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Names -> Band Name Origins -> P, 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).
Latest Entries
Entries starting with P are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3
There are 4774 Band Name Origin entries on the site.
Name | Origin | Submitted by: | ||
| P. Diddy | Biggie Smalls used to call him P. Diddy before he died. After he fired those shots in the club, he couldn't go by Puff Daddy anymore, so to honor Biggie and to reduce associations between himself and shootouts, he renamed himself P. Diddy. | Rosemary | ||
| P. Diddy | P. Diddy's name came from Sean's son. Whenever Sean's son had to go to the restroom, he'd say "I have to pee diddy. | Pimpmaster Chris | ||
| P. Diddy | P. Diddy changed his name from Puff Daddy after Chris Rock called him this while introducing him at an awards show. He just liked it. | ben | ||
| P.O.C. | It was originally for Piece of Crap, but then the Drummer, XXX, looked at his marine war and blood book, and found the term, P.O.C., Point of Contact. | S.T.G. | ||
| P.O.D. | Stands for "Payable On Death." Though not a classified as a Christian band, they are born again and it is central with their music. Payable on death refers to the day one will stand before God upon their death. | Alex | ||
| P.O.D. | Simply they picked it because their sins were PAYABLE ON Jesus' DEATH. Hence, Payable On Death (P.O.D.) | Jesus Freak | ||
| P.O.D. | It is an abbreviation for "Pay On Delivery". | Morgan | ||
| P.O.D. | P.O.D. stands for Payable On Death. This term was chosen by the Christian Rock band because when Christ died, he paid for our sins. | Dingo | ||
| P.O.D. | Jesus paid for our sins on the day he died. This band name simple means Payable on Death. There was no other way but the shedding of blood that our sins could be washed away, so therefore the debt was "Payable on Death". | Josh | ||
| P.O.D. | It stands for Payable On Death, which is a banking term which means that an amount of money is payable on that person's death. It's used because of the fact that because of Jesus' death they are saved. | Pukala | ||
| Pacifier | This Kiwi rock band was originally called Shihad (She-had) but to make it in the USA, they had to change their name because of the September 11 attacks and the jihad. Pacifier was a name of a song off their album "The General Electric" and is a combination of Pacific as in South Pacific and Fire, as in fire! | DjGaZzA | ||
| Pain Of Salvation | I get it from an official FAQ of the band: Daniel Gildenlíºží°£ame up with the name when he was 16. Here's what he had to say about it in an interview at the Perpetual Motion site: "I had been looking for a new band name for quite a while at that time and I didn't want us to have a hollow band name, you know the kind of name that sounds great but doesn't make people think (there are just too many of those in the progressive genre, drowning in symbols and icons). The idea with the name is that everything has two sides, everything is in balance. It is not a religious or anti-religious name, unless Life itself is a religion. I remember that I once explained the band name with a comparison: Imagine yourself exhausted in the middle of a desert... Sitting down will take away your pain, but it will kill you. The walk for water will hurt, but it may save your life. A bit melodramatic, I agree. Nowadays I find it to be a good expression in everyday use, when something goes wrong: 'Well, that's the pain of salvation' to emphasise that it was just a slight setback - you are still heading in the right direction." | Fredcod | ||
| Palangi | Palangi is melanesian for "whiteman" or "stranger".The name came from a book by Paul Theroux "The Happy Isles...:Needless to say people from the South Pacific laugh when they hear the name refering to a band (of white people) from Australia!Palangi have 2 albums out and have been heard on national radio in Australia as well as on various soundtracks. | Ray Quinn | ||
| Panic! At The Disco | They got it from the Name Taken's song, "Panic", which includes the lyrics, "Panic at the Disco." | Erika | ||
| Panic! at the Disco | The name Panic! at the Disco was taken from the song Panic by Name Taken. The line "panic at the disco, sat back and took it so slow.." inspired the band to take the first half and add some strategically placed punctuation. | jaseyrae | ||
| Panic! At The Disco | Panic! At The Disco were once at a "Flashback 70's party" in Las Vegas. When all of a sudden the lead singer lost his cellphone, it lead him to yell "Panic! At the Disco!" | jess!ca | ||
| Panic! At The Disco | They got it from one of The Smiths song - Panic, and a line in the song: "Burn down the disco" | ree | ||
| Panic! At The Disco | It is a line from a song called "Panic" by Name Taken. | Adora | ||
| Panic! At The Disco | After a night out at a night club in their home town of Las Vegas, they were so sweaty after it their cloackroom tickets had became unrecognisable. They were worried that they wouldnt get their stuff back which created a certain Panic!... at the disco. | Campbell | ||
| Pantera | Early 70's Italian sports car with US Ford engine, made by coachbuilder DeTomaso. | ISurvivedThe70s | ||
| Pantera | Roman Soldier, Pantera, said to be the birth father of Jesus. And for those who are sceptical just read some lyrics to there songs, or the Title to 95% of them. Would it be coincedence, I think not. completely appaulling. | Kevin | ||
| Pantera | we all should know that pantera's mascot is the all mighty panther...in TX they speak a lot of spanish...pantera is spanish for panther...also, pantera was a greek God...also, pantera was the father of joshua...what's it all mean? it means that pantera is an artistic band...notice how they refuse to reveal why they picked the name "pantera"...they did it because it has all these meanings...it's an ambiguous word, and they want it to be interpreted differently from everyone...they're artists...that's how music should be thanx for listenin... -ralph | Ralph Foster of Livonia MI | ||
| Pantera | I was in the Abbotts living room when their original bass player, Tommy Bradford, came up with the suggestion. It was the car. It sounded cool. Period. | Spear Ruler | ||
| Pantera | They are from Pantego Texas, and they use the spanish word for "Panther" as their name. Has NOTHING to do with jesus. | Todd E. | ||
| Pantera | not sure but the latin name for the big cat family is panthera, eg panthera tigris/ panthera leo | PeTeR | ||
| Pantera | in all actuality, they took the name from the 1970's exotic sports car... and i know this how?!? just ask Phil when your band opens up for him...lol | Brett Mohler | ||
| Pantera | This is down to the Abbot's sense of humour - when they were a glam metal band they wore very glam clothes which Dime and Vinnie Paul's mother once described as a 'Pants error' - the two brothers evolved into 'Pantera'. | BellCore | ||
| Pantera | Spanish for panther. | Syph0n | ||
| Pantera | Definitely nothing to do with Christ. There are a number of reasons quoted by drummer Vinnie Paul, among them their hometown of Pantego, but chief among them is the sports car called Pantera. | Malachi | ||
| Pantera | Jesus often is associated with a Talmudic character called Joshua ben-Pantera -- literally, "Joshua, son of Pantera." ("Jesus" is a Greek transliteration of Joshua.) A story told by the second-century satirist Celsus and preserved in Origen's "Contra Celsus" alleges that Jesus was the illegitimate son of a Roman soldier named Pantera. Interestingly, history does record one Tiberias Julius Abdes Pantera, a Sidonian archer who served in Palestine about the time of Jesus' birth and buried in Bingerbruck, Germany. While this story does little to clear up any theological debates, it may shed some light on the name of the popular metal band. | Josh Shuart | ||
| Pantera | Named after an old pizza chain in the 80s. | rocker | ||
| Pantera | I very much doubt that Pantera picked their name because it was Spanish for Panther. Some older Jewish texts hold that Jesus was not immaculately concieved and was instead the illegitamate son of a Roman soldier named Pantera. I'm pretty sure this is where the band got its name. | Daewoo | ||
| Papa Roach | The band name came from lead singer, Jacoby Shaddix, whose stepfather's grandfather's last name is "R-o-a-t-c-h". Being more than a 100 years of age, he was called "Papa" by everyone in his family. They decided to go along with the name "Papa Roach" by dropping the "T" and using the cockroach as a symbol of longevity. Shaddix and his band used an analogy and that is: "when a nuclear bomb is dropped and it explodes; the whole place is annihilated and the only thing that's left are cockroaches." | Cordelia's Straight Facts | ||
| Papa Roach | Coby Dick has a vast collection of pet cockroaches. He used to joke about himself being the "papa roach" as he took care of them. Unfortunately, Jeremy, the first (and oldest) of the collection died only last week from old age. | Anduril | ||
| Papa Roach | They named the band after Coby Dick's Grandfather, Papa Roatch, because he was a very nice man to the band. | Dead Roach | ||
| Papa Roach | Their parents called them Papa's Little Roaches and that were they got the name Papa Roach! | Coby | ||
| Papa Roach | They stated on MTV's TRL that they chose the name because the lead singer's gandfather's name was Roach (pronounced Ro-ach 2 syllables)and he was his "papa" so to speak. They named thier band in memorial to him. | Dan The Man | ||
| Paper Lace | The town where they originated from, Nottingham, England, was known for it's production of lace products. | brit | ||
| Paramore | A friend's mother's maiden name, meaning "secret love". | Anonymous | ||
| The Parker Brothers | They got their name from the company they work for. No board game was mentioned. | the slapstrophagus | ||
| The Parker Brothers | Taken from the (board game) company the band members worked for. | The Slapstrophagus | ||
| Parker House and Theory | The band used to jam at their good friend Sean Parker's house in Metuchen NJ. There, he trained them and taught them an intense amount of intricate music theory. Sean died of a rare form of cancer days before they were to all play a big show. On his deathbed, he supposedly had a closed meeting with the rest of PHT and no one knows what he said. But the boys played the show in honor of Sean and unveiled their moniker. If you look at the name Parker House, it is obvious. So is Theory, but the creepy part is that SEAN's name is also spelled out, with the SE from 'house' and the AN from 'and'. | shammyshoo | ||
| Parliament-Funkadelic | Originally known as The Parliaments in the 50's and 60's, they picked that name after the cigarettes (according to various music sources). When a legal snafu with their label over the name arose in the late 60's, they changed their name to Funkadelic, combining "funk" with "psychedelic" to describe the direction of their music. Dropping the "s" from their original name, they used the names Parliament and Funkadelic concurrently and became known as Parliament-Funkadelic. Later shortened to P-Funk for the name P-Funk All Stars. | T-Mad | ||
| Parliament-Funkadelic | Parliament-Funkadelic is not a rename of Parliament -- They were two completely different bands. The first being the Parliaments who had a major doo-wop hit in "(I Wanna) Testify" in 1967. Funkadelic was not formed until 1968, AFTER the Parliaments shortened the name to Parliament. It is true that there always were interchangeable members such as Bootsy Collins and George Clinton. They are now known as pretty much one band, but, BOTH Parliament, and Funkadelic released simultaneously in the 70's -- Parliament: "Breakdown" (1971); "Chocolate City" (1975) are a couple. Whilst Funkadelic was doing Maggot Brain(1970) and One Nation Under a Groove (cir. 1971-72) ... ;-)) | FantoM | ||
| The Parma Violets | They saw it on the wrapper of some cheap sweets (that taste and look like dish washer tablets). It also means a sweet violet with a heavy scent and lavender coloured leaves. | Yvonne | ||
| Pascol | Pastel Color | Robert D. Arndt Jr. | ||
| Passpo | The group was named "Passpo" soon after and they use the theme of travel in the group's concept. For example, the members of group are called "the crew" while the leader is called "captain" and the sub-leader is called "chief purser" with each member having their own color. Meanwhile, their live events are called "flights" while those who are attendance are usually called "the passengers". Also, their songs incorporate the travel theme and the group releases three versions of their singles, each name Business Class, First Class, and Economy Class, with different material inserted in each version. | Lana | ||
| Patrick Lew Band (PLB) | The band Patrick Lew Band (stylized as PLB) apparently got their name randomly during a private studio recording session. The band underwent many temporary bandnames such as Famiglia, Samurai Sorcerers, Band of Asians and etc etc. Some time in August 2008, the band's frontman Patrick Lew left the recording studio one afternoon to grab lunch. Upon arriving back, he went on the computer inside the studio, logged onto his band's MySpace account, and wrote a blog confirming the band's name being changed to "Patrick Lew Band." Apparently, the name had no special meaning and it was randomly thought of while Patrick was writing the blog on his MySpace band page at the time. Eventually, the band would also be later shortly abbreviated as PLB. The band was intended as an outlet for Patrick Lew's musical works, with assistance from additional musicians. | Gabe | ||
| Pavement | Steve Malkmus said its officially the second nicest sounding word in the english language, cellar door is the first. | Lou | ||
| Pax 217 | "Pax" is latin for "Peace." the two-seventeen is a reference to Ephesians 2:17: Ephesians 2 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. | Your Name | ||
| Pearl Jam | In an intense night of songwriting and jamming one of the band members, it has never been stated which one, gave so much effort and feeling that he ejaculated into his pants. The ejaculate is sometimes referred to as pearls and since it burst forth while in a jam session...they just had to use it. | jules | ||
| Pearl Jam | My friend used to hang out with Eddie when they were kids. He says Eddie's Aunt Pearl used to jar strawberry preseves and jellys. Her special ingedient? A hit of white blotter acid. I love the first spread of Pearl's jam. | christophss | ||
| Pearl Jam | Eddie Vedder's grandma, Pearl, used to make a peyote jam | Maxx | ||
| Pearl Jam | I didn't originally think that Pearl Jam meant "semen" but now that I read it, I believe it. Before Eddie Vedder joined, the band with singer Andrew Wood was called "Mother Love Bone" which means "penis." It makes sense: "Pearl Jam" comes from "Mother Love Bone." | Seattlite | ||
| Pearl Jam | At a recent show, Ed declared that the band name was based merely on good initials. PJ. That's all there is to it. | ~*~ | ||
| Pearl Jam | Think "money shot". Earl the Pearl? Give me a break! | Haven | ||
| Pearl Jam | Originally, they were called Mookie Blaylock, but "Pearl Jam" is a combination of two things: The oft-mentioned peyote jam gives us "Jam," but "Pearl" comes from another basketball player, Earl "The Pearl" Monroe | Mikey H | ||
| Pearl Jam | What has the texture and consistancy of jam and is also the colour of pearl? they should've named themselves baby batter | Trev | ||
| pearl jam | eddie had dreamt of the idea to transform pearls into jam for rich people. since eddie was a servent to a rich family as a young man and was appointed the task of inventing elaborate ways to waste large sums of money. | dudeface | ||
| Pearl Jam | Simply named after NBA Hall of Famer Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, who played pro ball from 1967-1980. | Wiki | ||
| Pearl Jam | Eddie Vedder's grandmother (Pearl) always made his favorite stawberry jam...hence the name. | WeeRascal | ||
| Pearl Jam | There's no real origin for the name of the band. It's just something they came up with and decided it sounded cool. Eddie Vedder said that he made up the story of Aunt Pearl's jam as just something to tell interviewers when they asked. | Smokey McPot | ||
| Pearl Jam | The story about his grandmother's jam is clearly a put on - the name obviously derives from the same substance as 10CC and the Lovin' Spoonful. | Stephen | ||
| Pearl Jam | Pearl was one of the members' grandmother. She made jam. Their original name was Mookie after the NBA player, Mookie Blaylock. Their first album, Ten, was Mookie's number. | Robert | ||
| Pearl Jam | The lead singers grandmother Pearl made really good jam | Caitlin | ||
| Pearl Jam | The grandmother's jam thing is a nice little lie concocted for good publicity. Any moron knows Pearl Jam is semen. | Calico | ||
| Pearl Jam | Was not named after anyone's jam. They were named after Mookie Blaylock, NBA Point Guard for the Golden State Warriors. His nickname is Pear Jam, and his jersey is #10, consequently the name of Pearl Jam's first album was Ten. | Arlyn | ||
| Pearl Jam | Originally named Mookie Blaylock ( after the basketball player). The band changed their name to Pearl Jam after Ed Vedder's great grandmother Pearl's jam which supposedly made people hallucinate. But as respect to Mookie, the bands classic first album is called 10, Blaylock's jersey number. | Zack | ||
| Pearl Jam | the band originally named themselves mookie blaylock, after the basketball player, but were forced to change their names. pearl is the name of eddie's grandmother, and she was known for her peyote jam. | kristin | ||
| Pearl Jam | Well the name band's original name was Mookie Blaylock, but the had to change the name for legal reasons. Yes Pearl is the name of Eddie's great aunt, but Jam is not named after he jam (which by the way she does make the jam) Jam is in refrence to band coming to together an just "jamming" together. Hence Pearl Jam. The Album Ten almost came out for the band as Mookie Blaylock, but was changed to Pearl Jam before the Album was released, therefore they just kept the name of Ten. If you dont believe this one, read the Time magazine with eddie on the cover | Bryan Claunch | ||
| Pearl Jam | The grandmothers jam is a nice story, but pearl jam is simply a term for semen. | coz | ||
| Pebbles | From "The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits" (7th edition), the singer (real name: Perri McKissack) was nicknamed Pebbles for her resemblance to the cartoon character Pebbles Flintstone. | Big Mark | ||
| Pedro The Lion | The name is taken from David Bazan(sp? - singer and songwriter)'s idea for a children's book character. Pedro the lion. nowadays Bazan is performing under his own name | Pdawg | ||
| Pencey Prep | They got the name from "Catcher in The Rye". It was the school that the main character got kicked out of. | mike | ||
| Pennywise | They got it from the clown in Stephen King's "It" who called himself PENNYWISE. | shalala | ||
| Pennywise | yeah, PW got their name from Stephen King's 'It', such a trippy movie about a clown killing people and ... yeah watch it sometime... if you get the DVD, watch the 2nd half first, thats what we accidently did at my friends party, it was cool | Taylor Geddes | ||
| A Perfect Circle | They came up with it as a reference to the band's friendship with eachother. | XAFIfan666X | ||
| A Perfect Circle | It's philisophical. Tecnically, there is no such thing as a perfect circle. | Colin S | ||
| A Perfect Circle | Apparently only madmen are able to draw freehand "a perfect circle." Hence the band is A Perfect Circle, something that could only be created by the insane. | Ben | ||
| A Perfect Circle | The band name comes from a line in one of their songs "Orestes". Their logo, however is an "unperfect" circle. | Anna From Behind | ||
| A Perfect Circle | The band chose their name from one of the first lyrics to the song "Orestes", "Pull me into your perfect circle". | Adam | ||
| A Perfect Circle | the band was unnamed until paz and billy decided the line "pull me into your perfect circle" (from orestes) best suited it. | rhiannon | ||
| A Perfect Circle | In reality, APC's name is based on friendship. Official statement by Maynard James Keenan himself. | red Friday | ||
| A Perfect Circle | The name of the band was from a line in the song Orestes on the album Mer De Noms. "Pull me in to your Perfect Circle. One womb, one shape, one result..." | Steve | ||
| Perfume | They chose it because they loved the scent of perfume, and their music is meant to be like it. | Katherine | ||
| Pet Shop Boys | Pet Shop Boys is a reference to the practice "gerbiling". Weird, cruel, and hard-to believe, certain sexual deviants would aim the end of their habitrail up their a**es. Their "Pet Shop" gerbil would burrow in, (instinctually) giving the "pet shop boy" an intense sexual experience. Gross, but true. | loomba | ||
| Pet Shop Boys | The TRUE story is that they had some friends who worked in a pet shop in Ealing; that's where they got the idea from. Also, they thought it sounded like the name of a rap group, and they we're trying to make rap part of their sound (e.g. West End Girls). The boys actually first met in an electronics store in 1981 (where they discovered that they both owned synthesizers and were into electronic music). Their original idea for a name was "West End" (another idea that ended up in West End Girls). | The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on | ||
| Pet Shop Boys | It's a gay reference to the use of Gerbils in PVC pipes. Ala Al Pacino in cruising. The were taking the mickey out of the local gay boys who used to hang out at the local pet shop waiting for the next delivery of Gerbils. | Flash | ||
| Pet Shop Boys | At first they called themselves "West End" but after they changed it to "Pet Shop Boys" after some of their friends who worked in Pet Shop. | Tiina | ||
| Pet Shop Boys | a "pet shop boy" is london slang for a male homosexual | sean s. | ||
| Pet Shop Boys | History says, that the 2 founders of the band met first in a Pet Shop. Heard this in a music show in the middle of the 80's | Wrxlgutt | ||
| Pet Shop Boys | The keyboardist, Chris Lowe, had three friends who worked in a pet shop in Ealing . Neil Tennant and Chris suggested to them that they should form a band (one of them was musical person) and call themselves Pet Shop Boys and sing the song ´How much is that doggie in the window´. But later Neil and Chris took the name for themselves after suggesting names like : B-box boys , Peech boys and West End . | Milla | ||
| Peter Goes Bowling | There was a local band in their town called Eric Goes Fishing so they just changed that name a little because they couldn't think of anything better - Pete was their ex-vocalist. | Kizzy Goodacre | ||
| Peter Pan Speedrock | Leadsinger Peter van Elderen is a short man. (The Peter pan syndrome is about men who never grow up. named after the story.)The band was first simply called Peter Pan. Later they added their music style to the named which made a breakthrought to anyone loving speedrock and so they knew this was the band to listen to. | Flo de Haan | ||
| Petra | According to co-founder Bob Hartman, the band wanted a name that reflected their musical style and their Christian faith. "Petra" is the Greek word for rock used in the New Testament of the Bible. | the speter | ||
| Petra | The bands named after the city in the Bible Petra. Its a city built compleatly out of rock. | Silas | ||
| Petra | Petra was the name Jesus gave Peter when he became a disciple. It means "rock", but it also refers to a quote by Jesus when he said "upon this rock I build my church", referring to himself. | david scarborough | ||
| Petra | "Petros" means "rock" in Greek. Jesus tells a parable in the Bible about two men, one who builds his house on the beach (sand) and the other builds his on solid ground (rock). Guess which one is left standing after the elements do their business. | Christian | ||
| Peyote | Many ideas were thrown about and they were all pretty good. David the bass player and main lyricist never did drugs but scored with all the girls. When they offered him pot he said " I only eat Peyote and they laughed and changed the name from Sleaze Alley to Peyote. | papuyo | ||
| Phantom Planet | Named after the 1961 sci-fi movie 'The Phantom Planet'. | Lauren |
Entries starting with P are split into multiple pages: 1 2 3
New entries in this section are currently reviewed by Brian Kelly. Previous editors (if any) are listed on the editors page.
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