diff --git a/tests/functional/tree/cram/generate-fasta.py b/tests/functional/tree/cram/generate-fasta.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8c3a3d055
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/functional/tree/cram/generate-fasta.py
@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+import random
+
+def get_random_unicode(length):
+    """Adapted from <https://stackoverflow.com/a/21666621>"""
+
+    try:
+        get_char = unichr
+    except NameError:
+        get_char = chr
+
+    # code point ranges to be sampled
+    include_ranges = [
+        # ASCII non-control characters excluding single quote (0x27) and backslash (0x5c)
+        (0x20, 0x26), (0x28, 0x5b), (0x5d, 0x7e)
+    ]
+
+    alphabet = [
+        get_char(code_point) for current_range in include_ranges
+            for code_point in range(current_range[0], current_range[1] + 1)
+    ]
+    return ''.join(random.choice(alphabet) for _ in range(length))
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    for i in range(10):
+        print('>' + get_random_unicode(5))
+        print("ATGC")
+
diff --git a/tests/functional/tree/cram/iqtree-name-modifications.t b/tests/functional/tree/cram/iqtree-name-modifications.t
index e86c9d6ae..41191caf6 100644
--- a/tests/functional/tree/cram/iqtree-name-modifications.t
+++ b/tests/functional/tree/cram/iqtree-name-modifications.t
@@ -84,3 +84,21 @@ similar to single quotes.
   Invalid characters: .* (re)
   
   [2]
+
+This test generates random ASCII names. It's disabled for CI as it's both
+stochastic and slow but you can easily toggle it back on (by uncommenting the
+function call) if you want to better test strain name handling in `augur tree`
+
+  $ random_ascii_names() {
+  >   python3 "$TESTDIR"/generate-fasta.py > random_${1}.mfa
+  >  
+  >   ${AUGUR} tree \
+  >    --method iqtree \
+  >    --alignment random_${1}.mfa \
+  >    --output random_${1}.new > /dev/null
+  > }
+
+  $ for iteration in $(seq 1 100); do
+  >    # random_ascii_names $iteration
+  >    :
+  > done
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