Can You Trademark a Person’s Name? Consent, Surnames, and Conflicts

You can trademark a person’s name federally when three things line up: the name is actually being used as a brand for goods or services in commerce, the living individual identified by the name has given written consent, and the name is distinctive enough that consumers recognize it as a source rather than just someone’s last name. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office runs these applications through the same framework as any other trademark, then applies extra rules specific to personal names. When nothing goes sideways, an application reaches a final outcome in about 10 months.¹

The Name Has to Be Doing Brand Work

Having a name doesn’t give you trademark rights in it. The name has to identify you as the source of specific goods or services moving in interstate or international commerce.² For goods, that means the name appears on the product, its packaging, or a display where customers buy it. For services, it appears in advertising, on your website, or on signage where you deliver the service.³

The use has to be real. The Lanham Act requires a “bona fide” use of the mark in commerce, meaning legitimate sales or services actually reaching consumers.⁴ Manufacturing a paper trail of token sales won’t clear the bar, and neither will a plan to launch someday.

If you haven’t started using the name yet but plan to, you can file on an “intent to use” basis. That reserves your place in line, but the registration doesn’t issue until you prove actual use. After the USPTO sends a Notice of Allowance, you have six months to file a Statement of Use, with up to five additional six-month extensions available for good cause. That gives you a maximum of three years to get the name into commerce.⁵

Written Consent from the Living Person

Section 2(c) of the Lanham Act blocks registration of any mark that identifies a particular living individual unless that person has given written consent.⁴ This covers full legal names, nicknames, stage names, and pseudonyms. Anything the public would connect to a specific real person.

Consent has to be a signed written statement from the individual authorizing the registration. If the name is your own and you’re the applicant, the USPTO treats filing as implied consent. The trouble comes when your name matches someone well known. If the examining attorney thinks consumers would perceive the mark as referring to a different living person, that person’s written permission is required before the application can move forward.

A federal registration also doesn’t wipe out state-level rights. Most states recognize a “right of publicity” that gives individuals control over the commercial use of their name and likeness independent of trademark law. Even a valid registration can create exposure under state publicity law and federal unfair competition rules if the use implies a false endorsement.

If the Person Is Deceased

The Section 2(c) consent requirement applies only to living individuals. The statute carves out one specific case for deceased persons: the name, signature, or portrait of a deceased U.S. President can’t be registered during the lifetime of the surviving spouse without that spouse’s written consent.⁴

Outside that narrow exception, federal trademark law doesn’t require consent to register a deceased person’s name. You still have to show the name functions as a brand and clear the other refusal grounds. Publicity rights held by the estate may still complicate actual use of the name, and those rights vary widely from state to state.

The Surname Problem

This is where most name-based applications hit a wall. Section 2(e)(4) of the Lanham Act refuses registration of any mark that is “primarily merely a surname.”⁴ The reasoning: giving one business exclusive rights to a common last name would unfairly block other people with that name from using it in their own businesses.

A name like “Parker” or “Chen” used for a new product will usually trigger this refusal because consumers will read it as a last name, not a brand. Adding merely descriptive wording rarely fixes the problem. If none of the additional wording is inherently distinctive on its own, the whole mark is still refused as primarily a surname.⁶

The way through is “acquired distinctiveness,” also called secondary meaning. You’re showing the USPTO that consumers have come to associate your surname with your specific brand. Section 2(f) of the Lanham Act lets the USPTO Director accept five years of substantially exclusive and continuous commercial use as prima facie evidence that a mark has become distinctive.⁴ Short of the five-year route, you can build the case with advertising spend, sales volume, unsolicited media coverage, and consumer surveys.

Conflicts with Existing Marks

Consent and distinctiveness aren’t the end of it. The USPTO will still refuse registration if your mark is confusingly similar to an existing trademark for related goods or services. The examining attorney searches the federal register for marks that look alike, sound alike, or carry the same commercial impression. Two people with the same last name in unrelated industries might both register it. Two people selling similar products under the same surname will almost certainly see the later application refused.

The analysis turns on how consumers would perceive the marks in the marketplace. If someone already holds a registration for “TAYLOR” on clothing, your application for “TAYLOR” on accessories is a hard fight regardless of whether Taylor is your actual name. Preventing consumer confusion is the USPTO’s concern, and personal identity doesn’t override it.

What to Gather Before Filing

Before starting the application, put together:

The full legal name and address of the person or entity that will own the mark.
The name as it will be used, either in standard characters (plain text, no stylization) or as a specific design.
A precise description of the goods or services sold under the name.
A specimen showing real commercial use: for goods, a product label, packaging, or a website screenshot showing the product for sale with the name; for services, advertising, a business sign, or a webpage describing the services.³
A signed written consent from any living individual whose name appears in the mark.
A filing basis: “use in commerce” if the name is already being used commercially, or “intent to use” if you plan to begin using it soon.²

Applications are filed electronically through the USPTO’s Trademark Electronic Application System. The USPTO restructured its filing fees in 2025, replacing the former TEAS Plus and TEAS Standard options with a single base application fee per class of goods or services.⁷ Check the current USPTO fee schedule before filing. Fees change, and additional charges may apply depending on how the application is put together.

Timeline and What Can Go Wrong

After you file, the USPTO assigns a serial number for status tracking. As of early 2026, the average wait for a first examination action is about 4.5 months. From filing to either registration or abandonment, the full process averages roughly 10 months when things go smoothly.¹

Name-based marks rarely go smoothly. Expect the examining attorney to raise at least one of the issues above: a surname refusal, a consent requirement, or a likelihood-of-confusion problem. When the examiner issues an “office action” flagging a problem, you have six months to respond. If your response doesn’t resolve the issue, the examiner can issue a final refusal, which is appealable to the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

If the application clears examination, the mark is published in the USPTO’s Official Gazette for a 30-day opposition period. Anyone who believes the registration would harm them can file a formal opposition during that window. If no one opposes, or if you win the opposition, the USPTO issues the registration certificate for use-based applications or a Notice of Allowance for intent-to-use applications.

Keeping the Registration Alive

Registration isn’t permanent on its own. Missing a maintenance deadline means the USPTO cancels the registration.

Between the fifth and sixth year after registration, you have to file a Declaration of Continued Use (a Section 8 declaration) proving the mark is still in use. Miss that window and there’s a six-month grace period with a surcharge; miss that too and the registration is canceled.⁸ Between the ninth and tenth year, and every ten years after that, you file both a Section 8 declaration and a Section 9 renewal application. Each filing currently costs $325 per class of goods or services.⁷

Every maintenance filing needs a fresh specimen showing the name still in active commercial use. If you’ve stopped using the name on some of the goods or services listed, those items get deleted. Losing a registration to a missed deadline, after years of building the name’s distinctiveness, is one of the more preventable losses in trademark law.

1
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Processing Wait Times
2
United States Patent and Trademark Office. Application Filing Basis
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Specimens
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1052 – Trademarks Registrable on Principal Register
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Trademark Applications – Intent-to-Use (ITU) Basis
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Examination Guide 3-17 – Surname Combined with Wording
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United States Patent and Trademark Office. Summary of 2025 Trademark Fee Changes
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1058 – Duration, Affidavits and Fees