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Names -> Band Name Origins -> K, Page 1
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 K are split into multiple pages: 1 2
There are 4774 Band Name Origin entries on the site.
Name | Origin | Submitted by: | ||
| K's Choice | Originally, they were called "The Choice" because they wanted something easy to pronounce for foreign speakers, and they wanted something ambiguous with multiple interpretations. They released their first album, "The Great Subconscious Club" (TGSC), under this name. But when they first toured in the US, they learned that another group had the name and was potentially registered, so they went through the alphabet to see which letter sounded best in front of "Choice". They ended up with the "K". BUT, they felt like they needed a more interesting story. So they told people that the "K" came from Josef K in Franz Kafka's book, "The Trial". Ironically enough, Josef K was not able to make his own choices. Source: The History of K's Choice: 10-1993>2003 | Rad | ||
| K's Choice | first they were called the choice, but when they started to be sucessful they had to change their name (another band is named the choice) . they choosed K's choice | mughul | ||
| Kaiser Chiefs | They support Leeds United (who are brilliant). One of their players (the brilliant Lucas Radebe) used to play for a football team in South Africa called The Kaiser Chiefs. | Matt C | ||
| Kajagoogoo | According to bassist Nick Beggs, "It's like something a child would say." | brit | ||
| Kamblu | Kamblu's name came about when lead singer nick wrote a song called 'clam blue' , the band then decided to name the band after this song and change the spelling to a more appropriate band name. FACT | jim | ||
| Kampfar | According to vocalist Dolk, their name is an ancient Norse battle cry which means Odin or Wotan. | weirdkid106 | ||
| Kansas | Named after their home state, it should be pointed out that "Kansas" is a Sioux word meaning "People of the South Wind" (appropriately, one of the band's songs). | RJSchex | ||
| Kanye West | In Swahili his name means "the only one". | Miguel ruiz | ||
| Kara | The band name Kara comes from the Greek Word "chara" (χαρά, lit. "joy"), which the group interpreted to mean "sweet melody". ~Wiki | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| Kasabian | They named their band after Charles Manson's get a way driver, (Linda) Kasabian. | Dave | ||
| Kassidy | Took their name from a play on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| Katy Rose | It's part of Katy Rose's full name - Kathryn Rosemary Bullard. | Steven | ||
| KC & The Sunshine Band | KC is pronounced like the singer's last name & "The Sunshine Band" is named after The Sunshine State | mads. | ||
| Ke$ha | She was born Kesha Rose Sebert, but the dollar sign substitution for the S came about this way: “The dollar sign in my name is a tattoo- a bad tattoo. And, uh, it just came about because I was broke, and I was just making a joke out of it. Instead of being, like, mad like, “I’m so broke,” I was just like, “WHATEVER! Out of money…Whatever. I don’t need money.” So, out of money, put it on my hand, put it in my name, and it was just kind of a joke, and it stuck.” ~Ke$ha | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| Keane | "Keane" is an irish boy name (basically the same as "Keen") and it means "fighter". | Nabadango! | ||
| Keane | In an interview with People magazine, lead singer Tom Chaplin explained that as a boy, his mother had a friend named Cherry Keane. He loved her name because it reminded him of the popular phrase "peachy keen". This was originally the band's name, but they later dropped "cherry" and became Keane. | Madeleine | ||
| Kendall Green | Bass player Gary saw it on a billboard while driving. | Dude | ||
| Kenickie | Took their name from the chracter in "Grease" | Gav Cradd | ||
| Kenny G | Later in his career, the great bandleader Benny Goodman became so famous that he started being known simply as "Benny G." Kenneth Gorelick figured that since his last name began with a G, and his first name could be easily shortened to "Kenny", which rhymed with "Benny", he could start calling himself "Kenny G." | Aaerni | ||
| Kenny G | It's his name, except for he shortened his last name to just the first letter. | Mr. Obvious | ||
| Kent | I've heard the Swedish band Kent is named after Clark Kent (alias Superman). (The eyeglass-wearing alter ego of Superman got his name from actors Clark Gable and Kent Taylor. ) The band were first called Havsanglar , which is swedish for Seaangels. Kent is also a male surname in Sweden. | Flo | ||
| Kentucky Headhunters | From a band led by MUDDY WATERS in the 50's called the Headchoppers. | Bobo | ||
| KHN | Frontman Drew's late-wife's name was Katherine (K), his daughter's name is Haylee (H) and his mother's name is Nancy (N)...hence the name is a homage to his "three favorite girls". Although KHN isn't a really well known band, they do have a hit in PA called "Just a Little While Longer". | Hooters247 | ||
| Kid Rock | Bob Ritchie's pseudonym, acquired when he was young, when people would stop by and go "Man, does that Kid Rock". | Bobo | ||
| Kid Rock | After years of living in small towns and trying to evolve in the rap and rock scene which he loved, Kid Rock decided to try his luck at being a disc jockey. Often while he performed his deejaying act, people would shout, "Hey, look at that white kid rock!" Thus a name was born. | Darby Hen | ||
| Kill Hannah | According to an interview with Plug In Music, KH frontman Mat Devine wrote a song about his ex-girlfriend called "Kill Hannah". The band took their name from that song. | Doc Biznitch | ||
| Kill Hannah | The lead singer, Mat Devine, named the band after his ex-girlfriend, Hannah. After they both had a falling out, he made stickers he put on a record with the words, 'Kill Hannah' on them.. | Long | ||
| Killerpilze | They were eating pizza. The drummer said the mushrooms were too big and poisonous. Killerpilze is German for poisonous mushroom. | emmek | ||
| The Killers | The Killers took their name from a fictional band name written on the drum in New Order's "Crystal" video. | Clair | ||
| The Killers | Actually, it the name was on the drum set in New Order's 'Touched By the Hand Of God' video, the one where the band is parodying the hair-metal bands popular at the time. | 59052 | ||
| The Killers | Once Dave from the band saw the the cure video,he spoted that on a drum-kit there was written the killers,so they decided to take that name as the band name | dunja | ||
| Killing Heidi | Ella and Jesse went through a list of soft names and a list of harsh names. Killing was ovbiously the harsh name and they chose Heidi because they associated it with a young innocent girl. in the end the name means the death of child innocence. | Alice | ||
| Killing Heidi | In literature, Heidi is the archetypal sweet and virtuous young lass, while 'Killing Heidi' represents the end of innocence. | Trevis | ||
| Killing Joke | The band took their name from a British phrase referring to an ironic or paradoxical situation or event. | Ben | ||
| Killing Joke | From an old comic book series involving Batman and The Joker. Really... | hoodwink6 | ||
| Killswitch Engage | I saw the interview. When the original singer messed up his voice, they were looking for a new singer and had to start off fresh. They realized that they had to put a Killswitch on their band and hence the name Killswitch Engage! Bom | Luke Thomas | ||
| Killswitch Engage | KsE saw an episode of the XFiles that contained the word "Killswitch". They added the Engage bit to make it sound better. Great band too. | Bafta | ||
| Killswitch Engage | Taken directly from PluggedInOnline.com: "A kill switch is simply a button that shuts off machinery in the event of an emergency. In the context of this band, it referenced making a clean break from past musical endeavors. Or as bassist Mike D'Antonio put it, "basically shutting everything down that we once knew and starting over." " | Jonathan S. | ||
| Killswitch Engage | The origin submitted by Luke Thomas is bogus. The name Killswitch Engage was picked 4 years before they had a new singer. I know some of the members of the band personally, so I know for a fact that it is not true. | Me | ||
| King | it's the lead singer's surname. (Ed: Remember to capitalize band names and song titles.) | mads | ||
| King Adora | The lead singer went to a country called eygpt where he met a "king" who he "adored" and then thought it was a good name for the band. | Dave | ||
| King Adora | Being the irriverantly smutty young men they are, King Adora took their name from an advert they saw for a dildo called, yes you guessed it, 'King Adora'. | DarkFiend | ||
| King Chango | "Xango" is actually the Candomble god of storms and thunder, not "music and partying". He was the fourth king of Candomble. | Sao Bento Grande | ||
| King Chango | Takes its name from the god of music and partying in the Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria. | Bobo | ||
| King Crimson | I read in an interview (I think w/ Robert Fripp) that the name King Crimson came from a wooden tomato crate with the paper labels on the end announcing "King Crimson". | Willy Grigg | ||
| King Crimson | Their original lyricist, Peter Sinfield, thought of it as a synonym for BEELZEBUB, which is Hebrew for "Lord of the Flies". BEELZEBUB was Satan's chief lieutenant among the fallen angels. | Bobo | ||
| King Missile | A Japanese Comic book character. | Bobo | ||
| Kings of Leon | ages ago, there used to be a country in europe called Leon. The lead singer and i think bassist are really smart and knew that a custom there was for all men to have a beard like they do! | Big T | ||
| Kings of Leon | The Kings of Leon, Nathan, Caleb, Matthew and Jared all perform under their middle names. Leon was the middle name of the 3 brothers father and of all 4 boys grandfather. | Rachel Devitt | ||
| Kings of Leon | Big T, you're not even close. The band consists of three brothers and a first cousin, both their father and grandfather were named "Leon". | Chumbodonk | ||
| Kings of Leon | Ok folks...Let's get this sorted...chumbodonk is closest! The band named themselves after only their Grandfather who is named Leon. This is where the name comes from. | Nicole | ||
| Kings of Leon | The father of the 3 brothers and 1 cousin, was called Leon and was a travelling preacher. | Ricky | ||
| Kings Of Leon | Well all the band members are related (three brotheres and one cousin). The brother's father's name is Leon, and so they decided to name their band after him. | Dave | ||
| The Kingsmen | The "Louie Louie" guys got their name from King's Men after shave, a brand that one of them was fond of wearing. | Mark Speck | ||
| The Kinks | Ray Davies says that not only did it sound unpleasant like a kink in your back (he's always been obsessed with the idea of no one liking the Kinks), the shortest names were always printed bigger on show bills. The Kinks were second in shortness only to the Who. | mike | ||
| Kiss | After the street they grew up on, Kissena Blvd., in Queens. | nick | ||
| KISS | KISS is an acronym for: Knights in Satan's Service. So I guess the fans who call themselves members of the "KISS Army" are Knights as well. | domo | ||
| KISS | KISS is an acronym for the band's musical philosophy (not that deep), "Keep It Simple Stupid." | mike | ||
| KISS | The REAL story is that PETER CRISS came up with the name KISS as a joke while the band was riding around Queens,New York. ACE FREHLEY came up with the original logo design!!!! | KISS FANATIC | ||
| KISS | "KISS" doesn't mean anything. It was actually Peter Criss, the band's drummer who thought the name up. After having previously been in a band called, "LIPPS" Peter jokingly related a name to that and said, "How about KISS." The other members considered the joke and liked the sound of the name. | MetalElf | ||
| KISS | I once read in a '70's rock mag that Peter Criss said he was in a band called 'Lips'. So Paul Stanley suggested the name Kiss. | Jon | ||
| KISS | According to Paul Stanley, Kiss was a momentary inspiration that sounded dangerous and sexy at the same time. Kiss denies the silly fundamentalist rumour that the name stands for "Knights In Satan's Service". | Bobo | ||
| KISS | The name KISS does not stand for "Knights In Satan's Service" or "Keep It Simple Stupid." Paul Stanley came up with the name when the band was driving around New York City putting up advertisments for their band. Gene wanted to call the band "F**K",Peter wanted to call it "The Crimson Harpoon" and Ace wanted to call the band "Albatross." BTW: Ace Frehley did design the logo because he was an art student before he dropped out of college. | Star Child | ||
| KISS | Acording to people in the South, it was "Knights In Satan's Service". They said that to get people away from the evils of rock 'n' roll. But Paul Stanley said it stood for "Keep It Simple, Stupid". And in there music they do keep it simple. So I'll believe Paul on this one. | Peanuts | ||
| KISS | KISS does not mean Knights In Satins Service. all it means is to picke up the hot girl in the front row and just kiss and makeout with her. (paul simon said that on WHEN KISS RULED THE WORLD ON VH1) | dav | ||
| KISS | Driving thru New York Paul Stanley and the guy`s needed a name for their band. Paul makes a joke, laughing "How about Kiss". But the rest of the guys take it seriously and likes it... This story is told by Gene Simmons in the "Kiss ExPosed"-movie | Satanicus | ||
| KISS | The most common story Ive heard is that Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley were driving through Manhatten thinking of names, and Gene wanted the name 'F**K'... Jokingly Paul said 'how about KISS?' thinking it was a lame name, and they both realised at the same time it was great.... As an aside, Ace Frehley came up with the KISS logo with the lightning bolts... he must have been sober at some point. | Simon Scott | ||
| Kissing The Pink | It's a snooker term. One of a set of snooker balls is pink, and when a shot just touches a ball with the cue ball it is said to "kiss" it. The phrase was probably heard on UK television snooker commentary and raised a few laughs when alternative meanings were considered! | Sid | ||
| Kittie | The name Kittie was picked by band member Mercedes. She decided she wanted this name for her band, because her goal was to disprove the man's theory that wemen were delicate "Kitties", and showing how rough they were showed that infact girls were not all delicate "Kitties". | Marilyn Manson rocks! | ||
| Kittie | one of morgan lander's ex-boyfriends would taunt her by repeating "here kitty, kitty, kitty!" to get her to cuddle. (how sweet) | jake | ||
| KitZler | One day the lead singer was looking for a way to talk s**t to people in the middle of school and not getting in trouble. He came accross German slang terms online and his band needed a name and its great for their highschool talent shows. Whats better than the principal saying clitoris on stage in front of the student body? KitZler = Clitoris | Jonathan | ||
| Kix | The Band Kix Was Originally called the "SHOOZE" in 1978, Record Companies became interested in the band , The Changed the Name to "The Generators" to avoid phonetic confussion with the band "Shoes" fron Chicago- When the band signed on with ATLANTIC RECORDS, the Label changed thier name to "KIX". | Terry Hagins | ||
| KJ-52 | KJ-52 has said in songs that KJ does not stand for 'King James'. It stands for 'King J' which was an old name when he was starting out. J stands for Jonah which is his name. 52 stands for the 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish Jesus used because that was all he had. KJ-52 says this is all he has. | RK_FAN_FOREVER | ||
| KJ-52 | stands for king james and 5 loaves 2 fish which is when Jesus took some bread a fish, fed 5 thousand people and had five loaves and two fish left over. | john | ||
| Klaxons | Originally known as "Klaxons (Not Centaurs)", a quote from Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's futurism text The Futurist Manifesto . Also in an interview a band member stated Klaxons "is to toot to be a loud intrusive noise to disrupt". | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| The KLF | An all-purpose set of initials. Originally they were going to change what it stood for on each release, but they only got as far as "Kopyright Liberation Front" then gave up and just stuck to the three letters instead. | Jenny Turner | ||
| The KLF | I would just like to add that they often also gave the full name as Kings of the Low Frequencies. Other names used/mooted included: the FALL (Forever Ancient Liberation Loophole), the JAMMs (Justified Ancients of Mu Mu) and Disco 2000. | Jon Mullinger | ||
| Klimperei | "Klimperei" means "to strum on piano" in German. | ch .petchanatz | ||
| KLIMPEREI | This French band, formed in 1985, didn't want French or English name ; 'klimpern' means strumming on piano in German ; and Klimperei sounds like the Klimperei sounds... | c. petchanatz | ||
| KMFDM | "Kein Mitleid Fuer Die Mehrheit" translates to "No sympathy for the majority". The following acronyms are fun, but wrong: "Kill MotherFucking Depeche Mode"., "Krispy Melted Fish Dealing Mescaline", "Kyle Minogue Fans Don't Masturbate". | Bobo | ||
| KMFDM | The submission by BoBo is correct but I wanted to add some other funny mistaken names: Keep Madonna From Doing Music, Kill Me For Drug Money, Killing Madonna Frees Desperate Minds. | L-Bo | ||
| Knife Party | Named after their favourite Deftones song. | Crafthead | ||
| Kompleet Systeem | The original band's name was "Aquaball". But they did not like it. While searching for a name, they found an aquarium packaging with "Kompleet Systeem" written on it. They enjoyed it ! | fred | ||
| Konflikt | They're actually a Slovakian band, and you'd figure "konflikt" would translate into "conflict" in regular ole English terms. Wrong; the band is actually named "konflikt" because they went through so many members until they had a finalization. Even then they refused to change it because it had a certain air of pizzazz around it just to add that extra originality flare. | Laura | ||
| KoRn | I don't know where the hell you people got that homo story but on WHO, THEN NOW they explain quite clearly that is was randomly devised by........Dave, John, or Feldy (can't remember) | Blackfoot | ||
| Korn | The whole band was playing scrabble while they were high. Jonathan used the word corn but he spelled it "KORN". He also like put the "R" upside down or something. | Dan | ||
| Korn | I heard in an interview they said it meant Keep On Running, N****. Hope it doesnt mean anything. | blinkmetom | ||
| Korn | when the lead singer was little he was abused by his step mom and she beat him for knowing how to spell corn. and most of his songs are about abuse. | Johnny | ||
| Korn | I'm getting this form the unofficial KoRn biography. It's says that "Once the fivesome got together, they needed a new name. Allegedly Korn just came to Jonathan, and the others, once he spat it out, said, 'F*ck yeah!' Jonathan created the ominous, childlike Korn logo with just one attempt, writting the band's name with his left hand with a crayon." Nothing about 2 guys sucking each other or a piece of corn. Just something that popped into Jonathan's head. | heads_kittie | ||
| Korn | Lead singer Jonathan Davis wrote many songs about his childhood, so the band chose a vegetable and wrote in a childlike way with a "K" and a backwards "R". | Jacob | ||
| Korn | Its from a book that Jonathan Davis read the book was called *kids from the korn* | Dan | ||
| Korn | Since they are from Bakersfield California, they get KORN from the TV show Hee-Haw which was the name of the radio station on one of the skits. Buck Owens, from Bakersfield, was the co-star of the 70's sketch comedy show. | Ritch B | ||
| KoRn | It was because at a party which Jonathan Davies (the bands singer) was at, there was a joke going around about two gay guys, who were eating out eachothers *****, and one of them blue **** on the others face, and he opened his mouth and there was corn kernel on it. Also because its a cool name, and David (the drummer) says its because of the way it shows how it doesn't matter what your band is called. Jonathan decided it should be spelt like that because it is sort of how a small child might spell Corn. | MaX | ||
| Korn | One of the guys had a like a 4 year old who one day was writing and didn't know how to spell yet and was trying to write the word "corn" but instead wrote "korn" with the backwards K. | !!!@!U%$#K~`?F:^)C(+ | ||
| Korn | John Davis was at a party and saw 2 gay guys kissing and it looked as if one had a piece of corn on the tip of his tongue. They spelt it Korn because they thought it was cooler. | Andrew | ||
| KoRn | Korn starts with Kern County which is where Jonathan worked as a Coroner. From that came "KoRn". It was then decided that it would be written like a child would write it, hence the K instead of a C, and the backwards R. | Claudia | ||
| Korn | They wanted to prove that any band can make it big no matter what they call themselves. | Kate | ||
| Korn | I'm pretty sure "korn" has german roots. It may indicate a preference of German culture, heritage, history, etc. Whatever the implication of using this particular namesake, "korn" is unmistakably German. It is a surname, and also a type of Germanic manservant/bodyguard. | womti | ||
| Kosheen | Kos means new and heen means old in japanese and so they put the two together and got Kosheen | Helen | ||
| Kottonmouth Kings | The reason is because when you smoke dope, you get a cotton mouth (you know like your spit comes out all white and stuff) and they were the kings dope and drugs, so they called themselves the "Kottonmouth Kings"... | Sex?yesplease |
Entries starting with K are split into multiple pages: 1 2
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