The New Brunswick NUANS Search report has seven pages. The report is created from the Canadian name search system called NUANS. The NUANS search system compares a proposed name for a New Brunswick corporation with the names registered in the NUANS database which contains all of the names that are currently registered across Canada with some small exceptions.
Before incorporating in New Brunswick you must obtain a New Brunswick NUANS search report. The New Brunswick government compares the proposed company name that you wish to use to the names on the New Brunswick NUANS search report to be sure that the name you wish to use is available and not in use by another company.
The New Brunswick government also requires that a New Brunswick NUANS Search Report be provided at the time of registering a New Brunswick sole proprietorship, a New Brunswick partnership and a business name on behalf of a New Brunswick company already registered in that province. The Companies Branch in New Brunswick is very careful about granting name clearances and it is therefore very important to ensure your name is very different from any other names already registered. It is advisable to do a preliminary name search before ordering a full New Brunswick NUANS Search report just to ensure the name is available. Having a preliminary name search performed on your proposed business name will let you know if anyone is using the name prior to your ordering a full New Brunswick NUANS name search report. The reason for this is that once you order the New Brunswick name search it is too late to check the name. If the New Brunswick NUANS Search report shows that your name is too close to another name your proposed name will be rejected by the government in New Brunswick and it will be necessary for you to order another New Brunswick name search. Keep in mind that the government looks at not just names registered in New Brunswick but those registered right across Canada.
Prior to obtaining your New Brunswick NUANS Search report you must first ascertain whether the name that you wish to use is available. This is done by having a search house perform a preliminary name search. The normal practice is for the search house to perform the preliminary name search as part of the service when ordering a full New Brunswick NUANS name search report. Watch out for companies that charge a separate fee for the preliminary name search when ordering a full report. The only time you should pay for a preliminary name search is in a case where you do not want to order a full search would be in a case where you are registering a trade name and a NUANS is not required. New Brunswick requires all registrations, i.e. incorporations, business name registrations, sole proprietorship registrations and partnership registrations to be accompanied by a New Brunswicks NUANS search report. Look for a service that will perform the preliminary name search as part of the cost of ordering your New Brunswick NUANS search report.
It should be noted that when registering an New Brunswick corporation, it is a requirement that there be a legal element to the name (explained below) but for other registrations such as New Brunswick business names, this is not necessary.
Below is an explanation of how to pick a name for a corporation however the principles can be applied to business names with the exception of the legal element.
When picking a name for your corporation, you should consider three elements of the name. In particular: (i) the Distinctive Element (ii) the Descriptiv e Element , and (iii) the Legal Element of the name. If the name you choose to register is “Peterson Carpentry Inc. , the distinctive element in the name is the word “Peterson”, which is distinctive because it is a, individual’s last name. Another type of a distinctive element in a name might be “Ontario” as in “Ontario Garden Supplies Ltd.” which is distinctive because it describes a location. “Greening Dental Services Inc.” has the distinctive word “Greening” in it to make it stand out from other dental service companies.
The descriptive element describes the type of business. In “Capital Mining Inc.”, the descriptive element is “Mining” which describes the nature of business of the corporation. In “Pickering Legal Services Ltd.” the descriptive element is “Legal Services” which describes the type of services this business provides. “Building Supplies” is the descriptive element for “Mack Building Supplies Corp.”.
The Legal Element in the name Mining Resources Inc. is the word “Inc.” which is a mandatory ending which recognizes the name as the name of a company. Any company registered in Canada must have one the following endings: “Inc.”, “Incorporated”, “Ltd.”, “Limited”, “Corp.”, “Corporation” and the French equivalents of “Ltee.” “Limitee”, “Inc.” (same in English and French) or “Incorporee”, The Legal Element indicates that the name relates to a company rather than to a business name, partnership or sole proprietorship.