Shopify Store Name and Logo: With Trademark and Domain Check

Your store’s name stays with you for years: on the domain, on invoices, on packaging and in every ad. If you get careless here, in the worst case you have to rename everything after a cease-and-desist letter (Abmahnung). In this article, you’ll learn how to find a store name, secure it with a trademark search and domain check, and create a logo that looks clean everywhere in Shopify. It’s part of our overview Shopify design & technology.

Finding a Shopify store name: what makes a good name

A good store name meets five criteria:

• Short and pronounceable: Someone hears the name in conversation or in a video and finds you on Google afterwards. Two to three syllables are ideal.
• Unambiguous to spell: No spellings that make people guess (ph or f, ck or k, hyphens).
• Not purely descriptive: “Phone Case Shop” is easy to remember, but hardly protectable as a trademark and interchangeable. A made-up word or a combination of meaning and something of your own is stronger.
• Not too narrow: If you sell dog leashes today and cat accessories tomorrow, the name shouldn’t be “Leash World”.
• Available: No one else’s trademark, no well-known company name, no domain in someone else’s hands. More on that in a moment.

AI tools can definitely help with brainstorming. Have them give you 50 suggestions, cut ruthlessly and check the five best thoroughly. No tool will do the checking for you.

The name check in 5 steps

Before you order a domain, logo and packaging, check the name. It costs you an hour and, if it comes to it, saves you an expensive rename.

How to search in DPMAregister

When you file an application, the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA) does not check whether earlier identical or similar trademarks exist. The office states this explicitly on its trademark search page (German). So you have to search yourself. Keep in mind:

• DPMAregister finds trademarks with matching elements, but it can’t do a similarity search. So also search for variants: other spellings, singular and plural, similar-sounding words.
• The register does also show EU trademarks and international trademarks, but the DPMA doesn’t guarantee completeness for them. That’s why you also use TMview.
• Not every protected sign is in a register. Company names and business designations are also protected through use. That’s why step 3 matters.

Nice classes: why the same trademark isn’t always a problem

Trademarks are registered for specific goods and services, sorted by the so-called Nice classes. Clothing, for example, is in class 25, software in class 9, IT services in class 42. A conflict is mainly a risk when both the name and the goods are similar.

A reader question illustrates the problem well: a name is registered for software (classes 9 and 42); may I use it for print-on-demand T-shirts? The honest answer: maybe. What matters is the likelihood of confusion in the individual case. For well-known trademarks, protection also extends beyond the registered classes. For a binding assessment, you need a trademark lawyer. When in doubt, a different name is almost always cheaper than a dispute.

Do I have to register my store name as a trademark?

It’s not mandatory. You may use an available name without registering it. But a registered trademark gives you a clear right to take action against copycats, and on marketplaces it’s often a prerequisite for brand protection programs.

What many don’t know: you can file a trademark as a small business (Kleinunternehmer) or as a private individual, too. Names aren’t “patented”; they’re registered as trademarks. The costs at the German Patent and Trade Mark Office according to the DPMA fee schedule (German):

An EU trademark at the EUIPO applies throughout the EU but costs considerably more. For a store that initially sells in Germany, the German trademark is usually enough. If you choose the wrong classes or only file descriptive terms, you pay for nothing. If you’re unsure, legal advice before filing is worth it.

If you want to move from dropshipping to your own brand later, the trademark application belongs firmly in the plan. What that transition looks like is described in From dropshipping to your own brand.

Store name, business name, imprint: what applies?

As a sole proprietor (Einzelunternehmer) without an entry in the commercial register (Handelsregister), you may not use a “Firma” in the legal sense, but you may use a business designation (Geschäftsbezeichnung). Your store name is exactly such a designation. According to the German federal start-up portal (Existenzgründungsportal) (German), the following applies:

• In business dealings, i.e. in the imprint (Impressum), on invoices and letters, your first and last name and an address for service (ladungsfähige Anschrift) must appear. For example, “Kerzenzauber, owner Anna Muster”.
• The name must not be misleading. A small workshop may not call itself a “factory”. Additions like “Deutsche …” or endings that sound like a legal form are off-limits.
• It must not give the impression that you are entered in the commercial register.

You can run several stores with different names under one trade registration, as long as the registered trade covers the activity. Each store then needs its own complete imprint. On Shopify, each store is a separate subscription. How to manage multiple stores or delete a test store is explained in Shopify account and subscription: switch, pause, cancel. How trade registration (Gewerbeanmeldung) works is explained in Registering a trade for your online store; what belongs in the imprint is covered in Protecting your Shopify store from cease-and-desist letters.

Entering and changing your store name in Shopify

You enter the store name in the general settings. According to the Shopify Help Center, you can change it at any time. Only the business name for Shopify Payments is changed via support. Your myshopify.com address, on the other hand, can only be changed once. Customers won’t see it anyway once you connect your own domain. How to do that is shown in connecting your own domain to Shopify.

Your store’s contact details are public. So enter a business phone number and email address, not your private mobile number, if you want to avoid that.

Creating a logo: four approaches compared

The Canva point is often overlooked. Canva’s content license agreement states that content from the Canva library may not be used as part of a trademark, trade name or business name, fonts excepted. So for a logo you want to register as a trademark, design the graphic elements yourself or have them designed. A pure wordmark made with a Canva font is less problematic under this rule.

Technically, the logo gets from Canva into Shopify like this: download it as a PNG, ideally with a transparent background, and then upload it to Shopify. The transparent background option is one of Canva’s paid features. Without it, you get a PNG with a white area that shows up as a box on colored headers. Crop the logo tightly before downloading.

Adding your logo in Shopify: store, checkout, emails

Shopify manages your logo in several places. That explains why it sometimes appears in the store but not in the checkout.

1. Brand assets: Under Settings > General in the “Brand assets” section, you add the default logo, square logo, colors and slogan. According to Shopify, the default logo should be a PNG or JPEG at least 512 pixels wide, and the square one at least 512 × 512 pixels.
2. Theme header: In the theme editor, you select the logo in the header or in the theme settings and set its width. Details are in Customizing your Shopify theme.
3. Checkout: You set the checkout logo in the checkout editor under the checkout settings. If the checkout only shows text instead of your logo, that’s exactly where it’s missing.
4. Notifications: The logo can also be used in email notifications to customers. Check a test order after uploading.
5. Password page: The “Coming soon” page before launch has its own template in the theme editor. Select “Password” in the page selector at the top and set your logo there.

If the upload button doesn’t load or no file dialog opens, it’s almost always the browser. A different browser or a private window without extensions usually solves it.

And the logo on products and parcels? That’s a separate topic, because it depends on the supplier. A logo on the product photo doesn’t mean it will end up on the goods. With classic dropshipping, the supplier only prints your logo if it explicitly offers branding, usually for an extra charge or from a minimum quantity. You clarify this once in advance, not with every order. With print on demand, you print it on the product yourself; see Print on demand with Shopify. For inserts, packaging and neutral delivery in dropshipping, read Dropshipping with your own branding.

FAQ

Can I protect my store name as a small business?

Yes. Any private individual and any business can file a trademark, regardless of legal form or revenue. At the German Patent and Trade Mark Office, the electronic application costs €290 for up to three classes, and each additional class €100. Do your own search beforehand, because the DPMA doesn’t check whether earlier similar trademarks exist. If you’re unsure about classes or likelihood of confusion, a trademark lawyer can help.

Do I have to buy my store name from Shopify?

No. You enter the store name for free in the settings and can change it at any time. You only have to buy your own domain if you don’t want to appear under the myshopify.com address. You can get a .de domain from registrars like IONOS, Strato or INWX and then connect it to Shopify. Check at DENIC beforehand whether your preferred domain is available.

Do I need a separate email address and logo for each store?

For each store with its own name, you should use a separate sender address on the respective domain, otherwise your presence looks unprofessional and customers get confused. A separate logo is logical anyway with different store names. Legally more important is that each store has a complete imprint with your first and last name and your address.

Is it a problem if product photos show a different logo than my store logo?

For customers it looks inconsistent and often gives away the supplier. Legally it can become problematic if it’s someone else’s trademark or you use photos without permission. Better are your own photos or images for which the supplier explicitly grants you usage rights. You shouldn’t simply retouch other people’s logos out of product images if you don’t hold the rights to the image.

Why does the checkout show only text instead of my logo?

Because Shopify manages the checkout logo separately from the theme. The logo in the theme header only applies to the store itself. For the checkout, open the checkout editor in the checkout settings and select your image under “Logo”. Then save and check with a test order whether the logo and size fit.

What format should my logo have for Shopify?

For the default logo, Shopify recommends a PNG or JPEG at least 512 pixels wide, and for the square logo at least 512 × 512 pixels. In practice, a PNG with a transparent background is the most flexible, because it works on light and dark backgrounds. Crop the logo tightly, without margins or empty space, otherwise it looks too small in the header. It doesn’t need to be larger than necessary: according to Shopify, uploads are limited to 20 MB and 20 megapixels. If Shopify reports “too large” even though the file is small, reduce the pixel dimensions.

As of: October 2026. Fees according to the DPMA fee schedule. This article is not legal advice. For checking specific names and trademarks, contact a trademark lawyer or your local Chamber of Industry and Commerce (IHK).