At first, Samrit was attracted with the Chinese word "Tong Iang" meaning "Central" and wanted to name their store with this word but Samrit who came up with the store's name. At first, he wanted to use the Thai word "Klang" but as the English word sounded more melodious, he chose "Central", meaning "at the heart or at the centre", since he envisioned a centre where customers could find all the goods and services that they wanted.