Can your company trade under a different name?

Your company can be registered under one name and known by customers under another.

Lots of UK businesses work like this, and it’s completely legal. Maybe the registered name was picked in a rush on setup day, or one company runs a couple of different brands.

Either way, you need to keep the registered name visible in a few places.

Your company name is the one you registered with Companies House when you set the company up.

For a private limited company it usually ends in “Ltd” or “Limited”, and it’s the name on your contracts, your tax returns and your business account.

A trading name is any other name you do business under.

It goes on your shop sign, your website, your packaging and your Instagram bio. You don’t register it anywhere, so you can start using one the day you think of it, and you can have more than one if your company runs a few different businesses.

Give the UK trade mark register a quick search first, though. If your name is too close to someone else’s trade mark, you might have to change it if they complain.

A trading name can’t include “Ltd”, “Limited”, “LLP” or “plc”, since those words belong to registered company names. Some words, like “British” or “Institute”, need permission before you can use them in either name.

Because nobody registers trading names, another business could start using the same one as you.

To protect yours, you can register it as a trade mark with the UK Intellectual Property Office, which gives you the right to take legal action against copycats.

“Trading as” is how you show both names together. It’s usually shortened to “t/a”, so a plant shop might write “Quillworth Trading Ltd t/a Pip & Pot” at the bottom of its invoices. Anyone reading it can see the brand and the company legally behind it.

You’ll also see lines like “Pip & Pot is a trading name of Quillworth Trading Ltd” in website footers and terms and conditions.

Either wording is fine, as long as the registered name is easy to find.

Where your registered name still has to show up

Customers can call you by your brand name forever, but the registered name still has to appear on your invoices, receipts, emails, letters and other business paperwork.

Your website needs it too, along with your company number, your registered office address, where in the UK the company is registered and the fact that it’s a limited company. A footer line usually covers all of it.

You also need a sign with your registered name at your registered office and at any shop or office you trade from.

Leaving the registered name off is an offence and can lead to a fine. It can also make things harder in court if a customer refuses to pay.

Sending invoices under a trading name

Invoices are where both names most often end up side by side.

Your customer knows the shop as Pip & Pot, but the payment goes to an account in Quillworth Trading Ltd’s name. With both names on the invoice, and the registered one written in full, they won’t stop halfway through setting up the payment to wonder if they’ve got the right business.

With Smart Invoicing, you can create and send invoices straight from your Ampere business account. It’s ready to use once your account is approved.

Some companies end up liking their trading name so much that the registered one starts to feel like a leftover.

In that case, you can change the registered name through Companies House. Your shareholders need to agree to it, and if you’re the only shareholder, that part is quick.

Once Companies House updates the register, the new name is official.

Plenty of businesses never bother, though. A plain registered name on the paperwork and a brand name on the shop sign work perfectly well together.