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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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There are 4772 Band Name Origin entries on the site.

Name	Origin	Submitted by:
T' Pau	I'm not actually explaining the origin. I just wanted to respond because the one you have posted says that it's the name of a high-ranking Vulcan on 'Star Trek'. I'm pretty sure that the person who submitted this is thinking of T'Pol from "Enterprise", a show that started at least a decade after T'Pau was formed, and I don't believe there is a Vulcan named T'Pau.	matt
T'Pau	I think T'Pau was a priestess. I know she was not Spock's mother. I would know; I used to be obsessed with Star Trek!	julie
T'Pau	Spock's grandmother. From (T'Pau singer) Carol Deckers lips.	Steve HS
T'Pau	A character from Star Trek - a high-ranking Vulcan as it so happens.	John Lewis
T'Pau	To correct (Luke Elwick) yes Star Trek but - T'Pau was one of Vulcan's most revered leaders, the only person ever to turn down a seat on the Federation Council. In 2267, T'Pau officiated over Spock's wedding they are related but not mother and son. btw - Amanda Grayson is Spocks biological mother.	ST Fan
T'Pau	It was the name of Mister Spock (from Star Trek)'s Mother	Luke Elwick
T'pau	T'pau is a name from the Star Trek episode "Amok Time." It is the first time we meet the honored priestess T'Pau. Spock's mothers' name is Amanda, and his mate was named T'Pring. I am certian T'Pau is a preistess.	vera lafae
T'Pau	T'Pau is actually a character from Star Trek but not "some high-ranking vulcan" but the one woman Spock is supposed to marry in the episode "Amok Time".	Taleweaver
T-ARA	6 girl Korean band whose name represents Tiara...	Robert D. Arndt Jr.
T-Boz	The "T" stands for Tionne, her name, and "Boz" stands for boss. "Tionne is being the boss". She was always bossing around people and was called "The Boss". One time she and some friends did some graffiti and they came up with "T-Boz".	SaRiZ
T.A.T.U.	It's an acronym for the russian, "ta lyubit tu", or "this one loves that one". They're lesbians, by the way. Think about it.	Courtjester
T.A.T.U.	The name of the band is a play on the Russian phrase "Ta lyubit tu", which roughly translates to "She loves her." Get it? "Ta, tu," "T.A.T.U."?	Destiny
T.A.T.U.	They are Russian, and the letters T, A, T, and U stand for the Russian words for "This girl loves that girl". But don't be fooled! They're not lesbians...They do have boyfriends!	Chad Mosher
T.A.T.U.	T.A.T.U. is short for the phrase "Ta lyubit tu," which, in Russian, means "This girl loves that girl."	Puppy Loves Chew Toys
T.A.T.U.	T.A.T.U. are the initials for the Russian words that mean "This Girl Loves That Girl"	Chad Mosher
T.I.S.M	obviously This Is Serious Mum.... you dont need to read this to know that	Luke yeh me
T.I.S.M.	Stands for "This Is Serious, Mum".	LiLRedRidinHood
T.O.A.	Top Of Asia	Robert D. Arndt Jr.
T.O.S.M	The lead singer was obsessed with high tops, and T.O.S.M stands for 'they're only shoes, man'.	Jamie Ogden
Tag Team	Not sure of their original name, but the one hit wonder rap group is originally from Atlanta, GA. When they first started out, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) used to tape near their crib. They were big fans of wrestling, and their chant "Whoomp, there it is!" was chanted in a few arena shows by manager Teddy Long, so they changed the name to Tag Team.	FE C
Tait	All sources point out that the name of the band is not named after lead singer Michael Tait, but in honor of his father Nathel Tait.	whitehorse
Take That	They didn't know how to name the band so one day they saw a magazine with "Madonna" on the cover and the title said "Madonna: Take That & Party" so they thought it was cool "Take that & Party", then they found out there was a rapper named "The party", so they cut it to Take That....(And that's why their first album's name was "Take That & Party")	Markyslover
Taking Back Sunday	Guitarist Eddie Reyes said that Sunday was a day to relax and have fun.	Ty
Taking Back Sunday	The band is named after a song by Long Island band The Waiting Process who were inspired by their grandmother, Tina, that they should take back Sunday from the Christian people in Long Island.	Robert D. Arndt Jr.
Taking Back Sunday	Got it from a local band's song title.	Kamino
Talking Heads	The band went to a local puppet show after starting to play together. The drummer just thought it up right then and there.	Emma
Talking Heads	I can't believe this one isn't here already. A "Talking Head" shot is TV jargon for a static shot of a person (a newsreader, for example) from the shoulders up while he or she is just sitting there yakking away. I think I just explained something self-explanatory. BTW, the (official) name of the band is Talking Heads with no definite article.	Tim Horrigan
Talking Heads	One of the band's friends found it in a TV Guide. It's the term for a shot of someone's head while they are talking, and no action going on.	Heather
Talking Heads	I heard that the Talking Heads were constantly changing their name. When a certain degree of success finally hit (perhaps a record contract?) they were called the "Talking Heads" at the time - so they remained the Talking Heads.	Todd Burnside
Talking Heads	Front man David Byrne took the name from the nickname for people who simply read news reports on television. They're often referred to as "Talking Heads."	Danger-us
The Tallest Man On Earth	Kristian Matsson wanted to come up with a name that would motivate him to try his hardest, so he picked a bold name that he would have to live up to.	ACaricatureOf
Tamarama	This duo named themselves after a beach in Sydney, Australia, where they grew up.	Candy Welty
Tamerton	The town were they recorded there first demo was called Tamerton.	dave
Tangerine Dream	A reference to 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'. ''Tangerine trees and marmalade skies''	Roger Francis
Tangerine Dream	I read this in an interview in a UK magazine 'Let it Rock' in about 1975. The interviewer asked how they chose their name and they said they took it from the Beatles lyric on Lucy in the sky with Diamonds. They interviewer made no comment and moved on but I was puzzled. There was no such lyric. Then I realised that being german the had misheard the lyric 'tangerine trees'. So there you are, the only band in the world named after a mis-heard Beatles lyric.	mark perkins
Tangerine Dream	i read an interview with them in the 70's and they said they named themselves after a beatles lyric on Sgt Pepper. I though nothing of it, until i was looking through the lyrics to Lucy in the Sky, and realised they had misunderstood/misheard the lyric 'tangerine trees'; well, they are german. are they the only band to be named after a misheard lyric?	mark
The Tanner 6	The members of the band read in a medical text that there are 5 stages of sexual development, as described by Dr. Tanner. There were 5 original members of the band, so they called themselves "The Tanner 5". When they added a new lead singer, they changed it to "The Tanner 6". (source - I know one of the guys in the band)	Dan
Taproot	It means to tap the root of existence. It's a metaphysical, deep meaning that reflects Stephen Richard's spiritual, unique, introspective lyrics.	Nikki
Taproot	According to Steve Richards, TapRoot's vocalist, the name TapRoot is a perfect word to define the band both lyrically, musically, spiritually and emotionally. "Mike[Guitar] brought up the word 'taproot' to me on the phone as he was flipping through a thesaurus. It's the main root that others stem off of, and I was really excited because I know that in earth medicine of native tribes, taproot means the soul/spirit, which is a major subject in my lyrics." Steve's words contribute to the transcendent quality of TapRoot's music. "Lyrically, it's very spiritual and uplifting. Musically, I like to call it heavy alternative." While TapRoot as a band is not easily defined, their introspective, thought provoking content and style suggests that there is much below the surface to explore.	I Love Taproot
Taproot	According to Steve Richards, TapRoot's vocalist, the name TapRoot is a perfect word to define the band both lyrically, musically, spiritually and emotionally. "Mike[Guitar] brought up the word 'taproot' to me on the phone as he was flipping through a thesaurus. It's the main root that others stem off of, and I was really excited because I know that in earth medicine of native tribes, taproot means the soul/spirit, which is a major subject in my lyrics." Steve's words contribute to the transcendent quality of TapRoot's music. "Lyrically, it's very spiritual and uplifting. Musically, I like to call it heavy alternative." While TapRoot as a band is not easily defined, their introspective, thought provoking content and style suggests that there is much below the surface to explore	PunkDuck
A Taste of Honey	This disco/R&B/funk group, which scored hits during the late 70s - early 80s, is named after the title of a pop torch standard.	Boogie Oogie Oogie
Tatu	'TA devochka lubit TU' is Russian for 'this girl lover that girl'.	lenin
Tavares	It's their last name(they're brothers).	mads.
The Tea Party	There are several stories around this subject. Jeff Martin once answered in an interview: When William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac [founding members of The Beat Generation poets] would get together in the late 1940's and early 1950's and discuss philosophical ideas, write poetry and smoke hash, their code word for it was to go have, 'a tea party'.	FADEL
The Tea Party	From "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party" in Alice in Wonderland.	Momus
Tea Pots People	This was a band from Plymouth (uk) 60s the lead singer was nick named Teapot because he was alway's getting girls up the spout (pregnant)	Billy Jay
Teach-In	A "teach-in" is a form of college campus protest from the 60's, in which faculty and invited guests hold a lengthy, uniterrupted series of lectures, speeches, and the like, usually dealing with controversial topics, or to protest government policies.	RJSchex
The Teardrop Explodes	From a copy of Daredevil comic (issue 77). There is a large silver teardrop in Central Park and without warning, 'The Teardrop Explodes'	Del
Teardrop Explodes	A caption in a comic.	Patricia Pealey
Teardrop Explodes	From a Marvel comic Julian Cope said he read.	chris
Tears For Fears	Taken from Arthur Janov's primal scream therapy book.	Bryan McNeely
Tears For Fears	Curt and Roland chose this name after Arthur Janov's book Primal Scream.	Celeste
Tedashii	His real name is Tedashii Anderson.	JeReMy
TEEN TOP	Teenager Emoboy Emotion Next generation Talent Object Praise!	Robert D. Arndt Jr.
Temple Of The Dog	A tribute band formed after Andrew Wood, frontman for Mother Love Bone, died. The name comes from the lyrics to the Mother Love Bone song "Man of Golden Words".	RevengeFromMars YouTube
Ten Years After	The band was formed ten years after Elvis Presley first hit the charts.	Chris Jepson
Tenacious D	They are big basketball fans and they once heard Marv Albert refer to a team as having a tenacious D. Obviousy meaning that they were very active on defense. The guys thought the term was funny and decided to use it as their name.	Dave's not here man
Tenacious D	The band members, JB and KG were watching an interview with Scottie Pippen after a Chicago Bulls game once and he was asked how they won and replied, "Well we played tenacious defense..." and it was shortened to Tenacious D and they've rocked ever since.	K Hill
Tenacious D	They picked this name after listening to a football commentator talking about how "Tenacious this teams D is."	Brandon
Tenacious D	Bad Religion mentioned the term in an old tune of theirs. The guys heard it and thought WICKED	ridetherocks
Termite Reformation	The band were originally (briefly) called Arkwright, before discovering that Jonathan King had already registered the name. Founder member Terry Burrows wanted to then call the band Deathwatch Beetle but was informed that this might be seen as similar to another UK band .... so Beetle became Termite, and Reformation was simply a word starting with 'R', the intention being to have a 5-word name creating the acronym TRUSS. I know, for I was there.	Dale Rumbold
TerrorVision	Named after a cult B-Movie	Bobo
Tesla	These guys were from Sacramento, CA originally. They played locally as City Kidd, and when they changed their name, they got the idea from the streets near the old K&K music store where they bought some of their equipment. In north east Sacramento, many of the streets were named after inventors like Bell, Watt, Howe, Ethan, Fulton, Whitney, Marconi, Edison, Tesla, etc. The music store was on the corner of Cottage and Fulton, and Tesla Way was one block further south on Fulton Ave!	Dan Keytones
Tesla	Named after the famous scientist, Nikola Tesla.	hardrocker
Texas	Texas took their name from the 1985 Wim Wenders film, Paris, Texas, for which Ry Cooder composed the soundtrack.	Bobo
Thee Michelle Gun Elephant	Their unusual name originated when a friend mispronounced the title of an early jam session recording; featuring cover songs of Thee Headcoats (one of the band's main influences) and from The Damned's album, Machine Gun Etiquette	Lefty Lucy
Them	Van Morrison and his bandmates named themselves after a horror film about giant ants.	Brian Kelly
Theory of a Dead Man	The bands first song was about a guy's last few entries in his diary who later commited suicide. When the band was du to release it they didn't have a band name so they called themselves 'Theory of a Dead Man.	Kirsty
Theory Of A Deadman	The band chose its name from the original title of The Last Song” a track on their debut album that Tyler Connelly (Frontman) penned seven years ago about a man who writes his memoirs before committing suicide.	Matt Maxted
Theory of a Deadman	The ballad "Last Song" was originally called "Theory of a Deadman." The band changed the name of the song, and decided to use it as their name instead. The song was originally called that since it is about a man getting ready to commit suicide who is writing down all his mementos in a letter.	Imagine Whirled Peas
Theory Of A Deadman	There was the name of track number 8 on the first CD, which confirmed that they had took Theory of a Deadman as their band name and named the track the last song. I say confirmed because on Sep 14 2002, I saw them open for Nickelback in Sioux Falls S.D. They were telling tidbits about themselves between songs. Their first album was released a week or 2 later.	Joe Veen
They Migh Be Giants	I can't be positive about this but it would seem plausible. There is a 1971 movie titled "They Might Be Giants" which stars George C. Scott as a retired judge who thinks he is Sherlock Holmes. Joanne Woodward is a psychiatrist sent to look after him. (fortuitously named "Watson"). At one point in the movie when Dr. Watson confronts George C. Scott about his "delusion" he launches into a monologue about how delusions could be the mark of great thinkers including such things as "bread mold might be penicillin". During this speech he refers to Don Quixote tilting at windmills and says "Sure they might just be windmills but they might be giants too". They seem like a pretty well read band, it certainly wouldn't surprise me if that is where the name came from.	Dan McGuire
They Might Be Giants	Another popular explanation is that "They Might Be Giants" was the title of a George C. Scott movie.	plasket
They Might Be Giants	This is the actual story. The band's founders have a friend who is a ventriloquist and whom had used the name for his own act and discarded it. They liked the name and asked him if They could use it, and he agreed. He had gotten the name from the 1971 film starring George C. Scott. Incidentally, the film takes its name from a passage of Don Quixote.	tdk
They Might Be Giants	In the novel Don Quixote, someone asks Quixote why he is preparing to fight with windmills. He answers, "Because they might be giants."	Equus
They Might Be Giants	Of course, [Quixote] carried it a bit too far. He thought that every windmill was a giant. That's insane. But, thinking that they might be... Well, all the best minds used to think the world was flat. But, what if it isn't? It might be round. And bread mold might be medicine. If we never looked at things and thought of what they might be, why, we'd all still be out there in the tall grass with the apes.	Tobias Balick-Schreiber
They Might Be Giants	According to the alt.fan.tmbg FAQ, in the book Don Quixote, when Sancho Panza asks Quixote why he always attacks windmills that he sees in the distance, he replies, "Why, because they might be giants!"	mattboy
They Might be Giants	I interviewed John Linnell years ago, and he said: "It's the name of a movie. It's not a very interesting answer, unfortunately; it's not a very good movie and it doesn't hold that much significance for us, particularly, except that we thought the name was good."	Karlos
They Might Be Giants	According to bandmember John Linnell, "It's the name of a movie made in the early seventies. We wanted a name that was outward-looking and paranoid." (source: TMBG.ORG)	JRSheen
They Might Be Giants	It is a reference to a '60s movie of the same name, and although it did not have anything to do (so far as I can tell, I've never seen the movie) with it, one can trace the origins of the title to Don Quixote's encounter with windmills, which he interpreted to be "giants" and fought them.	jonathan
Thin Lizzy	I read this in an old interview years ago, but Thin Lizzy was another nickname for "Long" Liz Stride, a victim of Jack the Ripper. Thin Lizzy later wrote a song about Jack the Ripper (Killer on the Loose) on their "Chinatown" LP.	Ken
Thin Lizzy	phil lynott was very into comic magazines...the band was named after a character..'tin lizzy'..in his favourite comic.	maz
Thin Lizzy	Influenced by the "Tin Lizzy" of comicbook fame, and as a self-mock of their Irish birthplace, they chose "Thin Lizzy" in order to force their hard-as-nails Irish fanbase to pronouce the "th" so that other rockers would not think they were fans of a comicboook character and thence be all the more memorable...	TKD_Tigger
Thin Lizzy	As stated on Jim Fitzpatrick's web site the bands name was inspired by Liz Igoe who lived in Dublin in the 70's. Jim Fitzpatrick was responsible for all the great art work on Thin Lizzy's album covers. I would also like to add all the Igoe women are that good looking!	Tom Igoe
Thin Lizzy	Karen is right on this one, but just to expand. Eric Bell (original lead guitarist) was a huge fan of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. On the cover of one of their albums, Eric Clapton is reading the Beano (British comic), so Eric went out and bought a copy of the Beano. A robot called "Tin Lizzie" was in one of the strips so they decided to call themselves after her, but change it to "Thin Lizzy". And yes, most people from Dublin say Tin Lizzy. (On a totally separate note, the Ford Model T was nicknamed the "Tin Lizzie").	Ferg
Thin Lizzy	They wanted to call themselves after a cartoon character 'Tin Lizzy'. They changed it to Thin Lizzy for copyright reasons. But they didn't mind because in Ireland (where most of the band were from, I think) it would be pronounced the same anyway.	karen
Third Chance	Alex and Shannon were on AOL Instant Messanger the day they got signed, and they were trying to think of a name. They decided uppon "Manifest Chaos", but Alex thought that it sounded too heavy. After a good hour of brainstorming and coming up with names like "Dainty Okra" and "Hip of the Manifest Horsefly", Shannon suggested that they give "Manifest Chaos" another chance, and Alex dissageed. Another 2 hours passed, and Alex finally said "Ok, let's give 'Manifest Chaos' a third chance," and they both immediatly realized what Alex had said and promptly sent it to their manager.	Mik Mitchell
Third Day	on the third day Christ rose from the dead.	john
Third Day	Jesus rose on the Third Day, hence the name.	Todd
Third Eye Blind	I've heard of the penis being referred to as "The Blind Eye That Weeps". So I always thought the name of the group had something to do with that.	Orlando LaRosa
Third Eye Blind	The Third Eye is a symbol in many Eastern and New Age spirituality that translates to enlightenment, clairvoyance, wisdom, and more...a window to the soul, if you will.	Tina
Third Eye Blind	Stephan Jenkin's(Lead singer of 3EB) said it had to do with an empty bottle of vodka and a ouija board. Don't ask me. I saw and heard Jenkins' say this on an episode of Jay Leno promoting there new album out of the vain.	The other Mraz
Third Eye Blind	A third eye is another name for a person's sixth sense, and the band members thought most people were blind to this sense.	Roxxi
Third Eye Blind	Here are two versions on the name origins: MTV version: A friend of the band drew a characature of a monster with three eyes, with one of the eyes wired shut. The blue version is not printable here.	origin
Thirteen	These boys are all Teenage Fanclub fans, so they called their band after the Fannies best album	Martin Thomas
Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts	One small point to add - the explanations here are true, but the reason Crowe connected the phrase to the band was that there are five of them, they're all about six foot tall, and "grunt" is common Australian slang for a masculine man, and for raw power.	Jeremy
Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts	Russel Crows band Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts (the name refers to a post-production dialogue direction Crowe found amusing while working on Virtuosity in 1995) pulled crowds in excess of two thousand.	hoova
Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts	Dialogue recorded simultaneouly with film is sometimes replaced in film with voiceover recorded in a studio while the actors watch the scene in front of them. Automatic Dialogue Replacement or ADR is the term. Watch for it in the credits of almost every movie. During post-production of "Virtuosity", the ADR director needed fight sounds,. Film and audio mediums are measured in terms of feet. The ADR director requested thirty odd foot of grunts from the actors. The rest, as they say.....	IrishAugust
Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts	Russell Crowe was inspired from something the sound editor scrawled on on a script of "Virtuosity" while cutting together a fight scene for the movie. As film is measured in feet, the editor needed thirty odd foot of grunts.	Biehn
Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts (TOFOG)	When shooting "Virtuosity' Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington had to record over and over some dialogues, cause they always screwed up laughing or caughing or talking bullshit when doing it. So, the tape was so long that Russell got the idea for his band	lilica

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