ATTLEBORO - The Attleboro Area Chamber of Commerce and the United Chamber of Commerce have merged and will be called the United Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The announcement was made in a news release issued Thursday. The merger negotiations started in July.

The move between the city chamber and the Franklin-based United Chamber was made to offer the members more opportunity, and to give both chambers more strength, said Attleboro Chamber President Jack Lank, who will retain his position in the merged group. Lank said the Attleboro chamber currently has 523 members, while the merged organization will have 800 to 900 members.

"After many months of discussion and due diligence, the boards of directors of both chambers have carefully considered the many issues related to a merger and believe that a merger will yield an organization that is truly representative of the local business community," the Attleboro chamber said in the release.

"This is a huge opportunity for both memberships," Lank said in an interview.

Smaller chambers merging into larger groups is "a trend that's happening nationwide," he said. "Smaller chambers are getting together to give strength in numbers, and it gives us more clout at the Statehouse."

Lank said he did not know if further consolidation involving other chambers of commerce would happen.

The merged United Regional Chamber of Commerce will retain both current staffs and preserve a presence in both Franklin and Attleboro. The Attleboro office will stay at 42 Union St. and the Franklin office will remain at 620 Old West Central St.

The merged chamber will serve residents and businesses in Attleboro, Bellingham, Blackstone, Foxboro, Franklin, Mansfield, Medway, Medfield, Millis, Norfolk, Norton, Rehoboth, Seekonk and Wrentham.

As for the new name, Lank said, "We brainstormed. We were looking for a name that covered the entire area. We're uniting as one and the name is United Regional Chamber of Commerce because we're covering the entire region."

Lank said that for the next two weeks, until people are accustomed to the new name, people at the Attleboro chamber will still answer the phone "Attleboro Chamber."

The merged organization will be able to offer a wider variety of programming for seminars and workshops, with the new United Regional Chamber of Commerce having access to a much larger market area, the news release said.