Thread: Need help with Lounge name

When I write, I need to have a physical image of the people, places and things, to keep them real in my mind. I've recently designed a cocktail lounge on my computer and I'm having trouble naming it. I searched through tons of usernames on random websites and I've put together a bunch of ideas. But I just can't seem to narrow them down. If everyone that reads this could please vote on their favorite name I would really appreciate it.

The Lounge is very...grunge-chic. The walls are old stone and the floors are filthy concrete. The main floor features a glass dance "feature" in the center of the room. This is the one place flooded with black light. Just North of the glass feature is a dance floor with strobe lights and laser machines. Surrounding the dance floor are about a dozen bar height tables. Behind these tables are stairs that spiral around a clock tower, reaching four floors up. Once at the top, there are hookahs and built in lounge seating that surrounds. Going back to the main floor, to the west of the glass feature is the bar. It's a large bar, with many bar stools surrounding. Filling in the space between the bar and the wall are more built in lounge sofas. The wall behind the bar contains the restrooms. Music like, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Harry Conick Jr and Nora Jones will pound through the speakers.

So now that you know what the look and feel is, here are the names:

Upper Prior
Stricken
Jonan
Abersoft
KoKa
FabResto
Ambient
Pratt
Izzies
BeautyFoe
TVI


**TVI is not an abbreviation for anything.

Thanks a lot guys! If you like, you may put your reasoning behind your vote. I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

There's a dive bar in Chicago called 'Mr. C's.' Simple, clear, concise and unpretentious. (Unless pretentiousness is what you're shooting for...) In my experience, simpler is better. And, unless the bar is the star of the novel, it's just a name.

Originally Posted by UnWritten

The Lounge is very...grunge-chic. The walls are old stone and the floors are filthy concrete. The main floor features a glass dance "feature" in the center of the room. This is the one place flooded with black light. Just North of the glass feature is a dance floor with strobe lights and laser machines. Surrounding the dance floor are about a dozen bar height tables. Behind these tables are stairs that spiral around a clock tower, reaching four floors up. Once at the top, there are hookahs and built in lounge seating that surrounds. Going back to the main floor, to the west of the glass feature is the bar. It's a large bar, with many bar stools surrounding. Filling in the space between the bar and the wall are more built in lounge sofas. The wall behind the bar contains the restrooms.

Music like, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Harry Conick Jr and Nora Jones will pound through the speakers.

The decor and the music seem mis-matched to me (but I'm a synesthetic and a very picky one so I really shouldn't have an opinion on other people's taste in music...) but the names 'Abersoft', 'KoKa', and 'Izzies' all feel like they would work as good atmospheric bridges.

Hopefully that will make sense to someone.

Personally, I like 'Izzies'.

I second KarlR, I think simple is generally better for names like this. I've recently struggled with creating names for taverns and similar things that are snappy but not pretentious. My fave is Izzies, I can imagine people saying that.

Why not get rid of that list, and then, instead of using websites for random lists, spend some time using your head to think of words or phrases that would have some meaning in terms of the general ambience or mood or atmosphere of the place, and use one of those as its name?

History, literature and geography are overflowing with such examples: things like Ground Zero, Black Hole, Holocaust, Merlin's Cave, Sleepy Hollow, The Cauldron....not that I think any of those are suitable; they're merely prompts to get you thinking.

xO - I'm surprised you didn't recommend naming it after Dingo's Bar in Patong Beach, Phuket. Not that Dingo's ever looked like what UnWritten describes, but my guess is the same sort of crowd would hang out there. I looked it up, and there's still a Dingo's there, but whether it's the original or not I don't know. There were always lots of your neighbours in Phuket, so the name was, and probably remains, a natural.

But for whatever reason (and don't ask too many personal questions) I've always thought 'Dingo's' was the perfect name for any sort of bar or disco.

i can't imagine izzies co's that's my youngest daughter's name so my vote goes to KoKa - imo it's the simplest

Hate to sound stupid and all that, but is 'co's' supposed to be for 'because', and if so, why the inverted comma between the o and the s? And what is an 'imo'?

Originally Posted by garza

xO - I'm surprised you didn't recommend naming it after Dingo's Bar in Patong Beach, Phuket. Not that Dingo's ever looked like what UnWritten describes, but my guess is the same sort of crowd would hang out there. I looked it up, and there's still a Dingo's there, but whether it's the original or not I don't know. There were always lots of your neighbours in Phuket, so the name was, and probably remains, a natural.

But for whatever reason (and don't ask too many personal questions) I've always thought 'Dingo's' was the perfect name for any sort of bar or disco.

In certain levels of Oz society, calling a person a dingo implies he is a low cheat or a craven coward. But dingos have a long history here; Meryl Streep once did a passable imitation of an Aussie, saying, "The dingo ate my baby!" Then we have Barry McKenzie telling all and sundry he's "as dry as a dead dingo's donger." And finally there's the dingo's breakfast, enjoyed by drovers out in the bush - a yawn, a piss (or a fart) and a quick look 'round.

Originally Posted by garza

Hate to sound stupid and all that, but is 'co's' supposed to be for 'because', and if so, why the inverted comma between the o and the s? And what is an 'imo'?

You don't want to rub ash the wrong way. She's one of us. She also knows how to handle geriatrics.

I only had one bar in my last work and named it, "The Rat's Nest."

I know the kind of place you're talking about, more or less. Ambient and Stricken, would be fine. The single word names are trendy these days. It seems something somewhat pretentious and hip-sounding is what you're looking for. A good thing to consider, especially if there is a retro element, is the word "room" -- as in "Indigo Room." Or try "Club" as a prefix -- as in "Club Indigo."

PS -- My wife just told me there's a new über-hip restaurant here called "Room." That's it, just "Room." I'd like to see what's on the menu. Probably just "Food."

WARNING - Off Topic:

Originally Posted by garza

Hate to sound stupid and all that, but is 'co's' supposed to be for 'because', and if so, why the inverted comma between the o and the s? And what is an 'imo'?

yeah, it means because and why? *shrug* dunno, thas jus how i do it
most people under 44 years of age get what i'm saying, but not all
and imo = in my opinion and FYI (which = for your information)
lol = laugh out loud

lol

Okay, I don't want to sound like a huge a** hole, but I asked a fairly straight forward question here: Please choose the name you like best and tell me why. For the most part, I know that's what I said. So, I would appreciate it if you ceased all replies like The Backward ox's because quite frankly, theyre rude. I write things differently than others and I don't mean to brag (or maybe I do) but I'm damn f***ing good at. So answer the question and move on, please. If you don't have an answer, or anything nice to say, I mean this with the utmost respect, shut the hell up and move on. Go ahead and ban me from the site for being vulgar (and censoring my words) but I will not sit back and let people be rude to me. I can find nicer people to get opinions and help from.

Originally Posted by UnWritten

Okay, I don't want to sound like a huge a** hole, but I asked a fairly straight forward question here: Please choose the name you like best and tell me why. For the most part, I know that's what I said. So, I would appreciate it if you ceased all replies like The Backward ox's because quite frankly, theyre rude. I write things differently than others and I don't mean to brag (or maybe I do) but I'm damn f***ing good at. So answer the question and move on, please. If you don't have an answer, or anything nice to say, I mean this with the utmost respect, shut the hell up and move on. Go ahead and ban me from the site for being vulgar (and censoring my words) but I will not sit back and let people be rude to me. I can find nicer people to get opinions and help from.

If you think me telling you to use your head was rude, then all I can say is god help you. My advice was intended to show you how to open your mind, not to have you jumping up and down like some immature teenager. Why don’t you grow up? You’ll never make a writer while you persist with an attitude like that. I’ll repeat what I said the first time, for emphasis:

“Why not get rid of that list, and then, instead of using websites for random lists, spend some time using your head to think of words or phrases that would have some meaning in terms of the general ambience or mood or atmosphere of the place, and use one of those as its name?

History, literature and geography are overflowing with such examples: things like Ground Zero, Black Hole, Holocaust, Merlin's Cave, Sleepy Hollow, The Cauldron....not that I think any of those are suitable; they're merely prompts to get you thinking.”


My advice in other words meant spending some time - the longer the better - soaking up stuff that's been written, and filling your mind with all the examples of place names that have some meaning in terms of the places they relate to. Eventually you'll be able to come up with such word/place associations in your own mind, and not be a directionless dork twit person running to ridiculous websites for ideas that can never capture ambience. Only the writer can do that.

Happy writing.