Answer
Can I trademark my own name?
Lawyers call this: primarily merely a surname · 15 U.S.C. § 1052(e)(4); consent · § 1052(c)
Short answer
Usually yes, if you use it as a brand for goods or services. A full name, such as a first and last name together, is often registrable once you give the USPTO your written consent. A last name standing alone is the hard case: the USPTO refuses a mark that buyers would read as primarily just a surname, until you show that buyers have come to see it as your brand.
What changes the answer
- Whether the mark is your full name or only your surname
- A first and last name together points to one person, so the surname rule generally does not apply. A surname alone, like SMITH for bakery goods, is the case the rule targets.
- Whether the surname means something else
- A surname that is also an ordinary word, a place or a famous figure’s name may not read as primarily a surname. The USPTO also weighs how rare the surname is and whether it looks and sounds like one.
- What you add to it
- A surname with distinctive wording or a strong design can register. A surname with only a generic or descriptive word, like SMITH BAKERY for bakery goods, generally cannot, because the added word does nothing to change how the whole reads.
- How long and how widely you have used it
- A surname that buyers have come to see as a brand can register. Five years of substantially exclusive and continuous use is accepted as a starting point for that showing, though the USPTO may ask for more.
- Whether someone else already registered the same name
- Sharing a name with an earlier registrant gives you no special right to register it for related goods. The likelihood-of-confusion check applies to personal names like any other mark.
The rule
Two separate provisions reach personal names.
The surname bar, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(e)(4), refuses a mark that is primarily merely a surname. The test is what the name’s primary meaning is to the buying public. U.S. Pat. & Trademark Off., Trademark Manual of Examining Procedure § 1211.01 (May 2026) [hereinafter TMEP].
The consent rule, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(c), refuses a mark that consists of or includes the name of a particular living individual without that person’s written consent. The consent must be to registration, not just to use. When the name is your own and you are the applicant, the record still has to show your consent. TMEP §§ 1206, 1206.04. If a company you own is the applicant, you sign the consent as the individual.
A surname refusal can be overcome. The mark can register on the Principal Register with proof of acquired distinctiveness, which the law also calls secondary meaning, under 15 U.S.C. § 1052(f). Five years of substantially exclusive and continuous use may be accepted as prima facie proof. TMEP § 1212.05. A surname that does not yet qualify can register on the Supplemental Register, 15 U.S.C. § 1091, and you can apply for the Principal Register later once the evidence is there.
Go deeper
The guide explains how acquired distinctiveness is proved, what evidence the USPTO accepts, and how the Board weighs it.
What to do next
If your mark is your full name or your name with distinctive wording, the filing is one many owners handle themselves. Add the consent statement to the application.
If your mark is your surname alone, gather what shows buyers see it as a brand before you file: how long you have used it, where, sales, advertising, and press that refers to the business by that name. Then decide between a § 2(f) claim and the Supplemental Register.
Think about ownership too. If a company will own the mark and you later sell the company, the mark goes with it, and the sale may limit your own use of your name for similar goods. Settle that before the application names an owner.
If you have a surname refusal, or you are choosing between § 2(f) and the Supplemental Register, Valet Law, PLLC can review your evidence and tell you which route is open.
Attorney review is provided by Valet Law, PLLC, a law firm separate from Trademark Valet, LLC. Keep confidential facts out of public tools. Your first message to Valet Law should identify the parties and the general issue only. Wait until Valet Law confirms it can discuss the matter before sending confidential details.
Who checked this
Reviewed and approved by Brandon Leavitt on 2026-10-02.
General information about how trademark law works. It is not legal advice about your situation, and reading it does not make anyone your lawyer.