DBA
Abbreviation with 4 meanings
| Stands for | Doing business as |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 4 |
| Categories | Business & Finance, Units & Measurements, Technology & Computing, Education & Academia |
| Also written | dBA |
DBA has four meanings. The most common are Doing business as (company type) and A-weighted decibels (engineering unit); it can also stand for Database administrator and Doctor of Business Administration.
Meanings of DBA at a glance
| # | DBA stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Doing business as | Business & Finance › Company Type |
| 2 | A-weighted decibels | Units & Measurements › Engineering Unit |
| 3 | Database administrator | Technology & Computing › Data & Database |
| 4 | Doctor of Business Administration | Education & Academia › Degree |
1. Doing business as
Business & Finance · Company Type Abbreviations
Name a person or company uses to trade that differs from its legal name, such as a sole proprietor named Maria Lopez operating as "Sunrise Bakery." In the US, DBAs are registered with a county or state, usually through an assumed-name or fictitious-business-name filing.
Example: Contracts should use the legal name: Lopez Holdings LLC DBA Sunrise Bakery.
Also called a trade name, assumed name or fictitious business name. A DBA creates no separate legal entity and gives no liability protection. Banks typically require the DBA registration certificate to open an account under the trade name. Written DBA or d/b/a; the UK equivalent is "trading as" (t/a).
2. A-weighted decibels (dBA)
Units & Measurements · Engineering Unit Abbreviations
Sound level measured with a filter that mimics the human ear's lower sensitivity to very low and very high frequencies. Occupational noise rules, appliance noise ratings and environmental limits are expressed in dBA.
Example: The dishwasher runs at just 42 dBA, barely audible from the next room.
Also written dB(A). OSHA's permissible limit is 90 dBA over eight hours, with an 85 dBA action level that triggers hearing-conservation programs. OSHA allows exposure time to halve for every 5 dBA increase, whereas NIOSH uses a stricter 3 dBA exchange rate. C-weighting (dBC) is used for peaks and low-frequency noise.
3. Database administrator
Technology & Computing · Data & Database Abbreviations
The IT professional responsible for installing, configuring, securing, backing up, tuning and monitoring an organization's databases. DBAs also manage user access, plan capacity and restore data after failures.
Example: Ask the DBA to add an index before we run the migration on the production table.
Specializations include production DBAs, focused on operations, and development DBAs, who design schemas and optimize queries. Managed cloud databases automate many routine tasks, shifting some of the work toward data engineering and site reliability. In legal and business documents DBA far more often means "doing business as", a registered trade name.
4. Doctor of Business Administration
Education & Academia · Degree Abbreviations
Professional doctorate in business for experienced managers and consultants, built around applied research into real organizational problems. Many programs run part time or in executive format over three to five years, letting students keep senior jobs.
Example: After twenty years in banking, he enrolled in an executive DBA to research credit risk in small firms.
Written D.B.A. A PhD in business mainly prepares future professors, whereas the DBA usually targets practitioners, though some universities treat the two as equivalent. In company documents DBA more often means "doing business as", the trade name a business operates under, and in IT it means database administrator.
Related abbreviations
More company type abbreviations
- Co. – Company
- Co., Ltd. – Company limited
- Corp. – Corporation
- d.o.o. – Društvo s ograničenom odgovornošću (limited liability company)
- e.V. – Eingetragener Verein (registered association)
- FZCO – Free zone company
- FZE – Free zone establishment
- GK – Gōdō kaisha (limited liability company)
See all 78 company type abbreviations →