diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2df67a5a..8d7e5332 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 - Hot-path coverage flag now cached in `_BASHUNIT_COVERAGE_ON`, removing a function dispatch per call (#664)
 - Parallel runner blocks on `wait -n` on Bash 4.3+ instead of polling `jobs -r`, removing sleep-induced slot-release latency (#667)
 - Hot-path result helpers (`extract_encoded_field`, `extract_subshell_type`, `format_subshell_output`, `compute_total_assertions`) use outvar pattern, dropping a fork per call per test (#662)
+- `generate_id` and `normalize_variable_name` drop `grep` and `random_str` forks via pure-bash globbing/inlining (#663)
 
 ## [0.36.0](https://github.com/TypedDevs/bashunit/compare/0.35.0...0.36.0) - 2026-05-07
 
diff --git a/src/helpers.sh b/src/helpers.sh
index c8d18311..33a5a0a5 100755
--- a/src/helpers.sh
+++ b/src/helpers.sh
@@ -268,14 +268,15 @@ function bashunit::helper::find_files_recursive() {
 
 function bashunit::helper::normalize_variable_name() {
   local input_string="$1"
-  local normalized_string
-
-  normalized_string="${input_string//[^a-zA-Z0-9_]/_}"
-
-  local _re='^[a-zA-Z_]'
-  if [ "$(builtin echo "$normalized_string" | "$GREP" -cE "$_re" || true)" -eq 0 ]; then
-    normalized_string="_$normalized_string"
-  fi
+  local normalized_string="${input_string//[^a-zA-Z0-9_]/_}"
+
+  # First character must be alpha or underscore. Empty string also gets a `_`
+  # prefix to satisfy the same identifier rule. Uses pure-bash globbing to
+  # avoid a per-call grep fork (called once per test via generate_id).
+  case "${normalized_string:0:1}" in
+  [a-zA-Z_]) ;;
+  *) normalized_string="_$normalized_string" ;;
+  esac
 
   builtin echo "$normalized_string"
 }
@@ -439,12 +440,23 @@ function bashunit::helper::get_function_line_number() {
 
 function bashunit::helper::generate_id() {
   local basename="$1"
-  local sanitized_basename
-  sanitized_basename="$(bashunit::helper::normalize_variable_name "$basename")"
+  # Inline normalize_variable_name + random_str to avoid two forks per call.
+  # generate_id is called once per test and per file load.
+  local sanitized="${basename//[^a-zA-Z0-9_]/_}"
+  case "${sanitized:0:1}" in
+  [a-zA-Z_]) ;;
+  *) sanitized="_$sanitized" ;;
+  esac
   if bashunit::env::is_parallel_run_enabled; then
-    echo "${sanitized_basename}_$$_$(bashunit::random_str 6)"
+    local _chars='abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789'
+    local _suffix=''
+    local _i
+    for ((_i = 0; _i < 6; _i++)); do
+      _suffix="$_suffix${_chars:RANDOM%${#_chars}:1}"
+    done
+    echo "${sanitized}_$$_${_suffix}"
   else
-    echo "${sanitized_basename}_$$"
+    echo "${sanitized}_$$"
   fi
 }
 
diff --git a/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh b/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh
index 049cbc13..95fbd527 100644
--- a/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh
+++ b/tests/unit/helpers_test.sh
@@ -127,6 +127,45 @@ function test_check_duplicate_functions_without_function_keyword() {
   assert_general_error "$(bashunit::helper::check_duplicate_functions "$file")"
 }
 
+function test_generate_id_uses_pid_suffix_when_not_parallel() {
+  local _orig="${BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN-}"
+  export BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN=false
+
+  local id
+  id="$(bashunit::helper::generate_id "test_foo")"
+  assert_same "test_foo_$$" "$id"
+
+  export BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN="$_orig"
+}
+
+function test_generate_id_appends_random_suffix_when_parallel() {
+  local _orig="${BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN-}"
+  export BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN=true
+
+  local id1 id2
+  id1="$(bashunit::helper::generate_id "test_foo")"
+  id2="$(bashunit::helper::generate_id "test_foo")"
+
+  assert_matches "^test_foo_${$}_[a-zA-Z0-9]{6}$" "$id1"
+  assert_matches "^test_foo_${$}_[a-zA-Z0-9]{6}$" "$id2"
+
+  export BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN="$_orig"
+}
+
+function test_generate_id_sanitizes_basename() {
+  local _orig="${BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN-}"
+  export BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN=false
+
+  local id
+  id="$(bashunit::helper::generate_id "my-file.sh")"
+  assert_same "my_file_sh_$$" "$id"
+
+  id="$(bashunit::helper::generate_id "123start")"
+  assert_same "_123start_$$" "$id"
+
+  export BASHUNIT_PARALLEL_RUN="$_orig"
+}
+
 function test_normalize_variable_name() {
   assert_same "valid_name123" "$(bashunit::helper::normalize_variable_name "valid_name123")"
   assert_same "non_valid_symbols__________" "$(bashunit::helper::normalize_variable_name "non_valid_symbols!@#$%^&*()")"