Hardcore Band Name Generator

Hardcore band names follow a stricter code than the rest of punk. They are almost always one to three words, plain English, and delivered like a threat or a vow: a blunt noun (Madball, Terror), a stance (Minor Threat, Sick of It All), or a youth-crew pledge (Youth of Today, Chain of Strength). There is no irony and very little wordplay. The name should look right in block capitals on a flyer and sound right shouted over a floor punch.

The names here cover the scene's main dialects. Youth crew and straight edge names lean on clarity, loyalty and clean living (Clear Head, True Till Death Row, Sober Fist). NYHC and tough-guy names pull from the street, the job site and the courtroom (Tenement Choir, Scab Labor, Hung Jury). Metallic and beatdown names go for injury and demolition (Compound Fracture, Curb Stomp Choir, Blunt Force). A few nod to the sports, boxing and wrestling imagery the genre has always loved (Ten Count, Armbar Anthem, Penalty Box).

Hardcore has forty years of seven-inches and demos, so check Discogs, Bandcamp and Instagram before you print shirts. If a name has been used by a band from 1988 with two releases, the scene will know, and it is easier to swap a word now than to rename after your first show.