If the name was good enough for their children, it’s good enough for their restaurants

Your restaurant is your baby — a long gestation followed by messy spills, fits of tears, and feelings of pride.

It’s no easier coming up with a name for a flesh-and-blood newborn than it is for your life’s work.

Sometimes, both babies carry the same name.

I’ll start with Robert and Raquel DeAbreu, who in April 2001 took over a bakery on Christian Street in the Italian Market with a brunch-focused cafe they named in honor of their year-old daughter, Sabrina.

By the time they opened on Callowhill Street in 2007, the second of what is now five locations, son Spencer had come along and they called it “Sabrina’s Cafe and Spencer’s Too.” (For Sabrina Cafe’s 20th anniversary on April 22, the DeAbreus will offer six original menu items at 2001 prices, with proceeds sent to Project HOME.)

In 1978, John and Bernadette Foy opened East Philly Cafe at Second and South Streets. The birth of daughter Bridget in 1982 inspired a rebranding from bar to restaurant. John Foy’s mother suggested “Bridget Foy’s,” and she grew up to love the restaurant business. She and husband Paul Rodriguez, who have two children, now run Foy’s.

In 2019, Foy and Rodriguez opened a second restaurant two blocks away, presenting them with a naming opportunity of their own. “In a way, I did name it after them,” she said of Cry Baby Pasta. “Only kidding. I named it after Paul.” It’s officially named after a John Waters movie.

Chef Keith Taylor and his wife, Elizabeth, were sitting in a Jersey diner with their newborn daughter, Samantha, in 1994 when he flipped over a placemat and sketched out a logo for Sami Rose Culinary Productions, which became the backbone of their business.

The name of the Taylors’ son Zachary, 24, hangs over Zachary’s BBQ & Soul (now at the Elmwood Park Zoo) as well as Zachary’s Commissary, while 13-year-old Isaiah (aka Izzy) and 5-year-old Elijah (Eli) get menu play.

Aimee Olexy and her then-husband Bryan Sikora, who owned and later sold a celebrated Queen Village BYOB called Django, decamped to Kennett Square in 2007, opening a novel gourmet market with an intimate private dining table that books a year in advance.

Talula’s Table borrowed part of the middle name of their toddler, Annalee Talula Rae Sikora. She turns 16 in June.

With Stephen Starr, Olexy brought the name into Center City at Talula’s Garden (2011) and Talula’s Daily (2013), side by side on Washington Square.

In 2004, Nancy Trachtenberg named her South Philadelphia cafe after daughter, Benna, now 18. “I’m bad at naming things,” Trachtenberg said. “I did a great job with her name; she’s named after my grandfather Benjamin. When it came time to name my business, I froze up. I didn’t want to honor myself and I always loved her name.” Some customers think that the name is pronounced “bean-a” and is a pun on coffee, she said.

In 2013, caterer Michael Lynch named Miles Table, his South Street BYOB, after his son, Miles, now 13. Lynch added a second Miles Table location in the Bok Building in early 2020, and in summer 2020, he called a pop-up dessert shop Sweet Molly Mels after his daughter, Molly, now 8.

Pizzeria owner Danny DiGiampietro named his business Angelo’s Pizzeria, first in Haddonfield and now in South Philadelphia, after his son, who is now 9. DiGiampietro plans to name a bar he is opening nearby after daughter Luciana.

The restaurant naming convention goes the other way.

Before Joey Vento opened Geno’s Steaks at Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue in 1966, he was hunting for a name, but there already was a Joe’s Steaks.

Vento uncovered graffiti with the name Gino, but there was a fast-food chain called Gino’s back then, too.

Vento was so sold on the name that he changed the spelling to Geno, and when he and his wife, Eileen, welcomed a baby boy in the summer of 1971, he was named Geno. Joey Vento died in 2011, and Geno Vento — who shared the story of his name — runs the business.

Favorite restaurants inspire couples. In 1978, Sixers forward Joe Bryant and his wife, Pam, who lived in Lower Merion, named their son Kobe, after what was then a popular Japanese steak house in King of Prussia.

In 2001, Michele and Ed Subers of Media named their daughter Audrey Claire after their favorite Rittenhouse BYOB, and two years ago, Lara Pyle and Jason Craparo of Montgomery County did the same.

Check your school directories. Surely, there must be a kid named “Forsythia” or a “Dandelion” out there.