A few weeks ago, some music buddies and I decided to take the plunge and start a band. Needless to say, there have been expectations that the rhythm-guitar-player-slash-singer who also happens to be a professional namer would come up with a snazzy name for the group.

Funnily enough, I’m not sure it will come from me. Band naming has got to be the ultimate in subjectivity, with personal, idiosyncratic associations and inside jokes actually providing great creative fodder. There’s no clear right or wrong. So I’ve decided my primary role will be to structure the brainstorming. I share my initial thoughts here, as a service to the 1800 new bands that seem to form every day.

Let’s get the basics out of the way. A band name should:

- Suit your style of music, and expectations for whether you’ll play covers, original material, or some combination;
- Reflect your band personality, be it funny, serious, cool, self-mocking, youthful, older, etc.;
- Be fairly short, easy to spell, and memorable;
- Be available, meaning it needs to be checked against The Band Name Registry and other resources.

The next step is to understand the conventions of band naming, and then use that info to start brainstorming. I found that existing band names seem to fall fairly consistently into one of eight (overlapping) categories. Here they are.

Band Name Categories (with examples)

1. Pop Culture References: Songs/Movies/Books

2. Personal/Common Interests, Inside Jokes

3. Places

4. Foods

5. Names/Surnames

6. One-Word Names (interesting words)

7. Multiple-Word Names (with meaning)

8. Multiple-Word Names (random quality)

Hope this gets the creative wheels turning. Happy band naming!