Beatnik can refer to two different things:

• A member of the Beat Generation
• An esoteric programming language

The Beatnik Stereotype

The term "Beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle on April 2, 1958 as a derogatory term, a reference to the Russian satellite Sputnik, which managed to suggest that the beats were (1) "way out there" and (2) pro-Communist. This term stuck and became the popular label associated with a new stereotype of men with goatees and berets playing bongos while women wearing black leotards dance.

A classic example of the beatnik image is the character Maynard G. Krebs played by Bob Denver on the television show The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, which ran from 1959 to 1963.

In the popular television cartoon show The Simpsons, the parents of Ned Flanders are beatniks.

A sensationalist Hollywood interpretation of the sub-culture can be seen in the 1959 movie The Beat Generation.