trade name A trade name may be, and often is, a trade mark, but it has a wider application than that. In its wider sense, it means the name under which a person (or company) carries on, and has habitually carried on, his business, and by which he is known in the trade or business to which his business belongs, and which accordingly distinguishes the nature, quality and fame of his goods and dealings. A person has a right to restrain any one else from injuring his business by using his trade name.