Thank you for contacting us about setting up customer profiles in QuickBooks Online, citymoosecaterin. I understand you have multiple clients with very similar names and are looking for the best way to handle this in QBO.
You're correct that currently, QuickBooks does require unique names for all customers, vendors, and employees. This is essential for maintaining data integrity when running reports.
Since identical names are not allowed, a good workaround is adding a middle name, middle initial, suffix, or other modifier to slightly distinguish similar names. For example, "John Smith" and "John R. Smith".
Additionally, here are a couple of helpful support articles related to managing customers in QuickBooks Online that you may want to bookmark:
Please don't hesitate to reach back out to the QuickBooks team if you need any other assistance setting up and managing your customer information in QBO, citymoosecaterin. We're always here to help resolve issues, provide guidance, and answer questions about effectively using QuickBooks Online for your business.
