What is the best style for writing a General Partnership's trade name?

We formed a business here called Allegheny Process Control, Inc. The name was so long that most people called us APC. Why not keep it simple and call your business:
Etpro’s
G eneral
P artnership if they see it written to emphasis the first letter, people are likel to call it GP

And considering your activity here, your company will make lots of money, so don’t forget us little people that helped you get started.

I suppose I should have included that it isn’t my business. It’s for a client’s website. The actual General Partnership’s name is AnaBandana, so it will be something line AnaBandana GP or Anabandana GP. Generally Inc. for incorporated is separated from the corporate name by a comma, whereas many other corporate entity forms are not.

AnaBandana, GP or AnaBandana GP that is.

O.k. then, I like AnaBandana, GP

I’m fine with it too, but what do the ruling books of style say? That’s what I do not know.

I am pretty sure the partnership, corporation, or Limited Liability, are all preceded with a comma. A period after the organization type is optional. Believe it or not, I studied this when we formed our company may years ago. We were new as a company and didn’t want to make stupid mistakes.

Thanks. Seems right to me. Just hoping one of our style mavens will jump in with a definitive word on it.

So your customer makes bandanas? I wasn’t aware that there was much of a market for them. I know some motorcycle guys and welders that wear them but don’t think I know any women that wear them.

Actually, their first product will be the MightyJoe™ sweatband. The guy half of the partnership is a carpenter by day, and often has to work in extremes of heat and humidity. He got tired of sweat dripping onto his dark glasses and into his eyes with its salty sting, so he came up with a sweatband that’s made of many layers of pure cotton and he says lets him work in the toughest of conditions with dry eyes all day. Ana is the female half of the partnership, so I would guess bandanas might be on the way.

If you’re writing from the U.S., there’s no designation for a general partnership. Unless organized and specified otherwise, all partnerships are general. That’s the default status, and there’s no special abbreviation for it.

You play the alphabet game when you form an LP (limited partnership), LLP (limited liability partnership), LLLP (limited liability limited partnership), etc. It’s also worth noting that most, but not all, types of partnerships are required to have at least one general partner.

@SadieMartinPaul How do the LP, LLP and so forth firms punctuate their formal business name?

I don’t think I’ve ever seen ‘general partnership’ or ‘GP’ listed after a business name, so @SadieMartinPaul seems to be right. I’d just go with AnaBandana. For LPs and LLPs, I’m nearly certain there is a comma after the business name.

Yep, see here for an example. ;)

@augustlan Thanks. I guess it’s a comma. They specifically want GP after the name.

@ETpro No commas or periods are fine but not necessary. You can go with:

Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe, L.P., or
Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe, LP, or
Dewey Cheatham and Howe LP, or…

There are no rules about punctuation.

In 30+ years of working with countless partnerships of every variety, I’ve never seen one’s name include “GP” or “General Partnership.” If your client is 100% adamant about including such a designation, I think it will seem rather silly. Any company’s name makes a first impression, and it’s not good to appear amateurish and unprofessional.

I raise this last point because your original question was, “What is the best style for writing a General Partnership’s trade name?” The answer is: don’t include any GP reference in the trade name.

@ETpro By the way, did this client get any competent legal or accounting advice about creating a general partnership, which exposes every partner to unlimited, personal liability, rather than an LLC, LLP, or another form of entity that protects its owners?

@SadieMartinPaul Thanks for the input. I’ll bounce it off of them. I wondered as well why they did not go for the LLP or LLC form. My guess is that they did not get counsel on the best corporate form to select.