Why I Refused to Give My Restaurant an English Name
When my family and I first decided to open a Vietnamese restaurant, almost everyone gave me the same advice.
“Choose an English name.”
Friends, family members, and even people in the industry believed an English name would be easier to pronounce, easier to remember, and easier to market. From a business perspective, their advice made sense. A familiar name can reduce friction and make a brand feel more accessible.
For a moment, I questioned my decision.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wasn’t simply opening another restaurant.
I was building a brand.
More Than a Name
I chose Nha Tôi, which means “My Home” in Vietnamese.
To me, it wasn’t just a name. It represented the feeling I wanted every guest to experience from the moment they discovered us.
Growing up, home was always centred around food. It was where family gathered, conversations happened, and traditions were passed from one generation to the next.
That feeling became the foundation of the brand.
I wanted customers to experience more than a meal. I wanted them to feel welcomed, comfortable, and curious about Vietnamese culture.
Choosing Meaning Over Convenience
One concern I heard repeatedly was that people wouldn’t know how to pronounce “Nha Tôi.”
Rather than seeing that as a weakness, I saw it as an opportunity.
Every time someone asked,
“What does Nha Tôi mean?”
it became the beginning of a conversation.
That single question opened the door to sharing Vietnamese culture, traditions, and the story behind our restaurant.
Instead of making the brand fit into familiar expectations, I wanted the brand to invite people to discover something new.
Curiosity became part of the customer experience.
Building Recognition Through Consistency
Choosing the name was only the beginning.
A meaningful name doesn’t build a successful brand on its own.
Every touchpoint—from our visual identity and interior design to our menu, photography, customer experience, and digital marketing—had to consistently reinforce the same promise: a place that feels like home.
Over the past year, the Nha Tôi brand generated 537 organic clicks and 3,936 Google Search impressions through branded search performance.
I don’t believe those results came from the name alone.
They came from consistently telling the same story across every customer interaction.
A memorable brand isn’t built by one decision.
It’s built by hundreds of intentional decisions working together.
What This Experience Taught Me
Looking back, I’m grateful I trusted my instincts.
Choosing a Vietnamese name wasn’t the easiest path, but it was the right one for the brand I wanted to build.
As both a designer and a founder, this experience reinforced an important lesson:
Branding isn’t about choosing the safest option.
It’s about making decisions that genuinely reflect who you are and what your brand stands for.
The strongest brands don’t try to appeal to everyone.
They create meaning.
And when people connect with that meaning, they remember your brand long after they’ve forgotten your logo.
Looking Ahead
This is the first chapter in my Building the Nha Tôi Brand series.
In the next article, I’ll share how I translated the idea of “My Home” into a complete visual identity—from the colour palette and logo to the interior experience and every design decision that followed.
Because a brand isn’t built by a logo alone.
It’s built by the feeling people take with them when they leave.