Follow a time-honored bluegrass band tradition and name your band the Something String Band, replacing "something" with a meaningful word or phrase. The advantage of this kind of band name is that it squarely identifies you as a bluegrass or traditional band, which in turn helps with planned and word-of-mouth marketing. Choose the "something" strategically, depending upon the kind of image you wish to project. You might name your band "The Bad Moon String Band" if you want a bit of edge to your image. Alternately, if you specialize in fun, family-friendly fiddle tunes, you could call the band something playful and memorable, like "The Monkey's Uncle String Band" or "The Sock Puppet String Band."
Name your bluegrass band after a real or mythical natural place, such as a mountain, river, gorge or creek. Combine the place name with a noun. For example, name your band "The Cut-Face Creek Boys" or "The Moose Mountain Ramblers." You can also tack the name of the band's front man (or woman) at the beginning. An article called "Bourbon and Bluegrass" in the New York Times lists bands from the lineup of the 2007 Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Celebration in Rosine, Ky., among them "Kody Norris and the Watauga Mountain Boys and Larry Sparks & the Lonesome Ramblers."
Give the standard band-name formulation "The Somethings" a bluegrass twist by inserting the name of a classic bluegrass song or musician. For example, The Be Good Tanyas took their name from a song by bluegrass pioneer Obo Martin, according to the biography on the band's official website. Or put a "The" in front of the name of a character, location or important object in a bluegrass-related movie or novel, such as the film "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" taking a hint from a Wired.com article called "6 Bands with Cinematic Names."