Essentially, you are making a product. And you are trying to sell this product to listeners. In order for this product to be successful, it has to be aimed at the right people and you have to be 200% enthusiastic and passionate about your band’s identity.
Blur, Sleep, Kyuss, Genesis, and Death are all awesome single-word band names to take inspiration from. Just start flipping through the dictionary to look for cool words. Give it a “the” in front if you want to seem old-school, or like a punky unit, and check out foreign words. Legendary metal band Pantera got their name from the Spanish word pantera which means “panther. " . If you want, add an adjective to your one-noun name, just like Arctic Monkeys, Black Mountain, and Crystal Castles did.
Check out old English poets like John Milton, John Donne, or Wordsworth. There, you may find phrases like “Disintegrated Angels” which might make for great band names.
Bad english ensures it won’t have been taken before. Ditto the umlaut. Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin, Mötley Crüe, and Blue Öyster Cült are all examples. But be careful about misspellings. Sometimes it works and other times looks like you’re in a hair metal band.
Ask friends who are already in a band ask them how they got their band name. Also when you decide on your band name consult family and friends to see if they think it sounds cool, catchy and appropriate for the genre you play.
If you’re embarrassed about saying your name to anyone at all, then it’s not the right name. This might exclude names with swear words in, names that insult any particular person or party, and anything sexually explicit.
Give it some time. There should be no rush in finding a band name that works for you. If you can’t make it work, just pick one of your last names and call it a day. But don’t rush into a name that you’ll regret being known by in the future. It is possible to change your name if you realize it isn’t working but this is lost time and often damages your reputation. Finding the right name is obviously such a vital part of your band’s identity so deserves the time and natural process it takes to develop.
