F, 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).

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Entries starting with F are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3

There are 4771 Band Name Origin entries on the site.

Name	Origin	Submitted by:
Flipper	After the inordinately happy dolphin of the same name.	Bobo
Flo-Rida	Apparently he is from Florida.	Dongquan
A Flock of Seagulls	They took their name from a line in the Stranglers Song "Toiler on the Sea" on the Black and White album, of which the band were fans (NOT "Tank" which is on the same album).	Mark T
A Flock of Seagulls	I heard them state on redio once that, as big fans of "The Stranglers" they took their name from a line "and we came to see.. A Flock of Seagulls!, a flock of Saagulls!!" from The Stranglers song "Toiler on the Sea" (last track, side one) on their 70's album "Black and White".	Enver Hoxha
Flock Of Seagulls	After The Novel 'Jonathan Livingston Seagull', by Richard Bach	Hello Konichiwa
A Flock Of Seagulls	They were inspirede by the book by Richard Back "Jonathan Livingston seagull"	Luke
A Flock Of Seagulls	You've got the wrong one. The name comes from a Stranglers song called "Tank". The singer suddenly cries "A Flock of Seagulls!"	marco
A Flock Of Seagulls	They took their name from "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", a book which referred to a "flock of individuals".	Vic George
Flogging Molly	The band use to play at Molly Malone's (an Irish pub in L.A.) every Monday night. They said it was like flogging a dead horse, and so the name Flogging Molly came about.	Cade
Flogging Molly	They used to play in a bar called Molly's. One night, after a successful show Dave King (singer) said "Looks like we flogged Molly's tonight!" That became Flogging Molly, etc.	S. Insect
Flogging Molly	Taken from an ongoing joke about an Irish pub in LA called "Molly Malone's", appearently this is where the band first met each other.	C.M.
The Flower Pot Men	Named after a UK children's TV programme from the 1950s and 1960s, called 'Bill and Ben, The Flowerpot Men'.	Robert Morgan
Fluff Tongue	Two members of JarCreW were messing with fridge magnets and one of them made the word FLUFF and the other then brought up the word TONGUE. As JarCreW know the members of Fluff Tongue they offered it up and it was accepted.	Jackobi
The Flying Stomach Monkeys	One member used a dictionary to put different words on dice, then rolled the dice. Later, the parenthetical correction of "not to be confused with the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz" was added to the name.	Poseidon
Flying Tygers	The Flying Tygers chose Flying V guitars to play their 60s garage beat. (Accusations of them playing 'metal' guitars are countered with the fact that the V is a 50s design!) Having the 'Flying' bit from their guitars, they added 'Tygers' after the 'American Volunteer Group' squadron of P40 Warhawk fighter planes, known as the Flying Tigers. The y in Tygers gave them a logo with 2 Flying Vs in it, and distinguishes them from other flying felines.	Eric
Flyleaf	Lacey (Mosley, lead singer of Flyleaf) chose the name because it is a term for the blank pages at the beginning of a book before the story and at the end after of a book, as it represents a moment of clarity. The band's orginal name was Listen.	Aaron
Foghat	It was a word lead singer Dave Peverett and his brother invented during a game of "Scrabble".	rocky
Foghat	If you say Foghat with a British accent, it sounds like FK It. On one of their live cuts they are introduced and the announcer says, "Ladies and Gentleman, Fk It.	Big T
The Folk Implosion	Their name is a reference to the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.	Brian Kelly
Folkearth	The name (folk + earth) symbolizes musicians from all over the world playing folk music.	weirdkid106
Foo Fighters	Asked about their name in an interview, the band said that "Foo" evolved from the french word "feu" meaning fire. They were "fire" fighters.	Leftfield
Foo Fighters	They are named after the WWII term 'foo fighter', used to refer to mysterious aerial phenomena.	BreakingBenAlways
Foo Fighters	Feu is the french word for fire. A "Feu" fighter was a WWII air unit that would shoot down supposed UFO's, which appeared as balls of fire.	RexTyler
Foo Fighters	They were eating at an oriental restraunt, and soon enough, being the wild beings they are, they caused a food fight. Someone referred to them as Foo Fighters, and they decided to consider it the name of their band!	Hayden
Foo Fighters	"Foo fighters" was what UFOs were called by British and American fighter pilots during World War II. Dave Grohl, being a sci-fi nut, heard of this and the rest is history.	logan
Foo Fighters	Foo Fighters was the name given to the spaceship in the Roswell incident.	Sean Dougherty
Foo Fighters	Foo Fighters was a name given to UFOs which flew alongside German bombers in WW2. After the war a group of scientists proved that they were really balls of lightning which were attracted to the metal of the aircraft.	Bedhanger
Foo Fighters	The band name has nothing to do with American pilots during WW2. French pilots would report seeing fireballs in the sky during the war, and called them feu fighters. Feu means fire. Dave Grohl then changed it to Foo Fighters. He chose this name because he is a total UFO buff, and Roswell Records which the first album was released on is actually Dave Grohls own label. Even the album art was of a ray gun	thesquire
Foo Fighters	It was slang for UFO's in World War 2	tracy
Foo Fighters	In the 1938 cartoon "The Daffy Doc", a very early version of Daffy Duck holds up a sign saying "SILENCE IS FOO!" --> Play Music, make sound --> fight silence --> Foo Fighters	Magnus
Foo Fighters	Slang for UFO's in World War II	Emily
Foo Fighters	Dave Grohl named the band after a movie in which there would be flying fireballs in the sky. The fireballs were called "foo fighters" by german pilots. So he decided to call his band the Foo Fighters.	jeremy
Foo Fighters	A Foo Fighter was a name for UFOs in World War 2	Kate
Foo Fighters	In WWII, both American and Japanese airplanes reported seeing airplanes (not UFOs) in the distance, but the airplanes never came close enough to identify. These airplanes were thought to be mirages of the sky. They were nicknamed 'Foo Fighters' by the American air force and dismissed as an unexplainable phenomena.	ashnazg
Foo Fighters	The British Air Force pilots that fought UFOs were called foo fighters.	milkman
Foo Fighters	The "Food Fighters" origination is way off (Grohl was the only member of the band at the beginning and played all parts on the debut album bar one track so who could he have had a food fight with?!?). Foo Fighters was a term used by Allied pilots in WW2 to describe various UFOs or mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over Europe and the Pacific. Grohl's interest in UFOs has been well documented in a number of interviews particularly at the beginning and he himself has said that this was behind the name. Moreover Roswell Records (their label that released the debut) is named after the UFO Incident of 1947. The band also played a special 10 year anniversary gig in a hanger in Roswell.	Matt Curley
Foo Fighters	David Grohl was fascinated by the Roswell incident and sci-fi in general. He decided to name his new project after a slang expression used in World War II by US pilots to describe the alien-looking fireballs they sometimes saw over Germany (specifically, between Hagenau in Alsace-Lorraine and Neustadt an der Weinstrasse in the Rhine Valley). Foo is a mutation of the French word for fire, "fue".	Christian B
Foo Fighters	No one's wrong about the band name, but just to add to the facts. It was discovered after the war that in WW2 the Germans had managed to contain and control anti-gravity technology. They then developed it into literally saucer shaped air crafts, which were sighted by the American and British bomber crews when flying over parts of Germany to drop their bombs. They were reported to be moving in speradic movements at unbelievable speeds with what appered to be absolute minimal effort and strain on the crafts, they were nicknamed 'foo fighters' by the pilots. (Watched it on a channel 4 documentary. Sure you could find out about it on the web somewhere.	Jumbofallice
foo fighters	"foo fighters" were colored lights in the sky seen by pilots during ww2 while flying over the pacific that were thought to be special japanese planes hence the name foo fighters	eric
Foo Fighters	They are named after the World War II term "foo fighter", used to refer to mysterious aerial phenomena.	John Allen
Foo Fighters	I swear, I am not making this up. One time, Dave Grohl was on David Letterman. When asked about the origin of the band's name, he said that they were originally called the "Food Fighters," but were required to change it when they signed with their record label.	toohottoholdonto
Foo Fighters	A term used by World War II pilots to describe strange flying fireballs they sometimes saw.	Bloody Drummer
Foo Fighters	A squadron of Japanese fighter pilots in World War II were named the foo fighters for their kamakaaze attitude to missions. The band liked the idea of this and therefore named themselves after these 'foo fighters'.	jimmy b
Foo Fighters	Dave Grohl is a WWII / UFO buff. Before the term UFO was coined, the US military used to refer to UFO's as Foo Fighters.	Ironlung
Foo Fighters	Supposedly their name came from the French word for fire('feu'); which when said, sounds like 'foo'. Add on Fighters and you get Fire Fighters.	pink floss
For Squirrels	They said they were so committed to being in a band, they'd play music for squirrels.	Brian Kelly
Foreigner	Actually. Lou Gramm(atico) is from ROCHESTER NY, not New Rochelle.	Dr. Bristol
Foreigner	Because om the original line up, Mick Jones, Al Greenwood and Ian McDonald are from England and Lou Gramm, Dennis Elliot,and Ed Gagliardi are from America. Half the band members would be considered foreigners in England and the other half would be foreigners in America. They then decided to name themselves Foreigner.	Some Guy
Foreigner	It depends on which side of the Atlantic Ocean you are from. In America, "foreigner" refers to a band that is based in England, but gained popularity in the States. But if you are from the Motherland, the "foreigner' in question is singer Lou Gramm, a native of New Rochelle, NY.	mick
Foreigner	The band selected this name because, of the original six members, half were British and the other half were American. Also, former lead singer Lou Gramm is a native of Rochester, New York and presently lives in the neighboring city of Webster.	Miss M
Fortress Falls	I heard from one of the members that their drummer came up with the name for the band. His nickname was Beyum. He got it from something he was reading on the internet.	captain jew....
Fortress Falls	Well, I heard that they all where sitting around brainstorming a name when they were outside that next day. A church was being pulled to the ground because of building problems (old age). They said, "The fortress is falling!"	FORTRESS
Fountains of Wayne	Took their name from an Outdoor store (fountains/Xmas decorations etc..) on Rte 46 in Wayne NJ	terry
Fountains of Wayne	The name of a store in Wayne NJ that sells... fountains.	Bobo
Fountans of Wayne	Bobo is right, but what is wierder is that the store is a christian fundamentalist front and maybe the band made a play on it...	Steve
The Four Seasons	Their manager Joe Pesci (now actor) suggested The Four Seasons in a bowling ally in Union, NJ where they would sing in it's lounge as the 4 Lovers. I live in Union and use to to hang out there and was a feature story in the Newark Star Ledger newspaper of famous people from New Jersey.	Frank Leo
The Four Seasons	From the bowling alley they played in New Jersey.	ernie rickert
The Four Seasons	Lead singer Frankie Valli headed a group originally known as The Four Lovers. Then they changed their name to The Four Seasons, after a bowling alley, of all things. The bowling alley was in New Jersey, and they renamed themselves after it in 1961, just before their first big hit, "Sherry", came out. So as bizarre as the origin of their name was, it must have had something going for it. The quartet is sometimes referred to as "Frankie Valli And The Four Seasons". That must be something of a misnomer, for, doesn't "Frankie Valli AND The Four Seasons" imply a group of five in all?	Roy R. Pryor
Four Tops	They were originally the Four Aims, but an early producer (years before they were signed by Motown and became legends in the Sixties) told them they couldn't use the name, because they would be confused with the white pop group the Ames Brothers. The producer asked where they got the name. They said, "We're aiming for the top." So the producer suggested "The Four Tops." It took a while, but the rest is history.	Michael Pacholek
Four Year Strong	Four Year Strong, all the band members were friends all throughout high school and that's how they got their name because they have four years of strong friendship	Mykel Banda
Foxy Brown	She got her rap name after the classic 1970's movie with Pam Grier, who was her role model at the time.	Ms. M
Fozzy	The band started out as a tribute to Ozzy Osbourne, and began as Fozzy Osbourne, which eventually became Fozzy.	Samantha
The Frame	The band admired The Doors, and the frame is the next thing out from a door.	Skip Eisiminger
Frankie Goes To Hollywood	From an old newspaper headline about Frankie Vaughn (not, as many people assume, Frank Sinatra).	Jenny Turner
Frankie Goes To Hollywood	Initially called Hollycaust, they changed their name after an old newpaper headline about Frank Sinatra. Found at www.allmusic.com	Mike
Frankie Goes To Hollywood	Allegedly from a newspaper article about Frank Sinatra (although band member have rumoured Frankie Vaughan)	Henk
Franz Ferdinand	In the Balkan peninsula (singer Alex Kapranos' ancestors came from Greece), there is a country called Bosnia and Herzegovina. Formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, they were seized by Austria-Hungary in 1908. In 1914, World War One began when Gavrilo Princip, who wanted this territory to be Serbian, assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo.	Alan the Ottoman
Franz Ferdinand	They saw a special on TV about the archduke, Franz Ferdinand, liked the name, and used it.	MagentaLipsKitty
Franz Ferdinand	Named after the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863-1914), whose assassination led to World War I.	Sabine
Franz Ferdinand	Quote from Alex Kapranos - "We were watching a horse race with a horse called The Archduke. And from there came the discussion about Franz Ferdinand as a name and we loved it because the words sounded great together"	stu
Franz Ferdinand	Named after the heir to the Austrian throne (pretty sure he was the heir) who was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist. The assassination was the immediate "spark" that started WWI.	Amanda
Franz Ferdinand	Franz Ferdinand got their name from a radio DJ in Poughkeepsie, New York. I heard him do it live on the air! It was at the station WRRV. Since the two letters in the middle of WRRV are "RR" he thought of naming them after a segment of his show called the WRRV 5 O'Clock "Road Rage". After names like Randy Rackoflamb, and Rezzy Rockingass, he came up with Ranz Rerdinand. But something wasn't right. After replacing the R's with every other letter in the Alphabet, the DJ landed on the name Franz Ferdinand! What a clever bastard! You just can not make this stuff up!	Gilmore
The Fratellis	The name of the band is an homage to the founder, Barry's, last name. Despite the rumours they are not named after the characters from the movie The Goonies.	Sean Smith
Fraulein Wunder	It's German for "Miss Miracle".	John
Free	The name was given to them by British blues artist Alexis Korner.	brit
Free	The record company wanted to call them "The Heavy Metal Kids", but they hated that, and wanted "Free At Last". In the end they stuck with "Free".	Tuna Sunrise
Free Beer	Amazing thinking here, any band with Free Beer on their flyers is bound to get attention. This is the main reason they picked out their name, and the basic accepted one.	Bobo
Free Under Constant Threat	Singer Tony Long named his NYC band Free Under Constant Threat when he was getting ready to write a poem by the same name. The poem's subject was to be about how we as a people are taught, and sometimes, even forced, to think that we are free and safe, but no one is ever really free. Therefore, we are free...under constant threat. It just so happens that the acronym these words create is FUCT...go figure.	Al Ergone
Freezepop	The name is taken from the brand name of popular fruit-flavored, colorful popsicles.	Edward
Frehley's Comets	A play on "Haley's Comet" (actually "Halley's Comet"), the brightest comet ever seen before Hale-Bopp. Former KISS member Ace Frehley was the frontman.	hardrock
Frenzal Rhomb	Early in 1994 the lads named the band after Jason's rat who in turn had been named after French scientist Augustus Fresnel, whose contribution to the world was the invention of a light refracting box - the Fresnel Rhomb By the way, Australians speak ENGLISH	spitter
Frenzal Rhomb	Frenzal Rhomb means friend(s) of the platypus in native Australian.	Horse
Frenzal Rhomb	Although many theories abound the truth behind Frenzal Rhomb is in plain sight. The name is actually a highly complex cryptic cypher...... 4r3n2a1 Rh0mb, notice how the letters "FEZL O" can be strategically substituted for the numbers 4 - 0 and still resemble the original band name.	Steve McCreanor
Frenzal Rhomb	Frenzal Rhomb is Australian for "Friends of Animals"	Loomisk
Frenzal Rhomb	The question that Frenzal Rhomb get asked the most, apart from "Can you wear your underpants on stage and still be taken seriously?" would have to be "what does Friends of Ron mean?" The answer is rarely the same, but to clear up any confusion here is an adequate response to the one question they never expect to be asked again. Early in 1994 the lads named the band after Jason's rat who in turn had been named after French scientist Augustus Fresnel, whose contribution to the world was the invention of a light refracting box - the Fresnel Rhomb.	rxeno
Frenzal Rhomb	named the band after the lead singers rat who in turn had been named after a french scientist - augustus fresnel - whose contribution to he world was the invention of a light refracting box - the fresnel rhomb. they couldnt be bothered to say fresnel so they said frenzal instead.	kim frenzal freak
Freud, Marx, Engels and Jung	Finnish outlaw country band. Name is parody of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.	Susanna Viljanen
Frickin' A	The band got their name while getting a feel for the new members during the recording process of their first demo. While struggling to come up with a sound and a name, Harris blurted out,"FRICKIN' A man -- do these songs suck". Well the name stuck and so did the new members.	buckybeaver
Friday Hill	Place where they grew up in Chingford, London. Just around about where they lived.	Joanna
Frijid Pink	According to the band, it meant "cold excellence".	rock
Front 242	I asked them personally years ago how they got their band name, and they assured me that they chose the name because it sounded good, and because the figures 242 looked good graphically. I asked them because there were rumours about the band name : some said it referred to resolution #242 of the United Nations that acknowledges the existence of the Palestinian state. Others said it referred to the number of collaborators with the Nazi regime that were executed in Belgium after World War II : a lot of them got the death sentence, but only 242 were carried out. The band members were aware of the rumours, but assured me they only found out later.	Inspector Clay
Frontline Assembly	After leaving Skinny Puppy to form his own band with Michael Balch, Bill Leeb was looking for a modern and "industrial" name. "Frontline Assembly" fitted just right. After Michael Balch left a few years later, Bill Leeb change slightly the band name to Front Line Assembly - to avoid legal problems with his former bandmate.	the Grey
Fu-Manchu	Well I looked on this site to see if the info I had was correct, but there's nothing on the band so I submit my knowledge in hope of certification or correction. I've read that Fu Manchu was a really evil chinese man 300 years ago who devised ways of "making people talk" for the advantage of the emperor (whoever that may have been back then). The band obviously heard this name and though it sounded LUSH! (...and they weren't wrong)	JumboFallice
Fuel	When having to think of a name for the band the guys picked FUEL, because it was easy for them to paint the letters on a marquee.	Chris Z
Fuel	They were originally called "Small The Joy"... the guys were trying to think of a new band name one night so they put a bunch of names in a hat and ended up choosing Fuel... short but easy to remember... "It's not like we sat around and got stoned and looked into a crystal ball to get the name. The name was nothing more than an effective, strong name that felt like us. There's no secret meaning or incantation to the name Fuel," says lead singer Brett Scallions.	BrettsLilFuelie
Fugazi	If you grew up in the New York area and watched late night TV, you know about Fagazi Continental. They did a series of annoying, low-budget commercials for their limo service.	Kevin
Fugazi	The band name alludes to a Vietnam-era GI slang backronym for a particularly bad combat situation, which stands for "F***ed Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In"	ronan
Fugazi	Don't think the band knew it, but the band marillion named an album 'fugazi' years before the band started.	elroy
Fugazi	Fugazi is a pizza like bread that contains many air bubbles. "Faux gaz" is old French slang for a fake diamond which can be distinguished by the minute gas bubbles trapped inside. I have heard the term used in both languages to describe someone or something as being fake.	malte
Fugazi	Fugazi is a word that was used by Americans in Vietnam, and is slang concerning those who died in ambush, so the acronym is F***ed Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In. Similar to FUBAR and SNAFU.	Ari

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