How to Choose a Company Name in China as a Foreign Investor

The name that matters is the Chinese name on the business licence. An English brand, a Hong Kong company name, or a domain does not register the company. For a wholly foreign-owned enterprise, that Chinese name is what banks, the tax bureau, customs, and counterparties will use on chops, contracts, and invoices.

You can usually file it yourself through the local name-declaration system. The registrar keeps an accepted name for two months, or for one year if the company or a scope item needs pre-approval. During that hold the name cannot be used to trade. If the licence is not filed before the hold ends, the name drops back into the pool.

What a China company name must contain

Under the Enterprise Name Registration Provisions, in force since 1 March 2021, and the implementing measures issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation as Order No. 82, effective 1 October 2023, a company name is normally four parts in this order:

1. Administrative division: the county-level or higher place where the company is domiciled. A district name is used together with its city, not alone. A zone or park name is used together with the administrative division, not by itself.
2. Trade name, or zihao: at least two standard Chinese characters. A natural-person investor’s name may be used. Place names and industry words are allowed inside the trade name only if readers will not treat them as the location or the industry.
3. Industry or business feature: tied to the main activity and, where possible, to the national industry classification. This is not the same text as the full business scope.
4. Organisational form: a limited company uses 有限责任公司 or 有限公司. A company limited by shares uses the corresponding share-company wording. The form must match the real structure.

Two layouts are common. The city can sit at the front: 上海启衡企业管理咨询有限公司. Or, where local practice allows, the city can sit in brackets after the trade name and before the form: 启衡（上海）企业管理咨询有限公司. The bracket form is a placement rule, not a different legal name type.

SAMR’s Enterprise Name Declaration Guidelines (2025 edition), Announcement No. 59 of 2025, published on 4 January 2026, keep this four-part structure and spell out how foreign-invested enterprises, branches, and groups are named. The system still compares identical and similar trade names. A match with an existing name in the same industry, at the same registration authority, is blocked unless there is an investment relationship. Names of companies that were dissolved, revoked, or renamed stay in that comparison for one year.

English names, parent brands, and the licence

The licence name is in standard Chinese characters. If you translate it for contracts or a website, the translation must follow ordinary translation practice and must not break the naming rules. The English line is not a second registered name. Chops, bank accounts, and legal documents must use the name printed on the licence.

A foreign parent’s English mark rarely maps one-to-one into two or three Chinese characters. Sound-alike characters, meaning-based characters, and a new Chinese trade name are all used. Pick the version you can actually register, then check it as a trademark. Company-name registration does not give you trademark rights, and a registered trademark does not by itself clear the company-name database.

Wholly foreign-owned or foreign-controlled companies that use the foreign investor’s trade name may include （中国） in the name. If （中国） appears, the trade name must match the foreign investor’s name or the translation of that investor’s trade name. Putting 中国, 中华, 中央, 全国, or 国家 at the front of a name is a different and much harder route: SAMR reviews it strictly and the State Council must approve. Those words in the middle of a name are allowed only as an industry qualifier.

What the declaration system rejects

Names are self-declared. The national and local systems compare the proposal against banned-word lists and same-or-similar rules, then the applicant commits that a confusing name will be their legal problem. The registrar can still refuse the name at licence filing if it does not comply.

Do not file a name that:

• Damages national dignity, public interest, or public order, or copies a party, state, or military title.
• Uses a foreign country or international organisation name, or its usual short form.
• Contains obscene, gambling, superstitious, or violent content, or discriminates by ethnicity, race, religion, or sex.
• Uses 国家级, 最高级, 最佳, or similar ranking words.
• Copies a prior trade name in the same industry that already has some reputation, including a short form.
• Implies a non-profit, a government funder, or a link to state credit.
• Is filed to stockpile names rather than to use them.

Three or four characters in the trade name collide less often than two. Prepare two or three backups before you lock articles of association, the lease, and the shareholder resolution. A rejected first choice should not force a reprint of the whole overseas document set.

How the name choice affects the rest of the setup

The industry word should sit next to the real activity. A consulting company that later wants to import goods often needs a scope change, and sometimes a name change, before customs and the bank will treat the file as a trading company. Scope wording and the name are checked together at filing. The WFOE registration process runs more cleanly when both are settled before the apostille package is ordered.

The name also fixes the city and district of supervision. Moving the company later means a registered-address change and, if the city changes, usually a new name. That is a second filing with the market regulator, then updates at the tax bureau, the bank, and any licence holder.

After the licence, the company chop, finance chop, and legal-representative chop are cut in that exact Chinese name. A mismatch between the chop, the licence, and the bank specimen card is a common reason an account file is sent back.

A practical naming sequence

1. Write the activity in one plain line, then pick the industry term that local bureaus already accept for that activity.
2. Draft three Chinese trade names. Check sound, meaning, and whether the characters are easy to write.
3. Search the local name system and a trademark database in the classes you will actually use.
4. Confirm the city placement your district uses, front or bracket.
5. Reserve the name, then finish investor documents, address proof, and the licence filing inside the hold period.

For most open sectors this is part of ordinary WFOE setup, not a separate approval. Restricted sectors still need the relevant licence before or alongside registration, and those files get the longer one-year name hold.

Common questions

Can I register the company under my English brand only?

No. The registered name uses standard Chinese characters. You may translate that name for overseas use. The translation does not replace the licence name.

Can I use my own name as the trade name?

Yes. A natural-person investor’s name can be the trade name, written in Chinese characters. You still need the city, the industry term, and 有限公司 or 有限责任公司.

How long is a reserved name kept?

Two months in the ordinary case. One year if establishment needs approval, or if the business scope includes an item that must be approved before registration. The hold is not a licence, and the name cannot be used to trade while it is only reserved.

Does a similar name in another city block me?

The hard identical-name block is mainly inside the same registration authority and the same industry, unless the companies have an investment relationship. A famous name can still be challenged as confusing even in another city. A trademark conflict is a separate risk.

Can I change the name after the licence?

Yes, by a shareholder resolution and a change filing. Chops, the bank, invoices, contracts, and the tax record all have to follow. It is cheaper to spend the extra day on backups before the first filing.

Register Company China checks proposed Chinese names against local declaration practice as part of a remote registration file, together with scope wording and the address. If you already have a city and two or three name options, that is enough to start a name screen.