What the UK’s most popular pub names can teach us about great brand naming
The UK’s most popular pub names are, on the face of it, deeply unoriginal. The Red Lion. The Crown. The White Hart. Variations on a theme, repeated hundreds of times across the country.
If you were naming a modern brand, you’d probably be advised to do the exact opposite. Be distinctive. Be different. Stand out.
And yet, these names have endured for centuries. Which raises an interesting question. Were they brilliant examples of branding, or simply the result of a very different set of constraints?
When naming wasn’t about standing out
To understand why so many pubs share the same names, you have to go back to a time before branding was a discipline, or even a consideration. In many cases, people couldn’t read. So pubs didn’t rely on words, they relied on symbols. A red lion painted on a sign. A crown. A swan. Something you could recognise from a distance, something you could describe to a friend.
“Meet me at the Red Lion.”
It wasn’t designed to be distinctive. It was designed to be findable. In other words, pub naming wasn’t a branding exercise. It was a navigation system.
As Albert Jack, author of The Old Dog and Duck: The Secret Meanings of Pub Names, explains,:
“Dating back to the time when many folk were illiterate, the habit was to paint a picture and display it outside any public meeting place, the pub. This way friends could say to each other, ‘meet you at the Plough later,’ or Haystack, King’s Head, Horseshoe or whatever the sign depicted. This inevitably led to country pubs reflecting the industry of the area. Just as the Lamplighters, Railway Arms or The Weaver’s Loom might have done in the towns.
“Later on it became fashionable to honour England’s great heroes by placing their name above the door along any city street which accounts for the Lord Howard (Spanish Armada) Admiral Collingwood (Battle of Trafalgar) along with the obvious Lord Nelson and Duke of Wellington. And so this all means British and especially English history is reflected in one way or another through the names of many of our favourite pubs.
“Some of the tales are obvious and some less so. For example, who would know that it was the Marquis of Granby, a hero of the Seven Years Wars with France, who helped to establish many from his old regiment as innkeepers once they had retired from battle. This is why there are so many pubs in England bearing his name. And that is what fascinates us. The way the rich history of England is remembered in such an English way – down the pub.”
The most popular pub names in the UK
Which brings us to today. According to The Morning Advertiser, these are some of the most common pub names in the UK:
1 Red Lion
2 The Crown
3 Royal Oak
4 White Hart
5 The Swan
6 The Plough
7 The Bell
8 Rose & Crown
9 Queens Head
10 Railway Tavern
11 The Ship
12 Kings Arms
13 White Horse
14 Kings Head
15 Chequers
16 Rising Sun
17 The George
18 Fox & Hounds
19 Prince of Wales
20 Black Horse
21 The Fox
22 Cross Keys
23 The Star
24 Three Horseshoes
25 The Greyhound
26 Coach & Horses
27 The Victoria
28 George & Dragon
29 Masons Arms
30 Hare & Hounds
31 White Lion
32 The Sun
33 White Swan
34 Nags Head
35 Carpenters Arms
36 Duke of York
37 Cricketers
38 Windmill
39 Black Lion
40 Travellers Rest
41 Station Hotel
42 Golden Lion
43 The George
44 Bird in Hand
45 Black Bull
46 Horse & Groom
47 Butchers Arms
48 Bulls Head
49 The Beehive
50 The Anchor
Charming, familiar and, crucially, almost interchangeable.
Why copying them today is usually a mistake
Here’s the paradox. These names worked precisely because they weren’t trying to be unique. But in today’s market, that logic breaks down.
We no longer live in a world where the biggest challenge is helping people find your pub. We live in a world where the biggest challenge is giving them a reason to choose it. And in that context, familiarity can quickly become invisibility.
If your town already has a Red Lion, a Crown and a White Horse, opening another one doesn’t make you recognisable. It makes you forgettable. Sameness used to be a strength. Now it’s a liability.
The rise of the interesting
What’s changed isn’t just technology. It’s expectation. Pubs are no longer just places to drink. They’re places to experience something. A point of view. A personality. A story.
You see it in the rise of micropubs in unexpected locations. Former shops, railway arches, small neighbourhood spaces that thrive not because they’re easy to find, but because they’re worth seeking out. You see it in naming too. The pubs and hospitality brands gaining traction today are often the ones that feel slightly offbeat, more human, more deliberate.
Not random, but not generic either. A name that makes you pause. Or smile. Or ask a question. Because in a world of infinite choice, attention has become the scarce resource.
What great brand naming actually does
The lesson from traditional pub names isn’t that you should copy them. It’s that you should understand why they worked, and then decide whether to follow or break those rules.
The best names today still need to be easy to say and remember. They still benefit from meaning, whether that’s rooted in story, place or idea. And they still need to feel right for the audience. But they also need to do something older names didn’t. They need to create interest.
Because a name is no longer just a label. It’s a signal. It sets expectations about what kind of experience you’re about to have.
Get it right, and it does a surprising amount of the heavy lifting.
Naming is only the beginning
Of course, a name on its own can only take you so far. What makes people choose one pub, brand or product over another is everything that surrounds it. The positioning. The identity. The environment. The way it shows up, consistently, across every touchpoint.
That’s where branding becomes more than just a name. It becomes a reason to care.
Build a brand people remember
We work with ambitious food, drink and hospitality brands to create names and identities that don’t just sound good, but work hard commercially.
From strategy and naming through to brand identity, packaging, websites and campaigns, we help brands stand out in markets where standing out is no longer optional. If you’re creating something new, or looking to reposition what you already have, we’d love to talk.
Take a look at our recent work or get in touch and let’s chat.
