Anatomy of a good punk band name
Punk has spent 50 years inventing names and a pattern repeats: short provocation, dry phonetics and immediate urban reference. Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys, Black Flag: two words, clash between everyday and forbidden. If your name needs explaining, it already lost. What gets printed on a t-shirt or shouted from the audience admits no subtitles.
The trick is mixing opposite registers. A common, vulgar noun (asphalt, vomit, sewer) sounds great pasted to an institutional or religious article. Sons of the Sewer works because it collides familial language with the lower neighborhood. Same with names like The Cadavers or Minor Threat: minimal hook, maximum association.
Avoid worn-out names: any combination with kill, fuck, shit, blood has been used twenty times. Aim local. Words from your own city, your own slang, your own conflicts have more identity than any generic Americanism. Bands that endure are those that sound like a specific place and time.
How to choose between three names that convince you
After generating thirty options you'll have two or three finalists. To decide, run the Google test: if the first page has an active band with that name, drop it. Better a weird unique name than a great taken one. If your band grows, the duplicated name blocks Spotify, Bandcamp and Instagram simultaneously.
Second test: print the name on A4 paper in neutral typography and stick it on the wall. Look at it for a week. The one still pleasing on day seven wins. Names that age fast depend on a momentary joke or reference.
Third test: ask three non-musician friends to pronounce the name after reading it once. If none says it right, the name has oral communication problems. Bands live on radio, flyers, word of mouth. If nobody can spell it, it doesn't reach the show. That's why The Clash, Wire, or Fugazi survived: one or two syllables, easy to shout.
Fatal mistakes when naming your band
Mistake one: names too long. The Anti-Constitutional Brigade of the Broken Subway is unreadable. If it doesn't fit on a Bandcamp tab, it's no good. Mistake two: generic English names: Black Riot, Dead Crew, Toxic Patrol have thousands of homonymous bands worldwide. Your name should be googleable and distinctive.
Mistake three: gratuitous offensive names. Punk always provoked, but pointless provocation went out of style. Insulting minorities or using nazi imagery closes doors at serious festivals. If your provocation has no political or aesthetic content behind, it's just noise.
Mistake four: names dependent on the moment. The Anti-Trump or The Anti-Brexit age badly. The band lasts longer than the politician. Better a name pointing at a lasting concept (corruption, suburbs, abandonment) than a specific figure. Think long term: if your band reaches 20 years, will the name still make sense?
From name to logo: landing the visual identity
Once you've picked the name, next is the logo. In punk, logos are hand-drawn or imitate Cooper Black, Old English or stencil typefaces. Black Flag had four black bars; Crass used smudged type; Ramones mimicked the presidential seal. The logo must look good drawn with marker on a wall.
Test your name as a t-shirt patch. If letters blur when screen-printed on cotton, the name needs adjustment. Names with many vowels and round consonants (Q, O, S) read better than ones packed with M, N, V together. Wet Vomit is fine as a name but terrible in screen print: V and M smudge.
Reserve Instagram, Spotify for Artists and Bandcamp handles the same day you decide the name. Another musician can grab your brand in 24 hours. If the exact handle is taken, add official or band, but only as last resort. Ideally your URL is the clean name. Without digital coherence, even the most perfect flyers won't help.