Name Search Instructions

If the search name is an individual or an estate of a deceased individual:

Enter the last name followed by as much of the first as you are certain of. You can also then add a middle name or initial. However middle names and initials frequently do not appear in commercial documents and the more you add, the more likely there will be no results. Use the 26 English letters and 10 Arabic numerals only. Case and punctuation are irrelevant as is the break between the names. For example, “SMITH_JOHN” will yield the same results as “Smith!John”, “SmithJohn” or “smith,john”. A search “smith, john” will find Smith, and John Abel, but a search entered as “smithjohna” will not find the entry Smith,John.

If the search name is an entity (corporation, trust, government agency, etc.):

Enter as much or as little of the name that you are certain of, but what you enter must be the beginning of the name as it appears in this file. A partial name cannot be used unless it is the beginning of the name. Use only the standard 26 English letters and 10 Arabic numerals. Case and punctuation are irrelevant. For example, MIDATLANTIC is the same as Mid-Atlantic, mid-atlantic and Mid!Atlantic. There are four special cases however:

Case 1: The word "The"

"The" will not be found at the beginning of a name.

(Example: To find THE SMITH GROUP, enter smithgroup) If “THE” appears elsewhere in the name, either leave it out (to find STAN THE MAN GROUP, enter “stanmangroup”) or enter spaces before and after THE ”stan the mangroup”) (To find BALTIMORE THERAPY GROUP, P.A., enter “baltimorether”)

Case 2: The word “AND”

Do not enter the word “AND” unless it is the beginning of the name.

(Example: To find “AND DAVE SAID, INC” enter “anddaves”) (To find “THE BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD” enter ”baltimoreohio”) (Entry of “baltimoreand“ will find “BALTIMORE ANDULUSIA SHIPPING” but not “BALTIMORE AND OHIO RAILROAD”)

Case 3: Entity Tails

Do not enter an entity tail (the statutory terms required in the names of certain entities like Co., LLC, Corporation, P.C., etc) if it ends the name.

(Example: To find “The Smith Corp.”, enter “smith”. To find “The Smith Corporation Maryland, Inc.” you can enter as much as “smithcorporationmaryland”. If you add “i” or more at the end however it will not be found)

Case 4: One, two or three character searches

If you enter only one, two or three characters the system will perform an exact name search rather than a wild card search.

(Example 1: Entry of ab will find "THE A&B CORPORATION" but not "ABC INC" or "ABLE" or "A.B.L.E".
 Example 2: Entry of abc will find "ABC Inc" but not "ABC Company, Inc." or "ABC Stores" or "A.B.C.D.". )

Search Results Tip:

Carefully review search results. The order of presentation of the results may not be what you expect because punctuation does not make a difference. For an example of this, search “transamer” in the UCC records and study the order in which the results are presented.