Names -> Band Name Origins -> A, Page 2
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).
Entries starting with A are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3
There are 4420 Band Name Origin entries on the site.
Name | Origin | Submitted by: | ||
| Alice Cooper | Alice Cooper was actually an 18th century witch. The modern Alice Cooper(Vince Furnier) legally changed his name to this in the 20th Century. | SarahSays | ||
| Alice Cooper | In 1974 Vincent Damon Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper. He wanted to create the image of the meanest, baddest heavy metal freak, with a name that, in contrast, would conjour up images of sugar and spice and all things nice. He chose Alice Cooper because it sounded like the little innocent girl next door. Alice does not believe in, or play with ouiji boards. He has been married for more than 20 years and has 3 children. He spends all his free time playing golf. His handicap is 4. | Shrog | ||
| Alice Cooper | JMJ Alice Cooper was originally part of the name of the band he was in. Cooper fans, being Cooper fans, didn't get the concept of naming a band by an actual name, despite the fact that it was a fad then (Arthur Brown, Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd, Molly Hatchet, etc.) They'd come up to him and go, "Hey, Cooper, great show" "Um.. Thanks, but I'm Vinnie, the band's..." "You were awesome, Alice!" Cooper learned quickly that Cooper fans were easier to patronize than to reason with, so, he became... | dobbs | ||
| Alice Cooper | He got it from a ouja board. | Steven | ||
| Alice Cooper | Alice Cooper did NOT get his name from a ouji board. That was just a rumour that got blown out of proportion. The Alice Cooper group at one stage were called the Nazz but had to change their name as there was another band called the Nazz also. When throwing out names, the name "Alice Cooper" came up and was chosen as the band felt it had a creepy quality to it. Having two syllables in the christian name and surname kept in the rythm of famous macabre figures. Lizzie Borden, Baby Jane, Alice Cooper... (Baby Jane being a favourite film of the group, Alice even based his early make up style on it). Cooper always said that whenever he hears "Alice Cooper" he gets the image of a sweet little girl holding a switch blade behind her back. He also felt it lulled the audience into a false sense of security.. "People hear 'Alice Cooper' and expect to see a blonde folk singer and out we come!" (he said this back when they were starting out and people didnt really know what to expect of the cooper group. Obviously they don't expect a folk singer today) | Kevin | ||
| Alice Cooper | First, "Alice Cooper" was originally supposed to be the name of a BAND, not of a person. After a while, people started believing that lead singer Vince Furnier's name was "Alice Cooper" (just as many people think Ian Anderson's name is Jethro Tull, or Debby Harry's name is Blondie), and he started to embrace the name. Now, members of the band have told dozens of conflicting stories about how they got the name, but the simplest and most plausible explanation Vince Furnier ever gave was this: they were a band with a reputation for being loud, crude, crazy, even sick. So, they thought it would be amusing to adopt a name that sounded, sweet, harmless, wholesome and innocent. "Alice Cooper" sounds like the name of a little pigtailed schoolgirl, or a little old lady in church. So, it seemed like a hilariously inappropriate name for a band known for doing perverted things on stage. | John from Austin | ||
| Alice Cooper | Yes, the ouija board bit is right, but he is supposed to be the REINCARNATION of 17th century witch, Alice Cooper. | Darryl Wilson | ||
| Alice Cooper | The name came from when they (they meaning before VF was called AC) were thinking of band names and they thought about child killers like Lizzie Borden and they thought Alice Cooper sounded like a childs name that you could imagine her in a nice dress and pigtails with a knife behind her back. Alice Cooper (the man now) said this on VH1. | Willie Teggart | ||
| Alice Cooper | Although many rumors exist (ouija board reading, name of somebody burned as a witch, etc.) the truth is that it simply sounded like a deceivingly wholesome name for a shocking band (source: interview on "Welcome to my Nightmare" DVD) | Bill M. | ||
| Alice Cooper | well the whole oujia board thing isnt true alice (vince) just thought of a sweet sounding 1st name then second evil sounding like lizzy borden, alice cooper had that ring to it | halo of flies | ||
| Alice Donut | The originally called themselves "Alice Donut Liver Henry Moore" as a parody of the movie title "Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More". This was too long to fit in a CBGBs ad in the Village Voice, so they shortened it to just "Alice Donut". | Dan Deparr | ||
| Alice in Chains | The band was names after a Dog who had 3 legs, her name was Alice and she was chained up, the also wrote a song about this dog, their first single was "Man In The Box" which talks about animal (or specifically dog) abuse/cruelty. | Lina | ||
| Alice In Chains | Layne really loved S&M, and they originally wanted to call the band "Phallus in Chains", but they slightly modified the name so they wouldn't scare off record labels. | Lisa Baldwin | ||
| Alice In Chains | i've heard two reasons for this name... 1) a Brady Bunch episode ( i know nothing about the Brady Bunch so I don't know if this is true) or 2) the band was discussing Alice in Wonderland and the conversation turned to a new name... someone suggested Alice IN Chains. | who cares | ||
| Alice In Chains | The other submissions here are not quite (or in some cases not at all) accurate. According to the liner notes in Alice In Chains' box set "Music Bank", lead singer Layne Staley was in a band in high school called Alice 'N' Chains. It had no particular meaning other than sounding cool. The band was short-lived. Later Staley met guitarist Jerry Cantrell and they decided to form a band, with drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Michael Starr rounding out the lineup. After trying out other names (they played their first show as "F*** - the band), Staley suggested they use the name of his old band. They changed the spelling slightly and became Alice In Chains. | downinahole | ||
| Alice In Chains | Alice in Chains is the title of a Brady Bunch Episode. It sounded bizarre enough to be a band name. | David | ||
| Alice In Chains | They found a stray dog tied up in chains and named it Alice. They decided to name their band Alice In Chains. | bloodymime | ||
| Alice In Chains | The name came from Layne he thought of a metal band dressed in drag hince the name Alice In Chains also they spelled it Alice N Chains before | meegs | ||
| Alice in Chains | Layne Staley ( R.I.P ) was in a glam band in about 1987 called Alice 'n Chainz. They screwed with a few ideas including the band title F**k and would pass out condoms at the end of the show with " F**k the band" written on them! But eventually they went with the modern spelling of what is ( was ) now Alice in Chains. BTW, when Layne did Mad Season in '95 the did a few shows as "The Gacy Bunch" as well. | Red Ant | ||
| Alice In Chains | The name originated out of a joke of them being a Slayer cover band that wore dresses. The original name was "Alice 'N Chains." | Bobo | ||
| Alice In Chains | They got their name from a cereal in the 80's called, "Apple Alice In Chocolate Chains". Of course, they dropped the snack references. How would anyone take them seriously with a name about food? By the way, the cereal was pretty good. Haven't seen it in the stores since I was 6 or 7. Bye. | Jonko McStab VanKill | ||
| Alice In Chains | actually, alice in chains is a reference to drug addiction believe it or not. coming from layne staley himself, he said that "ALICE" represented the frail person, and the "CHAINS" represented the drug addiction. and the music was about "ALICE" breaking free of her "CHAINS", a.k.a. drugs. and thats from layne staley himslf, r.i.p. p.s.- man in the box is not about dog or animal abuse, its about how people dont do anything w/ their lives and live in "A BOX" and "EAT THE SHIT THATS FED TO THEM", like calves that are raised for veal. again, from layne's quotes. | dan | ||
| Alice In Chains | They thought of it as a name for a speed-metal band that dressed in drag. | BMW | ||
| Alice in Chains | It's actually in direct relation to the old classic Disney movie "Alice in Wonderland", "Alice in Chains" is a darker perspective indicating the trauma and pain of human existence and the false sense of being free | Fan | ||
| Alice In Chains | The REAL way they got there name was from an episode of the Honeymooners, Ralph said to Alice one episode he would like to see Alice in Chains, the band liked it. | J L | ||
| Alice In Chains | One night while getting drunk (before they were signed) Lane Stanley and Jerry Cantrell were watching metal videos. A Poison/Warrant video came on, Lane Stanley started yelling "Alice In Chains!" A mockery of the high hair/glam bands. Well, after a few moments, Lane and Jerry realized that was a great name for a band. I read that in a book of band name origins. | Nick Mancini | ||
| Alice in Chains | It's a play on "Alice in Wonderland", being a heavy band with dark lyrics, henceforth Alice in Chains. | System | ||
| Alice in Chains | The lead singer Layne Staley used to be in a garage band called Alice n' Chains (short for "and"). All the band members would dress in drag to perform. This name was later changed as new members joined and formed "Alice in Chains". | Kozy | ||
| Alice In Chains | There was once a girl named Alice, she was neighbor of the lead singer. Alice loved chains, she'd wear chains to her clothes, her room was full of chains. Everyone called her "Alice In Chains" because she was simply always in chains. Alice was a little metalhead. :) Then the band Alice in chains, decided to get that name, because they also love chains.... but not as much as Alice. *LOL* | Just Me | ||
| Alien Ant Farm | An ant farm is cultivated- you watch how the ants grow and build and work. this band is imagining that we are being cultivated and watched by giant aliens- as in, the world is an alien ant farm. | bassist_emma | ||
| Alien Ant Farm | It was actually inspired by an episode of "The Outer Limits", in which alien ants from Mars were building a colony in a laboratory on Earth and after killing the scientists, the escape. | Rob | ||
| Alien Ant Farm | The Guitarist had a theory that we were being kept in a giant cage and we had been cultivated by Aliens. This is somewhat like an ant farm, so, Alien Ant Farm. | Linkin Child | ||
| Alien Ant Farm | They chose this name because their guitarist had a dream where aliens put him in a giant ant farm so they could study him | snarbulex | ||
| Alien Ant Farm | The guitarist had a theory that all humans were stuck in an ant farm bred by aliens. | Linkin Child | ||
| Aline In Chains | It's a play on "Alice in Wonderland", being a heavy band with dark lyrics henceforth Alice in Chains. | System | ||
| Alkaline Trio | Matt Skiba, Rob Doran, and Glenn Porter were the original members of the Alkaline Trio. Alkaline means "basic" and trio obviously means "three." The story about Matt flipping through a dictionary for a band name is true--he got as far as alkaline and stopped. | Emily | ||
| Alkaline Trio | I read in an interview that Matt (Guitar/Vocals) just saw the word "alkaline" in the dictionary and thought it was cool. Then, since there were three of them, they became the Alkaline Trio. | Nose Over Tail97 | ||
| Alkaline Trio | Matt Skiba basically just looked up a word in the dictionary. Then he added trio to it. Obviously he didnt make it that far into the dictionary. Nose Over Tail97 is correct. | Nomarfar | ||
| Alkaline Trio | the alkaline elements are metallic elements that are ver reactive. I have no idea if that is how they got the name meaning it prob. isnt but i thought that was a pretty cool corelation. | max | ||
| All About Eve | Taken from the black and white film of 1950, of the same name, starring Bette Davis | Goony | ||
| The All American Rejects | (The information here is incorrect). There is aline in the Green Day song 'Reject' that goes "The reject all american". The band are fans of Green Day and took their name from this particular lyric- they just reversed the words. | Ramona | ||
| All American Rejects | The band was doin a charity thing for this group of kids that had disabilities. At the time they didn't have a name... but one of the lead singers' neighor was one of this kids in the group... the kid liked to call him choo choo beause when the lead singer babysat this kid they'd play a train game. So anyway... they were introduced as the choo choo's! At the end of the gig they decided taht these kids were awesome and they wanted to remember them- so they named themsleves the rejects after the reject little kids!!! harsh right?! but true!!! then the All american came in when they were hangin at the special olympics... one of their drunk friends was like 'hey they r like all american athletes- cept like with problems' so they band was like hey tahts like us n those little kids!!!!! Hence *the all american Rejects!!!* | allie | ||
| All American Rejects | The lead singer remembered ''we are rejects, all american'' from green day's nimrod cd | black sheep | ||
| All American Rejects | The guitarist for the all american rejects remembered a line from a green day song that says :we are rejects, all- american, so they flipped it around and now they are the all-american rejects | marissa | ||
| All Saints | The name of the street where the band's London recording studio was located. | pop | ||
| All Saints | I don't know if this is relevant but the Spice Girls formed in a house in Boyn Hill Road, Maidenhead in England. If you walk along this road you will magically find yourself in....All Saints Avenue! | Fang | ||
| All Time Low | They got their name from a line in the song "Head On Collision" by New Found Glory- "and it feels like I'm at an all-time low". | Alex | ||
| The All-American Rejects | It has nothing to do with Green Day. In an interview, Nick said that he was just typing in band names to see if they were taken; and The All- American Rejects was the first one that wasn't taken. | lora | ||
| All-American Rejects | They got their name by flipping the lyrics "You're reject all-American" on the song by Green Day called "Reject". | snowburton | ||
| The All-American Rejects | I took this right out of a magazine. But Nick says, "That the band name honestly means nothing. We're just poor white trash from Oklahoma" | Speeder0222 | ||
| The All-American Rejects | When they were trying to come up with a band name, one of them suggested "The All-Americans," but that wasn't cool enough. Then , someone else suggested "The Rejects," but there was already a band with that name. So, they decided to put the two together, thus becoming "The All-American Rejects." | Natalie | ||
| Allister | they were watching a show on nickelodeon (sp?) called "you cant do that on television" and there was a kid with an unusual talent named alistair and they decided to be nicer with the spelling of the name... low and behold Allister was born.... | krystina | ||
| Alter Bridge | Named after a bridge in Chicago, Illinois | Locomotive | ||
| Alter Bridge | Alter Road is a boundary between Detroit {poor] and Grosse Pointe [rich]. | david hayes | ||
| Alterbridge | its a place in mark tremonti's (lead guitarist) home. it represents the alterbridge in his town that as a small child, he wasnt alowed to go there because it was unknown wat was on the otherside. so they named the band that because they didnt really know what was going to happen and where they were going | Lee | ||
| Amboy Dukes | Ted Nugent's original band - taken from the title of a 1940's book about street gangs by Irving Shulman. | Lea | ||
| Amen Corner/Wishbone Ash | Amen Corner is the name of an intersection, cross roads on the Cranbourne chase in Dorset. Same for Wishbone Ash, another cross road in Dorset, where the names of these lonely intersections and others are nicely spelled out in a circle above the name signs. I know not why the bands chose these names, presumably they saw them on cross counrty jaunts, they are certainly memorable. | David wills | ||
| America | Three boys in England performed their pop/folk rock songs at pubs in England where their fathers were stationed (American servicemen). Locals began calling the the Americans. Not to be confused with "Jay & the Americans" they simply decided on America for their name/ | Bill Stoner | ||
| America | The band's name developed from many sources, including a deep homesickness for the USA. When they noticed a jukebox with the "Americana" label, they discovered (at least in part) their permanent name. Taken from the biography "America: A Short History". | Brenna McAdow | ||
| Amon Amarth | From J.R.R. Tolkien's book "The Silmarillion," it means "Mountains of Doom." | Bobo | ||
| Amon Amarth | It means in Elvish ( a language created by J.R.R. Tolkien) "Hills of Doom" ("Mountains of Doom" would be "Ered Amarh", as the other post says it means) | Bradley | ||
| Amon Amarth | It is named after a location in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. The name means "Mount Doom" in Sindarin, one of Tolkien's Elvish languages. | weirdkid106 | ||
| Amorphis | From the word amorphous, meaning "without definite shape." Appropriate name. | Bobo | ||
| Anathema | Actually this word is derived from the greek wortd/saying which says go to the Anathema or go to hell. Basically it's from Ancient Greece not used in greece anymore but widely used on the meditterenean island of Cyprus. greek speaking island near turkey and egypt. | GAP | ||
| Anathema | This name has got several meanings and connotations i) A curse ii) Anything curséd iii) Anything laid up or suspended; hence anything laid up in a temple or set apart as sacred. iv) A detested person. | Bobo | ||
| Anberlin | The band decided to name themselves after the second wife of King Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn. When pronounced, it can be miswritten as "anberlin". | mike | ||
| Anberlin | a "made up" name of the future daughter of one of the members. i say it was combined with amber, lynn, and anne. | john | ||
| And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead | Named after a prayer to Mayan corn gods. | Ben | ||
| Andrew W.K. | Andrew W.K. is short for Andrew Wilkes-Krier. His mother's last name is Wilkes and his father's last name is Krier. He started using the shortened version in school to distinguish himself from another boy named Andrew. | Mike Vanier | ||
| Angels Without Wings | angels without wings really just means a regular person they haven't hit it big yet but lars urich nephew is in the band | patrick | ||
| Angra | Angra is an island in Brazil. The band is Brazilian...pretty obvious. | Mac | ||
| Angra | Angra actually means "Fire goddess" | Shawn McNally | ||
| The Animals | In 1962, What began as a three man Alan Price combo playing Saturday night gigs at Newcastle's Downbeat club,evolved into a group containing, Alan Price,Bryan Chandler,Hilton Valetine. Eric Burdon and John Steel. The club was over a warehouse, and near enough to The Railroad tracks that the passing trains shook the crowded, damp room periodically, but the music made by the combo shook it til closing time. It was a frenetic scene,and it was the beginning of a group that became known as The Animals,not through their own design, but because thats what their audiences began to call them, and they were smart enough to recognize a good thing when it came along. | Mike Thurber | ||
| Anthrax | Comes from back when the boys were sittin' in school in their Biology class. They were contemplationg band names and like Anthrax cause nobody really knew what it was back then. | Taylor | ||
| Anti-Flag | One of the band's biggest beliefs is that people are people, despite race, religion, sex, and nationality. Anti-Flag is the idea that people do not belong to a country and should not be separated by a flag. | Cody | ||
| Anti-Flag | The name is meant to show the band's hate of imperialism, arrogant nationalism, and war, not because they hate America. Originaly, they said that the hyphen was misused to show their hate of modern society and refusal to conform, but now Justin admits that they "were just to dumb to know the correct use of a hyphen. | holdrobin | ||
| Anti-Flag | The band hates modern American culture, so they came up with this name. They purposly spelled it with a hyphen to rebel against "proper english" | Robby | ||
| Anton | Digital cameras Store - huge choice audio video of the equipment. | Digitalcameras Store | ||
| Anything Box | From a children's store about a girl who found a box that when opened gave access to anything she desired. Her anything box. | Woofus | ||
| Aphex Twin | Original pseudonym was the now-consigned to Rephlex "AFX", which stood for "Acid Effects". This morphed over time into "Aphex". | Alex | ||
| Aphex Twin | The 'Twin' comes from Richard D.James brother who died before he was born. They shared the same first name, and Richard James Snrs memorial stone appears on the cover of the Boy/Girl EP. Aphex is a manufacturer of audio equipment, which has been used by RDJ. | Jonny EOL | ||
| Aphex Twin | The Aphex twins were minor characters in the Indian epic, the Mahabharata. | Trent Blankenbote | ||
| Apollo 440 | The number 440 refers to concert pitch, which is the A above middle C, having as it does a frequency of four-hundred and forty Hertz. | Oliver Levy | ||
| ApologetiX | The word "apologitics" means "in the defense of the Christian faith. They added the "X" and voila, a new band name. | Xtreme Parody | ||
| Apoptygma Berzerk | The lead singer, Stephen Groth, claims the words were randomly picked out of a dictionary. "Apoptygma" is an old Greek word, for the fold of a woman's undergarment. | Arix | ||
| Apparatus | It was a random word in the dictionary. | mia | ||
| April Wine | Taken from the band's website: "It all began in Nova Scotia late in 1969. The Henman brothers, David and Ritchie, got together with their cousin Jim Henman and fellow musician Myles Goodwyn to form a band called April Wine, a name chosen simply because they were two words that sounded good together." | GRMatthews | ||
| Aqua | The band featuring Lene Grawford Nystrøm and René Dif (not the other one), derived their name, and the name of their most famous album, from a picture of an aquarium hanging on a wall of the recording studio. | Bobo | ||
| Aqua | The sat in a room with a poster hanging on the wall advertising the "Danmarks Akvarium", and they choose the name from the poster. At At lest that was what the declared on national television. (confirms Bobo) | Kim Garsdal Nielsen | ||
| The Aquabats | They are superheroes from the planet Aquabania! | John McC | ||
| Aqualung | Matt Hales of Aqualung explained that their name comes from their music as "it helps you breathe, like an aqualung used in space or underwater" | Craig | ||
| Aquifer | They were really into Aqualung, but of course couldn't name themselves after a band already out. In a brainstorming session, someone blurted out the word. It was Aquifer forever after that. | Nikki | ||
| Arab Strap | Named after a Sex aid. given that about 90% of the grumpy old buggers' songs are about shagging this should come as little surprise | Dr Jimatha o' Boogie | ||
| Arabesque | The name was chosen because all the band members had some Arabic blood in them. | Mr. X | ||
| Arcadia | As an interesting side note, when Arcadia's first (and only) album, "So Red The Rose", was in the final stages of production, it was discovered that Asia's next album was also due to be named "Arcadia" (all of Asia's albums in those days, and many since, have titles that start and end with "A"--Asia, Alpha, Aqua, Arena, etc). After a short period of tension, Asia decided to rename their project to "Astra". | EJSawyer | ||
| Arcadia (Duran Duran project) | The name comes from the painting by Nicholas Poussin entitled "Arcadian Shepherds". On the tomb where the shepherds are gathered, there is an inscription: "ET IN ARCADIA EGO". The literary sources are numerous - from the Eclogues or Bucolics of Virgil to the Arcadia of Jacopo Sannazaro (1502) - all invoking an imaginary place, a "kingdom of Utopia". However the phrase ET IN ARCADIA EGO can not be traced to any known classical source. The Latin words means "Even in Arcadia I exist", where "I" is considered to refer to death. Basically, Nick Rhodes thought it was pretty cool. I got this information from the Japanese-released Arcadia video circa 1986. | Lady Divia | ||
| Archers of Loaf | They opened the dictionary and pointed their finger randomly. The first word they placed their finger on was archer. Since there is more then one member of the band, they made archer plural. Hence, Archers. They opened it up again and landed on another noun. The third time they opened it up they landed on loaf. Thenceforth, Archers of Loaf. | Travis | ||
| Archers Of Loaf | It basically means nothing, but they make up things to fool people. | Bobo | ||
| Arctic Monkeys | While they were trying to think of band names, one of them decided to ask where they'd want to be in the Arctic or the desert. After that, they saw a poster of a monkey. Therefore, "Arctic Monkeys" | Taylor | ||
| Arcwelder | This Mpls band was originally named Tilt-A-Whirl, but after being threatened by litigation from the company that manufactured the carnival ride, changed its name. | Roderick |
Entries starting with A are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3
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