DJ Name Generator

Four names from each scene

Generated by this tool when the page was built. The note under each line is what that scene's names tend to sound like.

• House and disco Mellow Bloom · DJ Disco · Midnight Vinyl · DJ Velvet Warm, soulful and a little nostalgic: velvet, basements, late nights, vinyl.
• Techno Susy · Concrete Monolith · Machine & Signal · Maeksso Industrial and architectural: concrete, signals, grids, machines.
• Drum & bass and jungle Tevex · DJ Dark · Jungle & Roller · farfall Soundsystem language: rollers, pressure, subs and breaks.
• Trance and progressive Tezo · Alavro · afterroom · wildecho Uplifting and celestial: horizons, auroras, ascent.
• Hip-hop and open format Original Digger · Braena · Rare Breaks · Jiony Turntable craft: cuts, crates, faders and the selector.
• Weddings and events Harrogate Productions · DJ Elegant · Harrogate Discos · Harrogate Melody DJs A business name first: clear, warm and easy to find when someone searches for a wedding DJ.

Every scene has its own dialect

Read a house line-up and a techno line-up side by side and you can tell them apart from the names alone. House names are warm and a little nostalgic: velvet, basements, late nights, vinyl. Techno names sound like infrastructure: concrete, signals, grids, machines. Drum and bass borrows from soundsystem culture — rollers, pressure, the rewind. Trance reaches for the sky.

A generator that draws from one shared list ends up suggesting "Euphoria Bunker", which belongs to no scene at all. This one keeps a separate vocabulary for each, so the name you get already sounds like it belongs on the flyer you want to be on. Choose what you play and the words change; the note under the box says what that scene's names usually sound like.

To "DJ" or not to "DJ"

The prefix is as old as the job. "Disc jockey" was coined for the radio presenters who played records in the 1930s, and when hip-hop began in the 1970s the DJ was the star — DJ Kool Herc and Grandmaster Flash were names before most MCs were. In hip-hop, open-format clubs and wedding work the prefix is still normal and useful, because it tells people exactly what you do.

Electronic dance music mostly dropped it. House and techno artists usually produce as well as play, release records under the same name, and get billed by name alone. A techno flyer full of "DJ" prefixes looks like a different decade.

The "DJ" in front setting lets you choose. Sometimes follows the formula, which is what the scene would do; Always adds it to every name except duos and business names; Never strips it everywhere.

The shapes DJ names take

One invented word

The big festival names are often single words that mean nothing in any dictionary, and that is their strength: nobody else has them, and a search returns only you. Avicii is widely reported to have taken his from Avīci, a Buddhist hell, adding letters because the plain spelling was already taken online.

The generator builds these from open syllables and bright endings — -o, -a, -ix, -ii — and then throws away anything a person could not say on first sight, using the same pronounceability scorer as the Name Combiner. Two vowels in a row are only allowed where they make a known sound, so nothing like "Toex" gets through.

A lowercase compound

Two short words fused and left in lower case — the kind of name you see on a bedroom producer's uploads. It reads as understated and slightly modern, and it is easy to claim as a handle because it is one word. With Allow a number for a letter ticked, some of these get one character swapped, in the tradition of deadmau5, whose name is usually said to have come from a mouse found inside his computer and a username field too short to hold the full word.

Two words

An adjective and a noun from the scene's vocabulary. The most flexible shape, and the one that works for a solo DJ, a duo or a club night equally well.

Noun and noun

The ampersand is the classic marker of a duo: Above & Beyond, Chase & Status. Two nouns joined with one says, before anyone has heard a record, that there are two of you.

From your own name

Put your name in and the generator adds four versions of it: DJ and your first name, your initials on their own, your first name with an -o ending, and your first name backwards — but only when the reversed version can still be said. Ryan becomes Nayr, which works; plenty of names do not survive the trip and are quietly dropped.

Naming a wedding or mobile DJ business

Choose Weddings and events and the tool changes job. A wedding DJ is a business, and the name has to do what a business name does: tell a couple what you are, sound warm and trustworthy, and turn up when they search.

People look for wedding DJs by place: "wedding DJ Harrogate", "party DJ near me". Put your town or area in the box and many of the names lead with it, which helps a listing match those searches and tells a visitor at once that you cover their area. The rest pair a warm word — Starlight, Evergreen, Sterling — with the kind of word clients look for: Sounds, Events, Entertainment, Discos.

Two pieces of advice for this kind of name in particular. Avoid anything that only works as a joke, because the person choosing is often planning the most important party of their life. And check the name is free as a business listing and a website address before you print anything.

Making sure it is yours

Every result is checked against a list of well-known DJs and producers, along with famous rappers and wrestlers. Collisions are flagged and moved to the end of the list rather than hidden, so you can see why a name will not work.

That catches the headliners. The real risk is the working DJ two towns over with the same name, and no list can know about them. Before you settle:

• Search SoundCloud, Mixcloud, Spotify and Resident Advisor for the exact name.
• Check Instagram and the other handles you use to promote sets.
• For a business, search your area's listings and check the website address is free.

Tests worth running on a shortlist

Save your favourites and they collect at the top of the results, kept in this browser. Then try each one the way it will actually be used:

• Shout it. A promoter will say it over a microphone in a loud room. If it needs spelling out, it will be misheard.
• Read it on a flyer. Line-ups are printed small. Short names win.
• Search it. If the first page of results is about something else, you will always be on page two.
• Imagine it in five years. Your music will change. A name tied too tightly to one sound can trap you in it.

Names for a night, a crew or a show

The same vocabularies work for more than one person. A club night is usually named like a place or a mood — the two-word shape suits it best, and the duo shape suits a night run by a pair of residents. A crew or collective often takes a plural or a "The" name. A radio show or mix series wants something that reads well before a number: "Concrete Signal 041" works, "DJ Steel Mix 41" does not.

Keep the night's name and your own name different. If the night outgrows you, or you outgrow the night, you will want to be able to separate them without either one losing its audience.

How the name looks as a logo

A DJ name spends most of its life as a logo: on flyers, the screen behind the booth, the cover of a mix. Some shapes suit that better than others. Short single words set large and fill a square. Lowercase compounds look deliberate in lower case and odd in capitals. Names with an ampersand give a designer something to play with. Long two-word names usually end up stacked on two lines, which is fine, as long as each word works on its own.

Before you settle, type your shortlist out in a few typefaces at poster size and at the size of a profile picture. The one that still reads at both sizes is the one that will survive a crowded line-up.

Changing your name later

DJs rename themselves more often than you might think — a change of sound, a move into production, a clash with someone else discovered too late. It is possible, but it costs. Mixes, tags, reviews and bookings all point at the old name, promoters have to be told, and some of your audience will never notice the switch.

If you think your sound may change, choose a name that does not describe it. A coined word or a name built from your own name goes with you from house to techno and back; a name full of one scene's vocabulary does not. The genre setting here is a starting point for the words, not a commitment.

Related tools

If you rap over your own beats, the Rapper Name Generator uses the formulas MCs use. Naming a club night or a collective? The Band Name Generator works by genre too. The Username Generator builds the handle to match, and the Business Name Combiner blends words into a brand if you want something more coined.

Common questions

Should I put "DJ" in front of my name?

It depends on the scene. In hip-hop, open-format and wedding work it is normal and helpful, because it tells people what you do. In house and techno most artists drop it, since they produce as well as play and are billed by name alone. The generator lets you choose always, sometimes or never.

What makes a good DJ name?

Easy to say after hearing it once, easy to spell after reading it once, not already used by another DJ, and in the language of the music you play. A techno name that sounds like a wedding DJ, or the other way round, sends the wrong people to your sets.

How do I check whether a DJ name is taken?

The generator flags names used by well-known DJs, but no list covers every working DJ. Search SoundCloud, Mixcloud, Spotify, Resident Advisor and Instagram for the exact name before you commit, and do a web search with the name in quotes.

What should a wedding DJ business be called?

Something a couple can find and trust. Put your town or area in it if you work locally, because people search for "wedding DJ" plus a place. Keep it warm and clear rather than clever. Choose Weddings and events in the tool and add your area to get names built that way.

Are the invented one-word names real words?

No, and that is the point: an invented word is unique. Every one is scored for how easily it can be said by the same pronounceability scorer the Name Combiner uses, so you will not get anything unsayable.

Is anything I type saved?

No. Names are generated in your browser and nothing is uploaded. Your shortlist stays in this browser only.