Names -> Band Name Origins -> Latest Entries

Do you know why a band picked out it's name? Feel free to let us know.

I can't verify all of these stories, so do take them with a grain of salt. I try and delete the ones that I know to be bogus, but I don't know the origins of every band name (and some bands intentionally tell different stories about picking their band name).

The 20 most recent entries are listed below. There are 4300 Band Name Origin entries on the site.

Name
 
Origin
 
Submitted by:
McFly The name comes from George McFly from "Back to the future". They are not influenced by Busted. Lead singer Tom Fletcher wrote "Crashed the Wedding", "Who's David" and "Thunderbirds" for Busted.  Umma
My Chemical Romance The bassist, Mikey Way, used to work at Barnes and Noble. He got the name from a book by Irvine Welsh called Ecstasy: Three Tales of Chemical Romance.  Gee
Everything But the Girl Tracey Thorn lived right down the street from a furniture store called Turners, whose slogan was "everything but the girl." The store was in Hull, England, and has long since been demolished jacksonu4ia
Man, Or Astro-Man?  The Japanese classic sci-fi thriller THE HUMAN VAPOR was pitched on the posters with the tagline- "Is He Man? Or ASTRO-MAN?" Clearly, this connection is not a mere coincidence... Freddie
The Manhattan Transfer Took their name from a John Dos Passos novel, they chose it to reflect their New York heritage.  Ra'akone
Linkin Park The band Linkin Park's name (before the addition of Chester Bennington) when they first formed in 1996 was Xero, at that point they had made a four track demo tape. They had later (after the adittion of Chester Bennington) changed their name to Hybrid Theory and recorded the Hybrid Theory EP. Due to legal conflict with the British electronic music group Hybrid, they changed their name to Linkin Park, a name paying homage to Lincoln Park, located in Santa Monica, CA. Danny
Nirvana As Kurt Cobain said (yes, this is a quote): "Nirvana means complete and total bliss. That is what punk rock means to me." Nirvana had many punk influences that were very evident in their music. adsfklj;jj;kli900u4898909802
Silverstein They were trying to think of a band name when they saw a book on the coffee table called "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. We've all read it. the rest is history. Bobby Ferguson
Great Big Sea Hove = To rise; to swell; to heave; to cause to swell (past tense of HEAVE). Ex., The sea hove so high that it destroyed a portion of a Newfoundland community. According to a Newfoundland heritage site about costal flooding: Probable result of Lisbon earthquake. Emptied Bonavista harbour and 10 minutes later water returned and overflowed parts of the community. Song 'A Great Big Sea Hove In Long Beach' may have originated from this event. (Song actually titled "Gone By the Board") Aron26
Three Days Grace It represents a sense of urgency. If you had an amount of time to do something, like turn your life around, three days is a good amount of time. Lillie
D-A-D Disneyland wouldn't allow the name to be Disneyland After Dark. Mads
Mind Garage Mind Garage is the first documented Christian Rock band from 1967. Reverend Michael Paine suggested the band put Christian words to rock and roll. The band and their fans was more on the intellectual side, and the Reverend's wife Tori named the band in reference to an abstract garage, your mind, where you keep things, ideas. Documentation that Mrs Paine named the band is from newspaper clippings on the band's website, www.mindgarage.com Larry
Tonedeaf Mime The singer was at work and heard a co-worker singing ,and she was pretty tone-deaf .Then one day they were walking around in downtown Lincoln Nebraska and saw a mime and put them together. Scott
DJ Otzi After Ötzi The Iceman Mads
Madison Drive The name came from a a misunderstanding of the true name of a street in Seattle. Jason
String Cheese Incident The band had a run-in with law enforcement (got pulled over or something) and had mushrooms. When questioned about what was in the bag, they supposedly claimed it was "string cheese" and were believed. Hence - the "String Cheese Incident." Amy
Phats and Small After the band's DJs Jason Phats and Russell Small. Mads
Norma Jean Jack Kelly was right, except for the fact that it was spelled "Luti-Kriss." They may have CHANGED it for that reason, but they picked "Norma Jean" because it translates into "Patterns of Mercy and Grace," which matches the fact that they are a Christian band. Anonymous
Voltaire If you've taken the time to listen to the lyrics, it is obvious that the satiric stylings of Voltaire are a nod of the hat to the classic French essayist. Indeed, one attraction for this artist is in being a thinker's musician. Tycho
The Tremtones Combination of 'tremolo and' 'tones'. I am the founder of the band way back in 1957. Please visit my website for more info. www.billyroymurnaghan.com Billy Roy Murnaghan

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