A café name has to work on a sign, a cup and a map search, and it sets expectations before anyone walks in: Ratio Coffee Co. promises a careful flat white, The Crooked Spoon a slice of cake and a sofa. This cafe name generator has names in eight styles, so you can start from the feel you want and narrow it down. Whatever you pick, check nobody nearby is using it first.
How the big names were chosen
- Starbucks is named after Starbuck, the first mate in Moby-Dick. The founders wanted something that suggested the sea and the old coffee trade.
- Costa is simply the founders' surname: brothers Sergio and Bruno Costa, who started in London in 1971.
- Pret A Manger is French for "ready to eat", which says exactly what it sells.
- Café Procope in Paris, open since 1686 and often called the city's oldest café, took the name of its founder, Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli.
A story, a name, a promise, a founder: most good café names are one of these.
Eight styles
- One word: short, easy on a sign. Crema, Tamp, Larder.
- French: the café as a corner of Paris. Café du Coin is "the corner café", Le Zinc the old word for a bar counter.
- Italian: espresso-bar style. Bar Centrale, La Tazzina (the little cup), Il Chicco (the bean).
- This & That: two things joined with an ampersand, the most common shape for a modern independent. Fig & Crumb, Ink & Saucer.
- Cosy: "The", an adjective and something homely. The Crooked Spoon, The Sleepy Hare.
- Nature: hedgerows, harbours and trees. Hedgerow Coffee, Driftwood Roasters.
- Modern speciality: numbers and brewing terms, the style of third-wave coffee bars. No. 12, Eighteen Grams (a typical double espresso dose), Ratio Coffee Co.
- Playful and punny: Brewed Awakening, Kettle's On. Fun, but popular, so check them carefully.
A short history of the coffee house
Coffee houses were open in Istanbul by the 1550s, and reached England a century later: the first opened in Oxford in 1650, and London's first, Pasqua Rosée's, in 1652. They were called penny universities, because for the price of a coffee you could sit and listen to the cleverest talk in town.
Some became institutions. Lloyd's of London, the insurance market, began in Edward Lloyd's coffee house, where ship owners and merchants met to do business. Venice's Caffè Florian has been serving in St Mark's Square since 1720. A name with some of that history (a house, an exchange, a parlour) still suggests a place to linger.
Before you paint the sign
- Search the map. Look up the name on a map app in your area. Two cafés with the same name in one town confuses customers and reviews.
- Check the register and trade marks. Search Companies House (or your country's register) and the trade mark databases for cafés and food. Some names here, especially the puns, are popular, and a few belong to chains.
- Get the handle. Most cafés live on Instagram. Check the name is free there, and that it's short enough to fit on a cup.
- Say it on the phone. "Café Champêtre" is lovely, but people need to be able to spell it into a search bar.
- Not a café? For a shop, trade or service, try the Business Name Generator.