Why you might need the legal name
There are several situations where knowing the brand name isn't enough:
- Invoicing: In the EU, invoices must reference the exact registered company name. "Stripe" on an invoice is invalid. "Stripe, Inc." is correct.
- Contract drafting: A contract with "Amazon" as the counterparty is legally ambiguous. You need "Amazon.com, Inc." or the specific subsidiary you're contracting with.
- Credit checks: Credit agencies like D&B and Creditsafe index companies by their legal registration. You can't run a credit check on "Google." You need "Google LLC."
- KYB compliance: Know Your Business regulations require identifying the actual legal entity, not just the brand name.
Manual methods
Check the website footer and imprint
Many websites (especially European ones) include a legal imprint ("Impressum" in Germany) in their footer. This usually contains the registered company name, registration number, and registered address. Check the footer links for "Imprint", "Impressum", "Legal", or "About" pages.
Limitation: many US companies don't include this information on their website. And some companies have outdated imprint pages.
Companies House (UK)
Companies House lets you search for UK-registered companies for free. Search by company name and you'll find the registered name, company number, registered address, and filing history. Works well for UK companies but only covers entities registered in England, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland.
SEC EDGAR (US public companies)
SEC EDGAR is the US Securities and Exchange Commission's database of public company filings. Search by company name to find the exact legal entity name used in SEC filings. Only covers publicly traded US companies.
State business registries (US)
Each US state maintains its own business registry. Delaware's Division of Corporations, California's Secretary of State, New York's Department of State, etc. The challenge: you need to know which state the company is registered in, and each state has a different search interface.
Handelsregister (Germany)
The Handelsregister is Germany's commercial register. Search by company name to find the registered legal name (e.g., "Google Germany GmbH"), registration number, and registered address. Similar registers exist in other EU countries.
WHOIS lookup
A WHOIS lookup on the domain sometimes reveals the registrant organization name. However, many companies use privacy services that hide this information, and the registrant name may be a holding company or domain portfolio manager rather than the operating company.
The problem with manual methods at scale
Manual lookups work fine when you need one legal name. But what if you need to enrich 10,000 CRM records? Or validate the legal entity for every new customer that signs up?
You'd need to: determine the company's country, find the correct registry for that country, search the registry (each with different interfaces), match the result to the correct entity (many companies share similar names), and record the result. For 10,000 companies across 30 countries, that's months of manual work.
The API approach
DataMerge resolves the legal name from any domain in one API call. Our AI agents do a live check of the domain, identify the legal entity behind it, and return both the display name (brand) and legal name (registered entity).
POST /v1/company/enrich
{ "domain": "notion.so" }
Response:
{
"displayName": "Notion",
"legalName": "Notion Labs, Inc.",
"country": "US",
"nationalId": "...",
...
} This works for any domain, in any country, including domains that went live today. The AI agents check the domain live rather than looking it up in a static database, so newly registered companies are resolved correctly.
When manual is good enough vs when you need an API
Manual is fine when: You need 1-5 legal names, you know which country the company is in, and you have time to search the correct registry.
You need an API when: You're enriching more than a few dozen records, companies span multiple countries, you need to do this regularly (new customer onboarding, CRM maintenance), or speed matters (real-time KYB during signup).
