Punk Band Name Generator

Punk band names have followed the same rough rules since 1976: short, ugly, funny or furious, and cheap to print on a flyer. The classic forms are a plural noun with or without "The" (think Buzzcocks, Damned, Adolescents), a deliberately unpleasant image (Circle Jerks, Dead Kennedys), a slogan or complaint (Minor Threat, Sick of It All), or a mundane phrase turned sour (Social Distortion, Bad Religion). Anything that sounds like a hardship, a crime, a medical problem or a bad neighborhood instantly reads as punk.

The names here lean into the things punk has always written about: rent, cops, school, boredom, bad jobs, worse teeth and the suburbs. Some are built for snotty pop punk (Bubblegum Shrapnel, Skate or Cry), some for street punk and Oi! (Boot Party, Bus Stop Brawlers), some for crust and anarcho bands (Rent Is Theft, Squat Party) and some for hardcore sets that last eleven minutes (Gut Punch, Kill Switch). Pick the one that matches your tempo and your politics.

Before you commit, say the name into a microphone at a house show. If it takes more than a second to shout, it is too long. Check Bandcamp and Discogs too; punk has fifty years of one-EP bands and a lot of good names are already taken by a 1983 seven-inch from Ohio.