AC/DC
The iconic band has Malcolm and Angus Young's sister Margaret to thank for their famous band name. As we all know, the term means that a device can be powered by an alternating or direct current.
Depending on who's telling the story, Margaret came up with the suggestion of naming the band AC/DC after seeing the letter on either a vacuum cleaner or a sewing machine
Aerosmith
Way before joining the band, Joey Kramer and his girlfriend were listening to Harry Nilsson's Aerial Ballet and the idea came to mind of a band name with aero in it. After toying with the idea for a while, he decided he liked the way Aerosmith sounded.
Unfortunately, the band he was in at the time didn't like it. So, it wasn't until he joined Joe Perry and Steven Tyler's group that he was able to use the name. It took some convincing and some assurance that it had nothing to do with Sinclair Lewis's novel.
Alice Cooper
The band first thought of the name Nazz but it was already taken by Todd Rundgren. So the band came up with the name Alice Cooper, just as a random name with a twisted sense of originality.
As a fictional character, Alice was envisioned as a demented elderly woman. But the singer Vince Furnier was such a good performer that people associated the name with him instead. He eventually changed his name to Alice Cooper.
The Beatles
The inspiration for the name was Buddy Holly’s The Crickets. All four members of the Beatles were big fans.
They even featured his music in their earliest shows. Paul McCartney went on to purchase the publishing rights to Holly's songs. Sadly, the only Buddy Holly song they recorded together was Words of Love for Beatles for Sale in 1964.
Billy Idol
Back in the punk era, everyone was coming up with outrageous names. But William Broad had a different idea for his stage name. Instead of going for a wacky name, like Johnny Rotten from Sex Pistols or Rat Scabies from the Damned, he decided to put the “pun” into “punk”.
Idol was a play on words with idle and also an ironic take on the classic rock-star persona.
Black Sabbath
The iconic English rock band was first named the Earth Blues Company but was later shortened to just Earth. After a while, they had to discard the name altogether because another band was using it.
They ended up naming the band after a Buttler song inspired by a film starring Boris Karloff in 1963. The spooky song described an apparition seen by bassist Geezer Butler, and it really set the mood for the band's future success.
Blind Faith
Blind Faith was the first real rock supergroup, featuring Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker and Rick Grech.
The controversial cover for the short-lived band's only album was the inspiration for the band's name. The photographer titled the photo “Blind Faith,” and when looking for a name, the band settled on it.
Blue Oyster Cult
This hard rock band actually started out as Soft White Underbelly but eventually got a new name from their early manager and producer, journalist Sandy Pearlman.
The name came from a series of poems written by Pearlman. Seems like the Blue Oyster Cult was a group of beings from outer space that clandestinely influenced our common fate.
Bod Dylan
Bob Dylan's given name was actually Zimmerman. In his late teens, however, he decided to change it.
According to a biographer, Bob told his high-school squeeze that he planned to devote his life to music. Part of the plan was to assume the last name Dillon after the sheriff on the TV western "Gunsmoke." He eventually altered the spelling for stylistic reasons
Boston
Despite being the only performers named on the Epic Records contract, Tom Scholz and Brad Delp refused the idea of calling the band Scholz-Delp, which Scholz later came to regret when his ownership of the band came into question by some members.
The name Boston was suggested by Scholz, producer John Boylan and his engineer Warren Dewey because that’s where their musical roots were planted. Scholz used to tune into Boston’s WBZ ( a high-powered AM radio station) even when he was a high school student all the way in Toledo, Ohio.
Chicago
They started as the Big Thing but moved to Los Angeles in 1968 at their manager's request and signed with Columbia Records.
Jimmy Guercio, who would eventually become their manager, changed the name to Chicago Transit Authority because that was the bus line he used to take to school. After a short while, it was shortened to just Chicago.
Cream
After working with the Yardbirds and John Mayall, Eri Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker arrived in this new band with an unsavory reputation in the U.K.music scene.
Being very well aware of their notoriety, they decided to name the band Cream in reference to the lineup itself. The band featured the cream of the crop of ‘60s British blues rockers, so Cream seemed to be very fitting.
Deep Purple
These British rockers started out as Roundabout, but none of the members was truly convinced by the name.
At guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's suggestion, they changed it to Deep purple. The inspiration for the name was his grandmother's favorite song.
Def Leppard
The name came up while Joe Elliot was writing reviews for imaginary rock bands in his high-school English class.
Although the original spelling was “Deaf Leopard,” Tony Kenning, percussionist of the band's original lineup, suggested the change.
Dire Straits
In 1977, brothers David and Mark Knopfler, along with friends John Illsley and Pick Withers, formed Dire Straits. The name of the band was suggested by a musician bandmate of Withers.
Before the Dire Straits even recorded their first song demo tape, he just plucked the name out of thin air while they were rehearsing in the kitchen.
The Doors
The path to this band's name is full of twists and turns. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, an 18th-century post-French Revolution book by poet William Blake, inspired Aldous Huxley to write an autobiographical book about his psychedelic experiences titled “The Doors of Perception.”
It was this book that inspired the legendary band's name.
Eagles
Contrary to popular belief, the group was not named by Bernie Leadon during an alcohol-enhanced trip to the Mojave Desert. The story about him reading about the Native American Hopi tribe’s reverence for the eagle is actually false.
Turns out J.D. Souther suggested the name after hearing Glenn Frey shout out “eagles!” when they saw some flying above them. A friend of the band, comedian Steve Martin, suggested the group be named “The Eagles,” but Frey put his foot down and stuck with the original name.
Electric Light Orchestra
Roy Wood, former guitarist, singer and songwriter of the Move, teamed up with The Idle Race member Jeff Lynne to form an orchestral pop and rock set-up in the early ‘70s.
They chose their name to be a pun on the British phenomenon of “light orchestras.” So, instead of being a group that would play easy-listening music, they combined electric rock instruments with orchestral instruments.
Elton John
Elton John’s birth name was Reginald Kenneth Dwight, but everyone called him Reggie. This lasted all throughout his first tentative weekend pub performances until a career-changing meeting with lyricist Bernie Taupin.
Shortly after that, he started going by a new name that honored two former bandmates in the group Bluesology. His inspirations were saxophonist Elton Dean and Long John Baldry.
The Faces
They were originally called “The Small Faces,” named for their physical stature and the mod term “face,” meaning a person of style and import.
They eventually shifted styles when Steve Marriot was replaced by Rod Stewart and Ron Wood and shortened their name accordingly.
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac was named after Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, as a ploy on guitarist Peter Green’s part to get them to stay in the band.
Funnily, the plan worked! Five decades and many lineups later, the pair are the only remaining members from the 60s.
Foghat
Right before completing its first album, the band was still struggling to find a name. Names like Brandywine and Hootch had been nixed before Foghat was finally selected.
The name was reportedly made up by guitarist Dave Peverett as a meaningless word in a childhood game with his brother.
Foreigner
The band’s original name was Trigger, but since it was already being used by someone else, Mick Jones came up with Foreigner. The fact that three of the members would be foreigners no matter where they went was the inspiration for the name.
Mick Jones, Ian McDonald and Dennis Elliot were the Brit foreigners in New York City, where the band was formed. Lou Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were the three Americans in the original lineup.
Genesis
Their first manager was the one to suggest the name to the prog-rock pioneers. Since the founding frontman was Peter Gabriel. Jonathan King considered naming the band Gabriel’s Angels.
The biblical feeling still remained but in a more appropriate name for the beginning of an endeavor.
Golden Earring
Another band that had chosen a name that was already taken was Golden Earring.
They had to drop the name Tornados and switch to the name of an instrumental song by the Hunters, a British group for whom they often opened.
Grand Funk Railroad
This wobbly play on words came from the mind of their manager, Terry Knight. Interestingly, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad that inspired the name still runs through the band's hometown of Flinch.
In the early 70s, they were simply known as Grand Funk, and it seems like the mouthful of a name took a while to catch on with the public.
Guns N' Roses
Izzy Stradlin of Hollywood Rose spent some time in the mid-80s being roommates with L.A. Guns member Tracii Guns. So when L.A. Guns needed a new singer, they contacted Axl Rose from Hollywood Rose. The lineup ended up including Rose, Stradlin and Guns, along with Ole Beich and Rob Gardner.
This name came about by mixing the names of the previous groups their band members were in after rejecting some awful suggestions like Heads of Amazon and AIDS.
Humble Pie
After Steve Marriot’s departure from the Small Faces, Peter Frampton admitted that his new band was batting around names right away. Marriott put forward the name suggestion “Humble Pie” to make it clear that their rejection of the outsized supergroup was sure to follow.
This was a much better suggestion than drummer Jerry Shirley’s “Evil Cardboard.”
Iron Butterfly
Back in the psychedelic era, bands arrived at their names by combining two contrasting elements.
Much like Led Zeppelin (who released their debut album the year after Iron Butterfly), these elements would represent something heavy and something airborne.
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden was formed on Christmas Day in 1975 after bassist Steve Harris left his previous group. He was already set on a name for the new group.
The name was inspired by the film adaptation of “The Man in the Iron Mask” from the novel by Alexandre Dumas.