External Organization Name Data Standard

The following types of Organization Names are supported at UBC:

An organization may have multiple aliases, but must only have one active Legal Name.

There must be two parts in a organization's Name – Distinctive and Descriptive.

Distinctive

The distinctive element serves to differentiate names having identical or similar descriptive elements. For that reason, it is the most important element to be examined in a name.

Distinctive names must adhere with the following:

1. Must be unique.
2. Cannot contain special characters unless they are part of the distinctive name.
   For example, the organization entrepreneurship@UBC contains the character '@' as part of the distinctive name making it permissible.
3. Cannot contain any embedded information if not part of the name e.g. inactive flag or status
4. Numerals may be used in company names as the distinctive element. A year may be used in a name provided that it is the year of incorporation, amalgamation or registration. For example: 123456 Enterprises Ltd. or Pacific Enterprises (1997) Ltd.
5. In most cases, an individual's full name will be considered to be sufficiently distinctive and therefore acceptable. For example: Bill Brown Ltd. or John Smith Inc.
6. Two surnames, or initials with a surname, are normally accepted.
   For example, Brown, Green Inc. or J.R. Black Corp.
7. Where an individual is a supplier or a vendor, their name format must adhere to Canada Revenue Authority T4A guidelines for purposes of generating tax forms for the individual. The format to be used is:
   • LastName, FirstName Initial(s)
8. Single word names (such as International Limited) are normally not sufficiently distinct from other names containing the same word. An exception may be allowed if the proposed, single-word name contains a coined word that has been trademarked and evidence of the trademark is presented with the name request. Each case will be determined on its merits. Obvious contractions of common words, for example Petrochem, being a contraction of petroleum and chemical, are not considered to be coined words for the purposes of single-word names.
9. Must include the accepted designation value. The following table shows a list of accepted designations for each organization type:
   
   

   Organization Type	Designation	Location of Designation in Name
   Incorporated	"Limited" or "Ltd." "Limitee" or "Ltee." "Incorporated" or "Inc." "Incorporee" or "…" "Corporation" or "Corp."	As the last word
   Extra-provincial company	"Limited Liability Company" or "LLC"	As the last word
   Partnership and proprietorship	"Company" or "Co."	As the last word
   Limited partnership	"Limited Partnership"	As the last word
   Limited liability partnership	"Limited Liability Partnership" or "LLP"	As the last word
   Unlimited Liability Companies	"Unlimited Liability Company" or "ULC"	As the last word
   Society	"Society"	Within name
   Association	"Association"	Within name
   Cooperative	"Cooperative" or "Co-operative" or "Coop" or "Co-op"	Within name

Descriptive

The descriptive element is useful in describing the nature of the business, as well as expanding the options available. It allows the use of identical or similar distinctive elements, which might be desirable in developing a particular presence in the marketplace.

e.g. Ever-ready Brake Shop Ltd. or Better Value Stationery Ltd.

Certain words are not permitted in a name. Some of these depend on the type of business structure. Examples of these restrictions include:

• Obscene words or wording
• Any wording that might be confused with a government organization