page_title: Pub names
section_title: Most common
hierarchical_section_title: Pub names / Most common
caption_attribution_description: English: Swan Inn, Stroud, Gloucestershire
context_page_description: Pub names are used to identify and differentiate pubs. Many pubs are centuries old, from a time when their customers were often illiterate, but could recognise pictorial signs. Pub names have a variety of origins, from objects used as simple identification marks to the coats of arms of kings or local aristocrats and landowners. Other names come from historic events, livery companies, and occupations or craftsmen's guilds.
  Unlike Ireland, where the names of pubs tend to be based on the name of the owner, or a former owner, in mainland Britain this has been unusual, probably because pubs wanted names that could be related to an image on their pub sign, a key means of identifying them in an age of restricted literacy. In Australia a high proportion of older pubs have names ending in "hotel", and generally their names reflect hotel naming conventions.
context_section_description: An authoritative list of the most common pub names in Great Britain is hard to establish, owing to ambiguity in what classifies as a pub as opposed to a licensed restaurant or nightclub, and so lists of this form tend to vary hugely. The two surveys most often cited, both taken in 2007, are by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) and CAMRA.
  According to BBPA, the most common names are:
  Red Lion (759)
  Royal Oak (626)
  White Hart (427)
  Rose and Crown (326)
  King's Head (310)
  King's Arms (284)
  Queen's Head (278)
  The Crown (261)
  and according to CAMRA they are:
  Crown (704)
  Red Lion (668)
  Royal Oak (541)
  Swan (451)
  White Hart (431)
  Railway (420)
  Plough (413)
  White Horse (379)
  Bell (378)
  New Inn (372)
  A more current listing can be found on the Pubs Galore site, updated daily as pubs open/close and change names. As of 18 December 2019, the top 10 were:
  Red Lion (558)
  Crown (509)
  Royal Oak (432)
  White Hart (317)
  Swan (296)
  Plough (294)
  Railway (294)
  White Horse (286)
  Kings Arms (245)
  Ship (244)
  The number of each is given in brackets.
caption: One of the Swans, this one in Stroud, Gloucestershire
exif: {}