Funny business names – 8 of the best!

I’ve begrudgingly accepted that I’ll never own a business with a funny name but am deeply envious of those who do. For a laugh, here are some of my all-time favourite funny business names.

Having a fabulously funny name isn’t the be-all and end-all of a successful business, but funny business names can certainly get people talking about you and make it easier for you to be remembered.

My fixation with funny business names began when I was about 8 years old. It started when my Granny gleefully pointed out the truck of a local window furnishings specialist emblazoned with the words Blind Man – and then carefully positioned her car behind it so my brothers and I could read the much smaller sign on the truck’s rear bumper saying, ‘Caution: Blind Man is driving this truck’.

This story is 40 years old, and the fact that I’m still telling it only reinforces the notion that a punny, ahem, I mean funny, business name aids memorability.

Fast forward to high school, and the start of what was to become a lifelong obsession with the Blues Brothers saw me super-impressed with the naming of the Curl Up & Dye Beauty Salon. I can only assume that whoever came up with this genius name did so while driving 106 miles to Chicago, with a full tank of gas and half a pack of cigarettes, in the dark, while wearing sunglasses.

Decades later, I’m not the only one to appreciate that business name – kudos to the hair and beauty salons in various parts of Australia who continue to pay homage to Jake, Elwood, and the greatest movie of all time.

I’ve been collecting business names that tickle my funny bone ever since – here are some of my all-time favourites.

Vegetarian not-for-profit restaurant chain Lentil as Anything… surely the ideal place to go when on a date with a girl called Destiny (check it out at locations in Melbourne and Sydney)
The music store that used to be above the main street in Leura, NSW called Stairway to Kevin, which has sadly gone to Heaven now
Brisbane fish and chip store A Salt and Battery, which has a name so good it should be criminal
The chain of colonic irrigation centres in Queensland and northern NSW called Bottoms Up – cheers to whoever came up with that name!
Bedding specialist Holy Sheet! whose name has been making me smile and think of Batman since the early 1990s
Sydney café Fleetwood Macchiato – I haven’t met you yet, but I can tell you go your own way. Looking forward to heading to Erskineville for a coffee sometime soon
Pub band FREE BEER – apparently when signs go up announcing they’ll be playing soon, people flock to their local drinking hole to check them out. Genius marketing, and a win for both the band and the venue
And from the USA, Big Ass Fans, who make industrial-sized cooling and heating equipment (and who I suspect subscribe to Queen’s belief that fat-bottomed girls make the rocking world go round).