Considering there are more than 62,000 bars in the United States alone, it’s no surprise that settling on a unique name when starting a bar business is no easy task.
Picking the right name gives potential customers an idea of what your business is about, creates a good first impression, and helps you stand out from the competition.
What bar names are you allowed to use? How do you come up with a creative name that best represents your brand? And what about effective 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 best bar name and how to make sure your favorite choices are available to use.
Learn more about the bar industry
Guidelines for Naming Your Bar Business
If you’re struggling to choose a catchy name for your bar, one of the best things to do is just 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 bars are specific to a geographic service area. So, if that’s true for your business, consider adding a location-specific term to your bar 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 bar 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 bar 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 D” to come up with a name like Draft Depot or B for Boogie Bar or whatever letter you’re using to create an alliteration. Alternatively, you can search “words that rhyme with _____” like Star Bar.
It can be time-consuming, but it’s an excellent place to start.
And don’t forget to add any exciting finds to your brainstorming 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 bar could use an image of a beer stein or wine glass and focus the name around the image.
Related: How to create a logo for your business.
6. 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 Bar Names
Here is a list of common bar names of existing bars that may help give you some creative bar name 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!
- 007 Pub
- 2 Ladys & A Pub
- 210 Tavern
- 24th Street Bar
- 40 Thieves San Jose
- Alchemy Tavern
- Ale House Pub
- Alibi Bar
- Alpha Bar
- American Social
- Authentic Cocktails
- Avery Saloon
- AZ Karaoke & Bar
- Babe’s Lounge
- Back Corner Bar & Grill
- Badfish Bar
- Bar 17
- Bar Bodega
- Bar Life
- Bar On Delores
- Bar Works
- Bark Bar
- Barrels Saloon
- Black Thorn Pub
- Blades & Bottles
- Boiler Room
- Bottle & Barlow
- Bottomless Pit
- Bright Bar Co
- Broken Drum Bar
- Bug Out Bar
- Buzz Works Sports Tavern
- Cajun Pub
- Cancun Bar & Lounge
- Capitola Tap House
- Casual Pint Central Phoenix
- Cat House
- Challenger Tap House
- Champs Sports Bar
- Chantilly’s
- Clayton’s Public House
- Copper City Saloon
- Corner Bar At 352
- Corner Tavern
- Cosmic Shift Bar
- Cowboy Palace Saloon
- Cowtown Tavern
- Crazy Harry’s Bar
- Crescent Lounge
- Crossroads Tavern
- Crow Bar
- Cycle Bar
- Dirtbag Bar
- Dirty Blonde Tavern
- Double Deuces Sports Lounge
- Double D’s Sports Bar
- Drink Houz
- El Gringo Kanteen
- El Patron Bar
- Electric Sports Lounge
- Empire Tavern
- End Zone
- Essence Tavern
- Far From Folsom
- Farmer’s Union Pour House
- Father Paddy’s Local Irish Pub
- Fire By The Lake
- Firehouse Hookah Lounge
- First Round Sports Bar
- First Seat Bar & Grill
- Flight Line Tap Room
- Freezer’s Ice House
- French Rooster’s Honky Tonk
- Gander Taphouse
- Geartooth Alewerks
- Glen Bar & Billiards
- Good Time Bar
- Grandma’s Sports Bar & Grill
- Green Room Bar
- Gym Sports Bar & Grill
- Hangar
- Happy Hour Saloon
- Harry’s Sports Bar & Grill
- Hello Penny Bar
- Heroes Pub & Grub
- Hideaway Bar
- High Dive Bar
- Hole In The Wall
- Hometown Heroes
- Hop Social Tavern
- Hop Street Lounge
- Hopper’s Corner Saloon
- House Of Bards
- Hundred Proof
- Ice House
- J J’s Bar & Billiards
- Jimmy’s Famous American Tavern
- Johns Place
- Karma Brew Pub
- Keg Sluggers
- Las Vegas Bar & Billiards
- Little Red Door
- Local Publichouse
- Lockwood Sport Saloon
- Lucky Strikes
- Maple Leaf Pub
- Marty’s Martini Bar
- Mia’s Martini
- Michelada Factory Sports Bar
- Mission Bar
- Mix Up Bar
- Monkey Bar
- Mr. Brews Taphouse
- Mule Creek Saloon
- Nautilus Tavern
- Number One On Fifth
- Oasis Sports Bar
- O’Connor’s Twisted Tavern
- Old Fashioned Social Drinkery
- Open Bar Tavern
- Our Place
- Outlaw Tavern
- Pacific Libations
- Pacific Pourhouse
- Pink Bunny’s
- Plan B Taphouse
- Pour Co
- Pour House
- Press Wine Bar
- Pub At The Creamery
- Public House
- Rebel Republic Social House
- Red Moon Ale House
- Rewined Beer & Wine Bar
- River Rock Taproom
- Roadhouse 95 Grill
- Rock N Ronnies
- Rocks Bar
- Rooster Tavern
- Rusty Horn Saloon
- Savannah’s Old Town Saloon
- Shamrocks Irish Pub
- Shooter’s Sports Bar
- Six Pak Sports Bar
- Six Shooter Saloon
- Sly Fox Irish Pub
- Space Saloon
- Splash Wine Bar
- Splitrock Tap & Wheel
- Starfish Lounge
- Str8 Ball Sports Bar
- Street Side Ale House
- Symmetry Bar
- Tahoe Tavern
- Tavern At The Vogue
- Tavern Project
- Three Canyon Beer & Wine Garden
- Three Twenty Three
- Time Out Tavern
- Tipsy Cactus
- True Grit Tavern
- Whiskey Roads
Is Your Bar Name Available to Use?
Next, you want to verify your name is available to use. 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 naming your bar. 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 bar name!
