Companies House rejects 800 potentially offensive names

More than 800 company names were rejected over the past two years for being deemed potentially offensive.

The list of proposed company names rejected by Companies House included Building That Fought Hitler Limited, Cambridge Cannabis Club Limited, Fancy a Bomb Ltd, and Fit as Fork Ltd.

Some of the names may have been allowed later if justification was accepted.

A Companies House spokesperson said it was important the register was not abused by recording offensive names.

Among other rejected names were Go Fudge Yaself Ltd, Just Weed Ltd, Meow Meow Cooking Studio Ltd, Pandemic19 Ltd, Pervert Cat Ltd, Shit Creek Paddle Company Limited, and The Great Big Corrupt Company.

The list was obtained by BBC Wales under the Freedom of Information Act.

Companies House is the UK's register of firms, their directors and the significant shareholders who control the business.

More than four million limited companies are registered in the UK, with over 500,000 new companies incorporated each year.

Between April and June 2021, there were 190,639 new incorporations and 115,554 dissolutions in the UK.

There are 134 sensitive words and expressions that require the prior approval of the secretary of state in the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to use in a company or business name.

These words include benevolent, British, commission, inspectorate, licensing, parliamentary, Senedd, standards and Windsor.

Guidance is also given on words and expressions that could imply a connection with a government department, a devolved administration or a local or specified public authority.

Use of some other words and expressions in a company or business name could be a criminal offence, including architect, building society, credit union, physician, social worker, solicitor and surgeon.

The main responsibilities of Companies House are to incorporate and dissolve limited companies, examine and store company information and make information available to the public.

Company registrations for England and Wales are carried out in Cardiff, while registrations for Scotland and Northern Ireland are carried out in Edinburgh and Belfast.

The spokesperson said "we have a statutory responsibility to ensure that the names we register do not have the potential to offend".

"All applications are carefully considered but we will not register a name which is considered to be offensive."