The Secret Language of Our Names

There’s a name policy at Maison Pablo. It goes like this: if the name could also be the title of a Nora Ephron film, a flavour at a very good ice cream shop, or a particularly agreeable afternoon, it’s probably right.

That’s how we ended up with Cucumber Sandwich, Strawberry Serve, Spiced Marmalade, and Parisian Daydream — and that’s how we’ll keep naming things until someone stops us.

Here’s the thinking behind some of our favourites.

Cucumber Sandwich

Green and yellow. Specifically, the green of a very good cucumber and the yellow of an old-fashioned butter. Put them together and you get something that feels English without being stuffy — relaxed, slightly elegant, good at a garden party.

The name arrived before the sock, which is how it should be. We knew we wanted something that felt distinctly afternoon-in-a-garden, and Cucumber Sandwich is exactly that. Also: it makes people smile when they say it, which is entirely intentional.

Strawberry Serve

Hot pink, high energy, absolutely no apologies. The Racquet Club range is our sports sock collection — built for comfort and performance, designed to be interesting — and Strawberry Serve is the loudest member of the family.

The name is doing two things at once: it’s a tennis serve (this is The Racquet Club, after all) and it’s a strawberry served, as in, here you go, summer, take this. Both meanings work. We kept it.

Midnight Macaron

Blue and pink — the colours of a very elegant Parisian patisserie at closing time, when the macarons are in the window and the lights are coming down.

This is The Muse range’s most romantic colourway. The name is a small piece of world-building: it suggests a specific hour, a specific place, a specific feeling. You don’t have to know any of that to enjoy the sock, but if you do, the whole thing clicks differently.

Spiced Marmalade

Warm brown and golden yellow. The Portobello range’s most autumnal, most grounded colourway.

Spiced Marmalade is the sock you reach for in October, when you want something that feels like it belongs to the season. The name comes from the kitchen — specifically from a jar of something made in a kitchen by someone who knew what they were doing. Considered warmth.

Parisian Daydream

White lace. The Marais range.

The Marais is a neighbourhood in Paris, and the name Parisian Daydream is exactly what it says: a daydream about Paris, which is to say a daydream about a version of your life that’s slightly more elegant than the one you’re currently living. That’s what a beautiful lace sock can do. Small thing. Large feeling.

Midnights in Paris

Black lace. The Marais range.

The daylight version had already been named, so its counterpart needed to be the same city, later. Midnights in Paris is the other side of the daydream — still romantic, still Parisian, but now it’s dark and the streets are quieter and anything could happen.

On naming things

The names matter because we believe the things you buy should have a sense of themselves. A sock called Midnight Macaron is not just a sock — it’s a small proposition about the world and your place in it. It’s asking you to notice it, and to maybe smile.

That’s the goal, every time. If you’ve ever read one of our names and thought that’s exactly right, you understand what we’re going for.

More names coming soon. The scarves are on their way.