Picking the best name for a new BBQ team isn’t easy. There are literally thousands of competitive groups operating across the United States who have claimed most of the obvious titles. In spite of this challenge, my goal is to help you come up with a list of original ideas you can use for your party of smokers to help you stand-out from the herd and get recognized by judges.
I’ve grouped these name ideas into five categories. Each category represent a popular naming strategy I’ve seen utilized by nationally ranked BBQ squads. Stick around to the end of this post and I’ll reveal the most frequently made mistakes with name selection and how to avoid them. Let’s do this!
Regional Names
One of the most common ways to name a competitive BBQ team is to include the region you’re from. These regional names also spotlight the style of smoked meat you specialize in. Make sure your style of BBQ matches the name you select or it might cause confusion among judges and customers.
- Memphis Meat Men
- South-Carolina Mustard Boys
- Up-North Smoking Society
- Kansas City Smokehouse
- North Carolina Naughty Pigs
- Texas Beef Dripper’s
- Seeing Red White & Blue Barbecue
- The Nashville Contenders
- The Lexington Pork Barrel
- The Carolina Whole Hogs
- Alabama Rough Ribs
- Sticky Sweet Home Alabama
- The Tennessee Hickory Pals
- Central Texas Smokers
- Grilling in Memphis
- Kentucky Pork Ribs
- Smoking Carolina Sisters
- Santa Maria Tri Tippers
- Surf’s Up Hawaiian Grillers
- All Over Austin
- Southern Gentleman BBQ
- West Texas Hospitality
- The Kentucky Barbecue Party
- The 270 BBQ Squad
- Kentucky Mutton Masters
Sauce Names
This approach won’t work for all competitive BBQ names, but if you specialize in styles from Texas, Kansas City or the Carolina’s this approach can work well. Here are a few saucy name ideas:
- The Piedmont Pork Players
- Sargent Pepper and Vinegar
- Whole Hog Mop Saucers
- Red White and Blue Sauce
- Sauce It Up
- Old Hickory Heat Sauce
- Man Mutton Dippers
- Momma’s Pork Sauce
- Slow, Saucy and Flossy
- Heat Sauce For Your Meat Boss
Rub Names
The dry rub is associated with Memphis style BBQ. But many popular styles share a concoction of spices like cayenne pepper, celery salt, garlic, chili powder, and onion powder to create a specialty rub. You can use these as name inspiration too.
Related Reading: 57 Rib-Tickling Thai Restaurant Name Ideas List
- The Cayenne Club
- Salt and Pepper Pork Roasters
- Chalk Full of Chili Powder
- The Onion Powder Get Together
- Top Secret BBQ Rub Party
- Wichita Raw Rubbers
- Chili Powder Chicks
- Dad’s Rockin’ Rub
- Rubbing Brown Sugar
- Backwood BBQ Rub Scientists
Meat Names
There are many sources of protein to draw inspiration from when selecting your squad name. Utilizing parts of the Chicken, pork, or cow are all time tested strategies.
- Pork Shoulder All Over
- The Bitter Burnt End
- Falling off the Bone
- The Chicken Heads
- Two Moist Chicken Breasts
- Da Bomb Brisket
- The Wandering Beef Ribs
- Pickled Pig Roasters
- Can You Spare a Rib?
- The Suckling Piglets
Funny Names
The competitive BBQ circuit has no shortage of clever team names. Any where you go in the country you’ll find light-hearted names along the lines of See More Butts and Second Hand Smoke. Here are a few of the best ideas for a laugh-out-loud team name:
- The Bitter Burnt End
- Up in Smoke
- Our Sauce is the Boss
- We Like Big Butts
- The Bare Naked Hog
- (CTO) Chief Tasting Officers
- Three Little Piggies
- Eat My Ash
- Blow My Coal
- Just Another Ash Coal
- Dry Rubbing My Butts
- Need a Spare Ribs
How to Come up with an Original Team Name
As mentioned at the start of the article there are literally thousands of BBQ teams located across the United States. This means a lot of the most obvious names will already be taken so you’ll need to complete significant due diligence before selecting an official name.
Pro Tip: If you’re looking for events to participate in, you can find an updated calendar of sanctioned competitions here.
The first step to ensuring your name isn’t already taken is to head to Google and enter your name idea into the search field. If you don’t find any matching results then you can move forward to step two.
If you do find the name is already claimed, not to worry. You can modify your name using the ideas above in an effort to craft something more unique. Try adding a regional modifier, a type of meat or funny descriptive phrase to your idea. A simple word adjustment like this might be all you need to do.
As a step two, make sure your name isn’t already registered as a trademark. To complete the second phase of due diligence head over the the search trademark database from the United States Patent and Trademark office. If the name passes this test you can feel confident about the name selected.
I truly hope this piece helps you select a winning name for your BBQ team. If you want to learn how to attract sponsors for your competitive BBQ team to help pay for registration fees, check out this podcast on the subject. This podcast gives you clear instructions on getting BBQ brands to pay for your registration fees and supplies.
