What's in a Name? - How to Select a Lasting Moniker for Your New Restaurant

Your new restaurant is your baby, right? Well, then consider some advice for new parents that works equally well for new restaurateurs: Naming your baby is one of the most exciting activities in preparing for its birth. It is also one of the most important decisions you make.

I run my finger down a column of the Manhattan telephone directory. Around the Clock … Arqua … Arriba Arriba … Arshad Azad … Art Bar. I've counted 86 pages devoted to restaurants. Bombay Palace … Bon 75 … Bonafide … Bonan Con Sabor … Bond Street.

There are names that are exotic (Queen of Sheba Ethiopian) and names that are mundane (Three Guys Restaurant). There are names that make me smile (Rufus T. Firefly, Murphy's Law Bar) and there are names that describe the concept (Pronto Pizza, The Comfort Diner). Different languages are represented (El Papasito, Gajyumaru, Fu Kee, Sel & Poivre). There are short names (Po) and long names (Peace Pool Chinese Hong Kong Restaurant). There's even a little country in the city (Friend of a Farmer, Tennessee Mountain Restaurant).

From A&B Restaurant right through to Zutto Village Restaurant, New York City's 20,000 restaurants go by every conceivable name. Somewhere, at some time -- either decades ago or last week -- every owner of those 20,000 restaurants had a big decision to make: What do we name the baby?

Your new restaurant is your baby, right? Well, then consider some advice for new parents from Pregnancy Today magazine that works equally well for new restaurateurs: "Naming your baby is one of the most exciting activities in preparing for its birth. It is also one of the most important decisions you make."

So how do you start? If you were naming a computer store or a florist, the task of devising a suitable name may be easier. Standard rules exist for selecting a name for most businesses. For example, one rule states that the name for your business should not be vague. "Summertime" may not be a good name for a florist, but it may work for a restaurant. When it comes to vague names, Ray Kroc did pretty well with McDonald's. Same with Starbucks. Those names don't tell you much of anything about the concept.

Another rule says that the name for your business should not be misleading. You don't want to call a women's clothing store "One of a Kind Dresses" if you're buying dresses in multiple lots from the manufacturer. But speaking of manufacturing, what does Cheesecake Factory imply? That name has worked well for a chain that serves so much more than cheesecake. And Jack-in-the-Box sounds more like a toy store than it does a fast-food restaurant.

Another rule for naming a business is that you shouldn't select a name too much like other names. How many pizza restaurants in the United States are named Tony's? No doubt, there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of them and yet Tony's Pizza is a totally appropriate name.