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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 4774 Band Name Origin entries on the site.

Name	Origin	Submitted by:
*OTown**	They've been formed in Orlando. First they were called Orlando Town but then they decided to shorten it to O-Town.	little moon
O-town	they were given the name cause the band came together in orlando (orlando is also called o-town)	christina
O-Town	They were originally going to be called "Brotherhood" but the publicists for "Making the Band" started calling them O-Town, short for Orlando because they were formed in Orlando. It caught on and they didn't want to confuse people by having a name switch so early on in their careers. Too bad it didn't help them anyway...	Lauren
O.A.R.	it stands for "Of A Revolution"	william
The O.C. Supertones	the band hails from Orange County California and supertones is sometimes referred to as a cool tone of music or something.	john
Oasis	Oasis was formally called rain. One day Liam strolled past a shop window called? Thats right Oasis!!!! The band name then got changed to Oasis and went from strength to strength!	Oggy
Oasis	Noel was a roadie for a group called the Inspiral Carpets, they were doing a gig in the 'Oasis' leisure centre, in Swindon (Wiltshire/England). Noel suggested 'Oasis'as a band name and the rest is history.	slick joe marvel
Oasis	Noel was the roadie for a band called the Inspiral Carpets. They played a show (among others) at a club in Swindon called Oasis, and Liam had a promotional poster for this gig on his bedroom wall. Liam joined a band called The Rain that already featured Bonehead, Guigsy and Tony McCarroll, as their singer. They changed their name to Oasis for whatever reason, taking it from Liam's poster. The band were already called Oasis when Noel joined them. This info can be found in a book called "The Last Party" by John Harris.	Hard Harry
Oasis	Noel had a poster promoting an Inspiral Carpets gig at some place with the word 'Oasis' in it. Liam saw it and liked it.	Amanda
Oasis	Oasis is the name of a supermarket chain	fede
Oasis	Originally called rain, Noel said he'd join the band if they'd change the name to Oasis, something he'd seen on an inspiral carpets poster, for whom he was a roadie.	Gaz
Oasis	The Leisure Centre story is true according to an interview Noel did on Radio 1 a few years back.	Gary
Oasis	Name of a sports center in Swindon, England.	Bobo
Oasis	All these postings for OASIS are wrong, if you bought their DVD you would know that Liam named the band after a bar that his dad met John Lennon from the Beatles in. It was called the OASIS.	Zack Simpson
Ocean	This is about the singer, Ocean - that's her real name.	tom
Ocean Colour Scene	For all you hoping for a big super ground-breaking story; you won't get it. How OCS got their name is pretty simple; they simply sat down with a dictionary and picked out words they thought sounded nice together. Source: OCS home page (www.oceancolourscene.com)	w0lfy_Mag
Ocean Colour Scene	They flicked through the dictionary and chose the random words on the tops of the pages that they flicked to which were ocean colour scene.	Rach
Octimus	The name octimus came from a misinterpretation of the lead singer Frank Walsh's youth, He called optimus prime(leader of the autobots), octimus prime and so a name is born.	Frank
Oedipus & The Mamas Boys	Band member Zak Penn's older brother Matt came up with the name.	Ted Cohen
Of Mice & Men	John Steinbeck's novella of the same title.	Anonymous
The Offspring	Manic Subsidal were a hardcore punk band, based around a band called "Social Distortion" Dextor's favourite band. They were angry and raw. Then in the media a film was released called "The Offspring". It was about a kid who was an offspring and was angry but changed his life. Manic Subsidal then decided it was time for them to change their style, they weren't so angry afterall. Hence the name "The Offspring".	bozo
The Offspring	As is my understanding, the name 'The Offspring' is an ironic reference to their status as products of a nation... the Offspring are known as a rebellious band, as can be seen particularly well from their songs "The Meaning of Life" and "Americana" (the latter of which includes the line, 'I am a product of my environment-- don't blame me, I just work here'). The name demonstrates that they are a result of their own society's crimes.	Popcorn
The Offspring	Obviously, you guy don't know anything about The Offspring. They used to be called "manic subsidal." Dexter later changed the name to The Offspring, because it was easier to say.	Sonia
The Offspring	Well, they were randomly picking out names and then changing them over and over until they decided to turn on the T.V. So, whatever word/praise was heard first, was going to be the title; which was obviously "The Offpring."	Stacey
The Offspring	Dexter Holland decided that it was the only one that sounded cool to him, from a list of about thirty names, 25 minutes before their first show.	Baz
The Offspring	They considered themselves 'The Offspring' of the punk band 'The Descendants', another possibility is from the 80's horror movie "The Offspring"	DarkJon64
The Offspring	Bryan Holland (vocals) and Greg Kreisel (Bass) were in a band called 'Manic Subsidal'. However, two members dropped out and the duo picked up Kevin Wasserman as guitarist and Ron Welty as the drummer. When they came to record their first CD, they were asked what the name of the band was. It wasn't until then that Bryan and Greg realised they couldn't be called Manic Subsidal. Anyway, while thinking about it, someone yelled out "The Offspring" and since then the band stuck with that name.	No Hero
Oingo Boingo	They made noises one day and Nicky sounded like "OINGO BOINGO!!!" and that was it, they were all like "YEAH!!! OINGO BOINGO!!! YEAH MAAN!!!!".	Izika
Oingo Boingo	I read once that Oingo Boingo actually is Swahili for 'Dancing While Thinking'. I have yet to personally confirm this as I am not acquainted with anyone fluent in Swahili.	Kahlo
Oingo Boingo	The name Oingo Boingo has no specific meaning - well at least nothing that anyone involved will admit. Richard Elfman (brother of Danny Elfman) came up with the name. Originally known as the Mystic Knights of The Oingo Boingo, the name was shortened to Oingo Boingo in 1980 for their first album release. Shortened again with the release of their self-titled 1994 album, they were known by there more aerodynamic and environmentally friendly moniker - Boingo. For nostalgia's sake (and because the horns returned), they went back to Oingo Boingo for their final shows. "Oingo Boingo means 'the best' and now the best is no more!" [Johnny "Vatos" Hernandez].	Carbon
Ok Go	Damian and Tim had an art teacher who always said "ok go". They used this phrase as the name of a fake grunge band name. When they got big they thought they had no choice but to keep it.	Xa
Old 97s	Bassist Murray Hammond is a huge train nut. The band is named after the old ballad "Wreck of the Old 97" about the wreck of mail train No. 97	rangepig
Old Dominion	Four of the band's five members originally hail from Virginia. As a result, the band gets its name from the state's nickname.	Harderman61
Oleander	The band began casting about for a name during band practices. Ric Ivanisevich mentioned seeing some oleander bushes next to some railroad tracks near their practice space. Thomas Flowers and Doug Eldridge figured it was oblique enough to pass muster. As Thomas said, "It's so ambiguous that it could be a disco band or a death-metal band."	Raven
OMC	A few corrections for Phat Tuesday's entry: The O stands for Otara. Otara is a suburb of Manukau City, Auckland, New Zealand. While it is a less affluent suburb, I doubt they are the only people from there that have ever made "decent money". And they were called Otara Millionaire's Club long before they hit the charts with "How Bizarre", so the name was more ironic humour than statement of fact.	fug dubh
OMC	to PHAT TUESDAY, OMC is named after Otara Millionaires Club. They are not the only ones to have made money from Otara, NZ - they won Lotto and formed the Otara Millionaires Club through that.	tracey
OMC	Famous for the summer anthem "How Bizarre", OMC named it's group after where they were from, Olitaire, New Zealand. Being the only people from this very impoversed city to ever make decent money, OMC stands for Olitaire Millionaire's Club.	Phat Tuesday
OMC	The origin you've got is correct except that the suburb they came from is OTARA not Olitaire (that doesn't even exist in New Zealand)!!	Fiona
OMC	Mistake by Phat Tuesday - OMC a.k.a. Otara Millionaire's Club. From a working class suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. The name is joke, and they didn't make much money under this name. The OMC who sang "How Bizzare" is just one person who wanted to use the name as a mark of respect for the now defunct band. He was in the original band!	Kevin King
OMC	It's Otara Millionaire's Club. Otara is part of Auckland city in New Zealand. THere is no such place as "Olitaire" in New Zealand. I know I grew up not far from Otara. THe name is ironic, as most of the people living in Otara are either Maori or Polynesian and are basically poor.	Satyre
OMD	A contraction of "Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark" - a track from an early album issued under a different name (LXCVI, I think - that one was taken from a diagram on a Kraftwerk album cover). Albums typically carried the full name with the letters "OMD", or the full name only. Note that the correct spelling "Manoeuvres" (and not the incorrect "Maneuvers") is used.	fooooo
One Bad Pig	One of the first Christian punk bands (no, that is not an oxymoron) were traveling to a show and stopped to eat at a pizza place in Illinois. The restaurant had an ad with this tuff looking pig in black ray bans flexing his arms (pigs got arms?). One of the band members pointed at the flyer and said, "That is one bad pig!"	scuba964
One Day As A Lion	Taken from an old proverb: "It's better to spend one day as a lion, than a thousand years as a lamb."	Jonathan S.
One Direction	Harry Styles came up with this name because he thought it would sound cool when announced. (and it does!)	Ariana Grande mocha swirl
One Dollar Short	For a christmas party the band went to a grocery store and they were going to have a really big party and get lots of food and drink. One of the band members said oh my god we are one dollar short when they went to pay for all the goods! So they made that their band name... weird..	Judith
One Dollar Short	i heard the lead singer on the radio say that, the band got the name on dollar short from the fact that the singer used to go to a charity store and buy $1 shorts and he said they simply dropped the "s" from the end of shorts.	luke
One Dollar Short	The guys in the band used to buy funky shorts from op shops that cost one dollar, hence one dollar short	Keza
One Hundred Miles	On the First day of their career (still named Corporate Conspiracy), the tour bus didn't pick them up. Therefore, they had to walk to the nearest phone. While it wasn't 100 miles, they thought it was a cool name so it stuck.	Bobby
One Way Street	Christy Jaimieson played in a band in the late 60's early 70's called One Way Street and his son Alexander born in 1980 has continued the name on by calling his current band by the same name. A bit of sentimental value and a good band name at that!	Alex Laughlan
Only Ones	From Alistaire Crowley's book 'Magick In Theory and Practice ' he states, 'The most appropriate acts of Magick, and the only ones which are always legitimate, are therefore those which have as their object the invocation of the Divine.'	Albert Neil
The Only Ones	Frontman Peter Perrett said that the name "came to him in a dream" in his Biography by Nina Antonio. But he almost may have stolen the name from an obscure 60's American garage band of the same name. Or most probably from Aleister Crowley's "The Name of the Lay" (also a The Only Ones song) ..'whose initiates are the only ones who know the identity of the Frater Superior. '	Steveritt
Operation Ivy	Named after an atom bomb test performed in the 1950's called operation ivy.	Mister Bojangles
Operation Ivy	It was originaly a name the band Isocracy (fellow gilman st. band) had used. Operation Ivy just borrowed the name from them and it just became permanent. The name Operation Ivy is the code name they gave to the first nuclear bomb testing they did in the Bikini Islands.	jgfibnffodn
Operation Ivy	It was taken from the name of the post-WWII hydrogen bomb tests in the Bikini Atolls.	Eduardo
Operation Ivy	It's taken from a nuclear testing program in the 50's, an attempt to create a fusion bomb which was more powerful than the fission bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. http://www.operationivy.com/name.php	phildo
Operation Ivy	it comes from the testing of the first nuclear weapon in the 1940's, if you go to google and type in operation ivy under images, it'll show up.	phwooooo
Operation Ivy	Operation Ivy was the name of the first hydrogen bomb tests that the U.S. millitary did.	Jesus
Opeth	Taken from their website: The name was taken from a book by author Wilbur Smith, and was originally spelled Opet without the "h" at the end. In the book, Opet is the "city by the moon".	ironman
Opeth	It means, roughly, "sitting the moon" in old swedish or scandanavian, saw it in a interview with them on Uranium	Jordisdrummer
Opeth	From the book "Sunbird" by Wilbur Smith; "Opet" was the city of the moon, and the band added an "h" to the end.	Nick
Opeth	Was taken from an old sci-fi book Mikael Akerfeldt really liked. In the book, opeth meant "City of the Moon".	Malachi
OPM	I talked to the lead singer about a few weeks ago. The members of the band are originally from Orange, Pomona, and Costa Mesa (Also known as Mesa), California. Orange, Pomona, Mesa = OPM. The drug reference is just a concidential bonus.	Dan J
OPM	if you say OPM out loud, it's opium, the drug.	mim
OPM	I read that OPM origionally came from some rough part of California and due to this there were alot of people addicted to heroin (opeem) So they shortened it to OPM. Simple!	Lil Chris
Orb	From the orb used as a kind of drug in the Woody Allan film "Sleeper".	R m B
Orbital	The name ORBITAL was taken from the busy ringroad motorway M25 that is situated around London. The road which is currently called M25 is also known as the London Orbital.	Jussi
Orgy	Dr. G is right, it's because their music is 'an orgy of sounds'. Basically, they all like different genres. Not sexual. Try explaining that when trying to buy the cd.	2X9
Orgy	According to the band members, it describes their music which is an orgy of sounds and has nothing to do with sex.	Dr. G
Orgy	Strangely, the original meaning has nothing to do with sex, it is actually an old Roman practice meaning "A fifteen course meal"	C.M.
Orgy	One of the band members in high-skool wrote it over his folders so they just decide to use it plus the whole meaning of their music.	Ayumi Lee
Origin	A death metal band from Kansas. Their name comes from the fact that they wanted to get back to the roots of death metal, and just play it brutal and loud. Hence; Origin.	James
Orleans	Perpetrators of the once-ubiquitous ABC network promo song, "Still The One," Orleans took this name after their former made-up one, Boffalongo, proved to uncommercial.	Country Paul
The Orphans	From the cult film the The Warriors	franc
OSIS	Well, one of the band members was trying on a Chinese finger trap at the mall, when he got stuck in it. He shouted, "Oh S*** I'm Stuck", therefore creating the innitials of OSIS.	Max Censky
OTEP	"Egyptian suffix meaning creative offerings. It can also be an anagram for POET. "	Reckless
Otep	Otep is an acronym for the word poet it also means in egyptian creative offerings	meegs
The Other Ones	In the Grateful Dead song "Brown Eyed Women", a song sung by Jerry, there is this verse: "Delilah Jones was the mother of twins Two times over and the rest were sins Raised eight boys, only I turned bad. Didn't get the lickin's the other ones had." So they may have taken the name from there...	Rob
The Other Ones	The surviving members of the Grateful Dead (after the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995) toured for a number of years as The Other Ones. The name derived from the first track on their 1968 album Anthem Of The Sun, called "That's It For The Other One."	C. L. Knapp
Our Lady Peace	yeah it's the poem "Our Lady Peace" by Mark Van Doren but the poem is about World War II, not the Civil War	mwheeler
Our Lady Peace	It comes from the Bible! Take "Our Lady Queen of Peace" and remove the queen and - Voila! - Our Lady Peace	Alan the Ottoman
Our Lady Peace	This Canadian band named themselves after a 1940 poem by Mark Van Doren.	remy
Our Lady Peace	They picked this name out from a poem about a war.	What? Yo Mama!
Our Lady Peace	They chose this name from an old poem about the Civil War, called "Our Lady Peace," by Mark Van Doren.	Kayleigh
Our Lady Peace	Although many people think that the name "Our Lady Peace" refers to the Virgin Mary, it was actually named after a poem. The band members all read the poem, and each interpreted it in a slightly different way, but the all liked it. That was how they wanted their fans to see their music, so they thought the name would suit. It has caused some interesting events, like problems with a US border guard, and receiving mail addressed to "Our Lady of Peace Cemetery"... You can read the poem and stories about the name at http://members.tripod.com/~transparent_neon/poem.htm	Amanda H
Outkast	Big Boi was an outcast in primary school, but was popular in High School so it was to do with his past. Andre 3000 liked the name better than the original name, Two Stanks. They added a k to avoid coipyright (from what?), to make it cooler and to be able to get a website	Big T
Over The Rhine	A small town near Cincinnatti, Ohio - the band's from Cinci	otr fan
Over9000	It comes from a quote from an episode of Dragon Ball Z.	Johnny Nguyen
Overkill	These thrash metal veterans named their band after the Motorhead album "Overkill". The term also refers doing more than needed to achieve a certain goal, ESPECIALLY in killing or destroying someone or something, killing an ant with a rifle for instance.	Kyle
OXBOW	It was named after the yoke that's used to control a team of oxen. That is, two Oxes. One the name of good, the other the name of evil.	Eugene Robinson
Ozric Tentacles	Named by the band after a crazy sit-around discussion about fictional breakfast cereals..."Ozric Tentacles" was one of these. Names that fell by the wayside included "Desmond Whisps", "Malcolm Segments", and "Gilbert Chunks".	Kirk Bradford Myers
Ozzy Osbourne	"Ozzy" is his school nickname. Real name: John Michael Osbourne.	TeZaR
Ozzy Osbourne	Born Jonathan Osbourne, his last name caused people to nickname him "Ozzy" for short. Needless to say, the nickname stuck.	Bill M.
Ozzy Osbourne	When he was in school, his friends called him "Ozzy" because of his last name.	weirdo

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