Restaurant Names: Original Examples & Tips
- Four ideas and three tips for the restaurant naming
- Restaurant Name Examples
- How to use a Name in Branding
Are you planning to open a restaurant? Coming up with an attractive name is just as important as creating an original menu and providing quality service. A creative name tells potential visitors what to expect and sets you apart from the competition.
See also: how to come up with a name for a café, bar.
Four ideas and three tips for the restaurant naming
A good restaurant name reflects its concept, cuisine, or location. First of all, start from the specifics of the place and the target audience that you plan to attract. Here are a few ideas you can rely on.
1. Specialization
Hamburgers, steaks, seafood, pancakes – any niche can be the basis for naming. Approach the process creatively: use not direct indications of specialization but associations with the chosen topic.
2. History/mission
Are you following your grandma’s secret recipes? Do you want to revive the lost national cuisine? Are you striving to share a culture of healthy eating? Tell people that story in the title: These emotional hooks create a connection with the target audience and form the “human face” of the business.
3. Location
Another option is to play with the location: the city, the district, the street, nearby attractions, or maybe even the building itself, where the restaurant is located. This will make it easy for customers to remember and find you.
4. Foreign languages
This technique works great for national cuisine restaurants. Use authentic names of dishes, cities, or associations with the country to tell customers what exactly you offer.
Armed with ideas, start naming, but do it step by step:
- Collect keywords. Start with a brainstorm: write down a few dozen associations that come to mind when you think about your restaurant.
- Use an online generator. This keyword-based service will suggest different title options. You can immediately visualize each of them by creating a logo and corporate identity on the same site.
- Check. To make a final decision, analyze the options you like. A good name should be simple, short, memorable, and not similar to a competitor’s one.
Get dozens of restaurant name options in a few seconds!
Restaurant Name Examples
Let’s use examples to show how the original naming works. Take your favorite tricks into service.
Oriental restaurant
The owners of Al Aseel (which means “authentic” in Arabic) in Sydney used two tricks in the name. The foreign word tells about the national cuisine and its meaning emphasizes the authenticity of the cafe.

Breakfast Cafe
The phrase Pancake Pantry speaks of the restaurant’s specialization and creates an attractive image that evokes thoughts of home cooking, family recipes, warmth, and comfort.

Family restaurant
The name of the restaurant The French Laundry was given because of the history of the building where it is located. There indeed was a French steam laundry in the past.

Meat restaurant
The short and capacious name Bones emphasizes the meat specialization of the institution.

Seafood restaurant
The Old Clam House – this name is associated with the characteristics of animals that live in a “house”, that is, a shell.

How to use a Name in Branding
An attractive sign is the “face” of the restaurant. In addition, the name will look appropriate in interior design, on staff uniforms, dishes, napkins, tablecloths, and appliances. For as many people as possible to know about the institution, use the name in outdoor and banner advertising, on business cards, your website, and social networks.

Conclusion
The name is one of the important marketing elements that restaurant owners should use in the fight for customers. Original naming will emphasize the identity of the business, create the first impression and set you apart from your competitors.