Names May Be in English or French or Both

Table of Contents

• 6.1 Additional languages

You may request your corporate name in an English form only, a French form only, a combined English and French form, or separate English and French forms. Your corporation may use and be legally designated by any such form.(see subsection 10(3) of the CBCA)

A combined English and French form has only one legal element. "Inc." is a suitably bilingual element for this purpose, e.g. Coiffure CHICO Hairdressing Inc. (see Regulation 34) If you select a combined English and French form for your name, you must use the full combined form to legally designate your corporation. If your corporate name has separate English and French forms, your business can be legally designated by either of them.

Corporations operating in Quebec may wish to have a French form of the corporate name. When selecting a French name translated from an English name, you may wish to check the accuracy or acceptability of the translation with:

Office de la Langue Française
Quebec - Tel.: (418) 643-1908 or 1-888-873-6202 (in Québec only)
Montreal - Tel.: (514) 873-6565
Email : info@olf.gouv.qc.ca

As a general rule, the English and French forms of a corporate name do not have to be literal translations, but a corporation cannot have French and English forms of a corporate name that are so different as to appear to belong to two different corporations. Where there is concern this may be the case, the proposed name will be rejected.

However, Corporations Canada will permit all words contained in English and French forms of a corporate name to be translated in the following situations:

- The name is made only of generic words, literally translated. There is no separate distinctive element although the name as a whole is distinctive.

acceptable
Think retail Inc. (English form)/ Pensez Détail Inc. (French form)

The name consists only of a distinctive element, which is partly translated. The part that is translated is descriptive and the other part is identical in both English and French.

acceptable
Techni-Glass (or Techniglass) Inc. (English)/ Techni-Verre (or Techniverre) Inc. (French)

The name consists of both distinctive and descriptive elements, both of which are very literally translated.

acceptable
Édition Entre-Nous Inc. (French)/ Between-Us Publishing Inc. (English)

Only the distinctive element may be in a foreign language. Descriptive elements (if there are any) must be in either English or French or both.

e.g. La Parilla Restaurant Inc.

The initial letters only of English or French words as the distinctive element are generally not acceptable as alternate name forms. The choice and order of the initials may differ between the languages, even if the words on which they are based are exact translations, and so give the appearance of two unrelated names.

not acceptable
C. M. I. Inc. (English form) / H. I. C. L. Inc. (French form)
CS Computer Services Inc. (English form) / Service Informatique SI Inc. (French form)

However, if you can show that the initials have acquired secondary meaning, the alternate name forms may be acceptable.

And, despite this rule the alternate name forms of a not-for-profit corporation containing the initials of descriptive words may be acceptable, despite differences. The name would have to be available without the initials, and the initials must not form a substantive part of the name.

acceptable
ARIC Aerospace Research Institute of Canada (English form)
Institut de Recherches Aerospatiale du Canada IRAC (French form)

Where a name has been rejected because the French and English forms look like two separate corporations, a possible remedy is to demonstrate that the forms have acquired secondary meaning associating both forms with the same business.

Some descriptive terms may not be acceptable in alternate forms because they are likely to cause confusion in either or both languages. Proposed names containing descriptive terms like gestion, holdings, investissements, management or placements are not acceptable when there is an existing name with the same distinctive element and any one of the above terms as the descriptive element. Since holding, management and investment companies may well be carrying on the same type of business, and since the word placements is often used as a translation for both holdings and investments, granting such a new name would be likely to cause confusion, unless the distinctive element were very diluted.

e.g.
XYZ Holdings Inc. -- existing name
XYZ Placements Inc. -- not acceptable
XYZ Investments Inc. -- not acceptable

6.1 Additional languages

In addition to acceptable names for use in Canada, you may request a name for use outside Canada in English, French or any other language. The names for use outside Canada must be equivalent to the corporate name for use in Canada. A name with a different meaning is not acceptable, as this would likely lead the public to think they were different businesses. The name for use outside Canada is to be stated under "Other Provisions" in the articles of incorporation.

Return to Table of Contents