainment) may matter too. Our suggestion: search every class that touches the product, then let the attorney pick filing classes, since the USPTO base fee is $350 per class.

How do you check other countries?

There is no worldwide trademark. The USPTO notes that the Madrid Protocol allows one application to many member countries, but each country’s office decides. For searching, WIPO’s Global Brand Database holds Madrid registrations and marks from participating national and regional offices, and WIPO says it may be prudent to search national registers as well. The EUIPO points to TMview, a free search of EU national offices, the EUIPO and many offices outside the EU. It says refining a search lowers risk but does not rule it out.

A founder domiciled outside the US should know the USPTO requires a US-licensed attorney for foreign-domiciled applicants.

Which domains, handles and package names should you check?

Availability is not clearance. A free .com does not make a name safe to use, and trademark owners can challenge abusive registrations under ICANN’s UDRP.

A long product name such as “Kestrix Expense Approval Software” needs a short store name.

How do you test pronunciation, spelling and meaning?

The USPTO advises asking whether the public will remember, pronounce and spell the name, and whether it means something different, or something offensive, in another language. It also treats names that sound alike or translate to the same meaning as similar. Its example is the Italian word for wolf.

Our test: read each name aloud to five people outside the team, without showing it, and ask them to type what they heard. Repeat a day later. More than one common spelling means buying variant domains and handles, or dropping the name. For each launch market, ask a native speaker about meaning, slang and pronunciation.

Name type matters too. The USPTO calls invented, arbitrary and suggestive names strong, and descriptive or generic names weak and often not registrable.

Who should run which check?

Agency descriptions of this boundary come from vendor pages. One naming agency says preliminary screening is not full legal clearance and that the attorney’s review is a separate step. Another says most agencies coordinate with trademark attorneys but do not file directly. Scopes differ, so ask any agency in writing which registries and markets its screening covers, how many names it screens and who owns clearance. If one agency will handle naming, identity and product design, our guide to scoping brand and product work shows how to split the deliverables.

How can you score three to five shortlisted names?

Separate hard stops from scores. Any hard stop removes a name. Scores rank the survivors.

A score is a ranking aid, not a legal result. The attorney can stop the top name.

Illustrative worked example: three names for an expense-approval startup

Everything here is invented. Kestrix, Merrowby and Vantrel are fictional names, and the results are made up.

Kestrix has the highest total and still stops at the knockout search, so its score never matters. Vantrel and Merrowby go to the attorney, Vantrel first. Neither is cleared. Merrowby stays as the fallback, and nobody pays for identity work until the attorney answers.

What if the name you love has a conflict?

The EUIPO lists four options when a search finds a conflicting mark: negotiate with the owner, risk opposition, challenge the earlier mark, or reconsider your mark. It adds that many identical or similar marks coexist. The USPTO says identical names can sit with different owners when goods differ, as with Dove soap and Dove ice cream bars, but a likelihood-of-confusion refusal can be difficult or impossible to overcome.

Respelling rarely helps if the name sounds the same. Ask the attorney which option fits, keep the second-ranked name ready and hold identity payments until the answer arrives. If you are renaming an existing company, plan the moves: the old GitHub organization name opens to anyone after a rename, and Apple allows an app name change with a new version.

Where do these checks stop working?

A search cannot promise registration. The USPTO says its own examination may reach a different conclusion, and a name with no conflicts can still be refused on other grounds. Federal databases miss common law use. This guide reads US, EU and WIPO overview pages, not the law of other countries. We did not read every social platform’s handle rules, and store limits change. The agency descriptions come from two vendor pages published in May and June 2026. The worksheet is our own, and its scores are untested. The scenes and names are invented.

What can you produce now?

Five things, before any identity payment:

1. A one-page brief with the product, the buyer, the launch countries and the classes to watch.
2. A cut from ten candidate names to three to five, using the say-aloud and meaning tests.
3. A search log for each name: query, date and result.
4. A filled worksheet with hard stops marked.
5. A packet for the attorney: names, classes, countries, your log and your questions.

If you want a design partner once a name is cleared, our comparison of startup branding agencies shows what each team publishes.