Where do pubs get their names from?

Question

swans, lions, foxes, pigs heads even... why?

Answer 1

They need something catchy so everyone will remember the name of the Pub. But I know there are some strange names out there.

Answer 2

Pig and Whistle comes from Peg (a drinking Vessel) and Wassail (a festive drink)

The Goat and Compasses comes from God ecompasseth us.

The Old Bull and Bush comes from Boulogne Bouche to commemorate the battle in France.

Dog and Bacon was once Dorking Beacon

The Lamb and Flag was the symbol of the Knights Templar - the Saracens Head and Turks Head also refer to The Knights Templar and the crusades.

The Royal Oak commemorates the future Charles II, who was forced to hide in an oak tree after being defeated by Cromwell during the English Civil war.

Some pubs are named after popular sports in the old days.... like the fox and hounds, cricketers arms etc.

Names like The Plough, the Fleece and the Woolpack were frequented by farmers. The Boot was for cobblers, The Anchor for sailors and the shoulder of mutton for butchers.

Elephant and Castle is said to have come from Infanta de Castille.

hope this helps explain some of the names.

Answer 3

the BIG book of pub names

Answer 4

some are named after their owners from generations gone by, some are named cos dey are catchy or dey can be shortened so der easier on the tongue, some are named after people or even after animals eg a famous horse/racing dog etc! then some are very different and may not even have a meaning but they are just named somethig random so to be different from other pubs, i no alot of pubs that are named cos of the theme inside the bar eg: bazaar and blu are 2 i can name!!  

Answer 5

The people that own them?

Answer 6

good question, most pubs are old so alot of the names they've got sounds a bit strange now.

Answer 7

Many of the older pub names are taken from the coat of arms of particular local lords, For example the Black lion was the coat of arms of the Cowley family. The strangest i have ever come across is the Bucket of Blood near Hayle Cornwall.  Many pubs were also small breweries and with this particular one, when the bucket was lowered to draw water instead of water the bucket was full of blood. On investigation it turned out that an excise man (taxman) had been murdered and thrown down the well. The pub is also haunted.

Answer 8

most of the very old ones have been named by the people who owned the land they were built on, usually farmers, our pub is called The Tardy Gate because a farmer called Tardy allowed people to cross his land to get to work easier and he put a gate there to stop his cattle getting out then the pub was built later on this site and named it after him.

Answer 9

From the owner.  Each owner or previous owner or whoever will have their own story to tell about how they came up with the name.

Of course, some go wwwaaayyy back so you may be hard pressed to figure it out.

Remember how prevelent hunting was way back when so perhaps many of the older ones come from that.

Answer 10

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pub_names

Some are random, they used to be based on royalty to Crown, King, Queen etc

Some are based on transport, jobs, animals

Read 'Mother Tongue' by Bill Bryson, i read that a couple week ago and it's quite interesting about the background of words, languages and phrases

Answer 11

The idea of the pub sign came to Britain at the time of the Roman invasion. Wine bars in ancient Rome hung bunches of vine leaves outside as trading signs but when the Romans came here, they found precious few vines in the inhospitable climate. Instead, they hung up bushes to mark out the inns and the names Bush or Bull & Bush still survive.

Many varied reasons -

Inns to cater for knights on their way to the Crusades in the Holy Land. Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem

To show allegiance to the monarch titles like the King’s Head or the Crown

The Marquis of Granby, Commander in Chief of the British army, after the Battle of Warburg, he bought pubs for all his non-commissioned officers