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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:
V	There are five members, but there already are a group called Five, so they use V, the roman numeral for Five.	Total
Vader	Contrary to popular belief, the band name did not derived from "Darth Vader". It is simply the Dutch word for "father".	Kyle
Vader	Vader indeed is the Dutch name for Father. Darth Vader's name is also led from this Dutch word for Father.	Flo de Haan
Van Der Graaf Generator	Namede after an electrostatical device, invented by dr. Robert van der Graaff (note spelling), an American scientist with Dutch roots. (Dutch rock fans pronounce the band name very different to the English speaking fans, I assure you.)	Eric
Van Halen	The last name of guitarist/keyboardist Eddie and drummer Alex. Lead singer David Lee Roth was actually the first to think of the name, after they dropped the name "Mammoth" because another band had it.	ChrisPC
Van Halen	The last name of two of the band members-it was David Lee Roth's idea,though.	Gene
Van Halen	Ok just to set the record straight, obviously the name Van Halen comes from the fact that it's Eddie and Alex's last name. The history of this though is as follows: The band was formed in 1974 and was originally called Mammoth. Roth is typically credited with suggesting the band call itself Van Halen, however Gene Simmons financed their first demo tape and wanted to call the band "Daddy Long Legs." Van Halen won out.	Adam
Van Halen	Actually the idea to use the guy's last name was not David Lee Roths idea. It was the idea of their first financial backer and producer Gene Simmons of Kiss. He told them that neither "The Broken Combs" or Mammoth were going to take them anywhere.	Todd
Vangelis	Vangelis is not - as many thinks - a band name but the artist name of Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou. His names are common in Greece, as is the nickname Vangelis. He's sometimes credited under other pseudonyms or full name.	JAG
Vasquez	Taken from the butch woman marine in Aliens, Sgt Vasquez. This is actually a secret not mentioned on website, but a fact if you ask the band directly	Bainy
Vast	Vast is an acronym for Visual Audio Sensory Theater.	Ben
VCRejects	The band was discussing the word 'reject' and how cool it sounded. It reminded them of VCR's so they put them together... pronounced VC - rejects	Jane
Velocity Girl	Named after an obscure B-Side by the band Primal Scream, specifically on the EP "Crystal Crescent."	The Skuz
Velvet Revolver	Two members of the band wanted the band name to be Velvet. The other two members wanted it to be Revolver. They experimented with names like Velvolver and Revelvet, but finally decided on Velvet Revolver.	Jake
Velvet Revolver	the band went from the project, to black revolver, then black velvet revolver, then velvet revolver. Scott said black revolve didnt fit as well as velvet and that black velvet revolver sounded like STP. Some think that the name has something to do with guns n' roses, like how a rose is velvety and a revolver is a gun, but thats just a coincidence	T.J.
The Velvet Underground	From a book on s&m culture by Michael Leigh.	queen crimson
Velvet Underground	(Correction) From the book on the S&M scene by Michael Leigh.	Werther von Goethe
Velvet Underground	From a William Burroughs book.	Country Paul
The Veronicas	Both the girls loved the Archie comics in particular the character Veronica and both wanted to BE her. Hence they called their band The Veronicas	Nicole McCormack
Version Zero	Every practice gigs, the band always end up with unfinished songs. It is hard for them to make the first version of songs, so they named their band "Version Zero".	Lexarton
Vertical Horizon	There isn't much of a story behind it: the group needed a name, one of the members suggested it, the rest thought it sounded cool, and Vertical Horizon was born. The group wishes there was some cool origin to their name or some deeper meaning to it, but that's all there is to it.	Medication-High Jester
Vertical Horizon	Well ACTUALLY, Keith was trying to think of a name one night before a gig. He was writing prospective names on one of those toy clipboards with a plastic pencil. The kind where you lift the piece of cellophane and it erases what you wrote. After seeing a kiddy pool lying on it's side, he had wrote down: Vertical Pool Then lifted up the page halfway to erase pool and wrote "Horizon."	ENR
Vertical Horizon	Acually, "horizontal" is the opposite of "vertical". So this would make "Vertical Horizon" an oxymoron.	newsound
Veruca Salt	Veruca Salt WAS named after the character in `Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory'. She was played by Julie Dawn Cole in the movie.	Camille
Veruca Salt	A veruca is a wart, so veruca salt is a wart removal remedy. There was a character named Veruca Salt in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.	Fred G. Sanford
Veruca Salt	Named after the greedy little girl in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory	B
The Verve	The band was originally called Verve, but had to change their name to The Verve because of the famous Verve Jazz label	Flo de Haan
Victor Borge	he figured Børge Rosenbaum was to hard to pronounce in English.	mads.
Vida Blue	Named after a pitcher for the Oakland A's who won the American League Cy Young Award in 1971.	Maxwell Kates
The Vigilantes	The members were watching The Simpsons the episode where Homer starts a vigilante group. They thought it would be cool to ride around on Harleys and boss people around	Chester Owens
The Villebillies	The word "Villebillies" [Vill-bill-eez] came from a lyric written by vocalist Derek "Child" Monyhan shortly after joining the group. It is a combination of the words Louisville, the band's hometown and largest urban center in Kentucky (often locally nicknamed "The Ville"), and hillbilly, referring to eastern Kentucky's rural mountain culture. The name references the cross genre nature of the band's music.	Robert D. Arndt Jr.
The Vines	Craig Nicholls (lead singer and guitarist for the Vines) named the band after a band his father had in the '60s, called the Vynes.	Sean Stapleton
The Vines	the lead singer of the vines (craig) got the name from his dad's old band which was called the vynes. they just changed the spelling and used it. (from several interviews)	emily
Vintersorg	"Vintersorg" means "winter sorrow" in Swedish. Andreas Hedland's stage name came from Margit Sandemo's Isfolket series with the character Vintersorg as the son of a great pagan leader.	Kyle
Violent Femmes	It's an ironic name: "Femme" is slang for "wuss" in St. Paul.	JJJ
Visage	It's French for "face".	Cokeahollic
Visconti Sforza	from the first tarrot card	cheyne
VIXX	Korean for: Voice, Visuals, and Voice in Excelsis (the highest in Latin)	Robert D. Arndt Jr.
VNT	Voices of Ninety-Two	Robert D. Arndt Jr.
VNV Nation	Victory not Vengeance	Joey
Voice of Blasphemy	Started as "Name of Blasphemy" (for a Bible quote, revelations I believe) but when abbreviated on TV that would be "N.O.B", so it was changed to Voice of Blasphemy.	Crieffster
Voltaire	He re-named himself after the philospher.	Jasmine
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

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