Considering there are more than 7,000 pawn shops in the United States alone, it’s no surprise settling on a unique name when starting a pawn shop business is no easy task.
Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea about your business’s services, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.
What pawn shop names are you allowed to use? How do you come up with something that represents your brand best? And what about business name best practices?
If you’re not sure how to answer those questions, you’re in the right place. Keep reading to learn my top tips for choosing the perfect business name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available to use.
Learn more about the pawn shop industry
Tips for Choosing the Best Pawn Shop Name
If you’re struggling to choose a company name for your pawn shop, one of the best things to do is to start brainstorming. As you go through the tips outlined below, make a list of words, phrases, and terms associated with your business.
From there, you can narrow down the list and cross off ideas you don’t like.
Once you have several top considerations, we’ll walk you through how to make sure you’re allowed to use them. This last step helps you narrow down your list even more so you can make a final decision.
1. Location-Specific Terms
Many pawn shops are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your business name.
You can consider things like:
- City nicknames
- Neighborhoods
- Regions or states
- And descriptive terms
However, consider what happens if you expand outside your intended service area. Does the name become limiting? If so, it’s best to avoid it if you plan to expand or change directions later.
2. Avoid Business Names That Are Hard to Pronounce or Spell
Despite the technological advances in voice search, assistants like Siri and Alexa struggle to understand slang and other confusing words.
This could limit how often your business shows up in voice (and text-based) searches if your name is hard to spell, pronounce, or hear. Because of that, it’s important to avoid complicated words, industry jargon, and using numbers in place of letters. While having a unique pawn shop name is good, being too unique may not be so good.
Keep your business name as simple and easy to remember as possible so potential customers can easily find you.
3. Consider Alliterations and Rhyming Words
Alliterations and rhymes are catchy and easy to remember. Because of that, they make for great business names.
That said, it’s not always easy to come up with them. Start by choosing a few of your favorite words from your master brainstorming list.
Then, you can Google “words that start with P” to come up with a name like Premium Pawn or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____.”
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.
And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorm list while you’re at it. Try not to overthink the names you come up with. Just write them all down, as some of the more interesting ones may spark better ideas later.
4. Steer Clear of Initials or Obscure Acronyms
Initials and unusual acronyms are hard to remember, so they typically don’t make great business names. They can also be challenging to pronounce and confusing for voice search as well.
Furthermore, there are 325 different two-letter combination possibilities in the English language. And the odds of your customers remembering the specific letters you chose are pretty small.
5. Imagery Words
Another consideration when brainstorming name ideas is whether there are industry-related words that could also lend themselves to be used in a logo. For instance, a pawn shop could use in the image of a pawn chess piece or something of value like a diamond or watch and focus the name around the image.
Related: How to create a logo for your business.
6. Still Struggling? Try the Owner’s Name
If you’ve made it this far and are still struggling to find the best name, you can always consider using the business owner’s name. Doing so works well if the owner also plans to be the face behind the business.
Something to keep in mind is that using the owner’s name as the business name can make it more challenging to sell the business in the future.
List of Catchy Pawn Shop Business Name Ideas
Here is a list of existing pawn shop names that may help you come up with some creative ideas. While many of these names may be available for you to use, be sure to check first to be sure they can be used.
Tips on how to check business name availability are after the list of names!
- 9 To 5 Pawn & Jewelry
- 911 Pawn & Gun
- AAA Pawn & Guns
- Ace Pawn Shop
- All American Gun & Pawn
- American Pawn
- Auto Money Title Pawn
- Bayou Gold Xotic Pawn
- Bayou Pawn Of Texas
- Big Bucks Pawn
- Big D’s Gun & Pawn
- Bullseye Pawn & Gun
- Buy Right Pawn Shop
- Capital Pawn
- Captain Marko’s Pawn
- Carolina Pawn Shop
- Cash America Pawn
- Cash Me Up Pawn
- Cash Money Pawn
- Cash Stop
- City Pawn Shop
- City Pawn Sshop
- Coastal Pawn & Jewelry
- Cooper Pawnshop
- Dash 2 Cash Pawn Shop
- Discount Pawn
- Dollar Pawn
- Double D’s Pawn
- Eagles Nest Pawn
- Eastside Pawn Shop
- Easy Going Pawn
- Easy Money Pawn
- Elberton Sport & Pawn
- Empire Gold & Pawn
- Falcon Pawn & Loan
- Fast Cash Pawn
- Fast Pawn Inc.
- First Rate Pawn
- Freedom Pawn & Loans
- Friendly Pawn Shop
- Geaux Pawn
- Georgia Title Pawn
- Godfather Pawn
- Gold & Silver Trading
- Golden State Pawn & Guitars
- Greater Pittsburgh Quick Cash
- Happy Hocker Jewelry & Loan
- Harvey’s Pistol & Pawn
- Hillbilly Gun & Pawn
- Hodges Pawn Shop
- Holly Hill Pawn & Jewelry
- House Of Pawn
- Jake’s Haggle Hut
- Jarheads Gun & Pawn
- Joe’s Pawn Shop
- Kentucky Pawn & Gun
- KWIK Cash Pawn
- Liberty Jewelry & Loan
- Liberty Pawn
- Loan Star Pawn & Gold
- Lt Dan’s Pawn Shop
- Lucky Horse Shoe Pawn
- Mad Dog Pawn
- Magic Pawn
- Main Street Pawn
- Man Cave Pawn
- Mid Valley Pawn
- Money Mart Pawn & Jewelry
- Money Stop Pawn Shop
- Money Tree Pawn & Consignment
- Mr. Pawn
- My Pawn Shop
- National Pawn Shop
- No This & That Pawn & Resale
- Northside Pawn & Discount
- Papa’s Pawn
- Pappys Pawn N Pickers
- Pavilion Pawn & Jewelry
- Pawn & Treasure
- Pawn Broker
- Pawn Central
- Pawn Depot Of Florida
- Pawn Express
- Pawn House
- Pawn King
- Pawn One
- Pawn Stars
- Pawnfellas Of Orlando
- Peddlers Pawn
- People’s Pawn
- Peoples Pawn Of Orange City
- Picker’s Pawn & Vintage Relics
- Pikes Peak Pawn & Loan
- Pink Frog Pawn & Variety
- Planet Pawn
- Poor Boy Pawn
- Quality Pawn
- Queen Of Pawns
- Quick Cash Pawn
- Quick Cash Title Loans
- Rare Finds
- Red Carpet Pawn Shop
- Red Rock Pawn
- River City Pawn & Jewelry
- Roses Pawn Shop
- Sardis Trading Co
- Saver’s Pawn
- Sell Quick For Cash Money
- Sharpshooter Pawn
- Silver Pawn Shop
- Smart Cash Pawn
- Southside Gun & Pawn
- Southside Pawn
- Stateline Pawn
- Steady Rollin Pawn
- Steve’s Northside Pawn
- Sully’s Exchange
- Sunshine Gold Pawn
- Superior Pawn
- Texas Pawn Stars
- Tipton County Pawn
- Title Pawn
- Top Dollar Pawn Shop
- Trading Post Pawn Shop
- Uncle Sams Gun & Pawn
- United Pawn
- Uptown Pawn
- Walker Arms & Pawn
- Warwick Trading Co
- Wheelin & Dealin This & That
- Wild Cat Pawn
- Ye Od Pawn Shop
Is Your Pawn Shop Name Available?
At this point, you should have several top considerations to choose from. And the best way to narrow it down further is to check each one for availability.
This step is helpful because using a name that someone else is using could be very costly, time-consuming to rebrand your business, and possibly embarrassing. There are several places to look to check whether a name is available to use, so let’s walk through each one.
Can the business name be registered in your state?
If you plan to use a specific business name, you may be required by the state to verify it’s available to use.
Related: How to check business name availability in your state
Is your name already trademarked?
When searching for a name for your new business, you should check that your new name isn’t trademarked by someone else. If it is, you may not be allowed to use it legally.
Thankfully, the United States Patent Trademark Office (USPTO) makes trademark searching a breeze through their Trademark Database.
A name isn’t necessarily available if it doesn’t appear in this search. Every business has some limited protection through a common law trademark. This means another business can’t open up down the street with the same name, as this creates confusion for customers. Also, check local competitors by doing a Google search and looking through the Yellow Pages.
If your name is available and you want to protect it from being used by anyone else, you can register it with the USPTO.
Related: How to check for a trademark
Hopefully, you now have some good name ideas for your pawn shop. Once you have narrowed this list to just a few and researched that they are all available, start asking friends, family, and potential customers their thoughts to get feedback, and then pick your perfect pawn shop name!
