S, Page 5

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:
Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy	Stephen was nicknamed Tin Tin cause he looked like main character in the the comic of the same name. He still does.	Stace
Steppenwolf	The idea for the name Steppenwolf was Jim Morrison's. He suggested it to John Kay. At the time the band went by The Sparrows.	Zach McDonough
Steppenwolf	Named after the novel "Steppenwolf" by Hermann Hesse	Equus
Steppenwolf	From the book Steppenwolf, by Hermann Hesse, about a lonely suicidal man who is approaching fifty. He finds a lovely young girl who teaches him how to have fun and enjoy life.	Steven Dame
Steppenwolf	It was a novel written by Herman Hesse.	Tom
Steps	Everyday when going into the recording studio they had to climb 50 steps, and voila. steps where formed.	Kirsty
Stereolab	I remember barely as a teenager some dealership called 'Stereolab' was having people come in and test a listening station with some new audio equipment and for simply taking the time out you got this special LP with some new jazz, rock and classical compositions on it for free. This was during the 80s.	Eighties Kidd
Stereolab	A record label from the 50's, "Vanguard", formed a subsidiary named "Stereolab". "Stereolab's" purpose was simply to create records that test your speakers' alignment and left side-right side high-fidelity, etc.	Bryan McNeely
Stereophonics	They got the name Stereophonics, because, when they were younger, Kelly and Stuart were sat in Kelly front room,and Kelly saw the name 'Phoenix Stereophonic' on one of the speakers of his dad's cd player. He liked it, shortened it to 'Stereophonics', and it just stuck ever since.	Kat
Stereophonics	They were originally the 'Tragic Love company', till Stuart Cable (drummer) saw the word 'Stereophonic' on his grandma's gramophone. Thus the band was named	Joey
Stereophonics	They had a few names before stereophonics, including the applejacks and the tragic love company (medleyed together through three of their favourite band names) but stereophonics came about when kelly was in his grandma's house and noticed her record player said "stereophonic" on the back of it, he took aliking to it and thats how they were named	Martin Fraser
Stereophonics	They were called Tragic Love Company because it was inspired by the names of 3 of their favourite bands, TRAGIC (Tragically Hip) LOVE (Mother Love Bone) COMPANY (Bad Company)	Onju
Stevie Nicks	Her real name is Stephanie Nicks. As a little girl, she could not say her name properly. She pronounced it "Tee-dee." It then evolved into Stevie (which is also short for Stephanie), and the name has been with her ever since. Her mother calls her "TD Bird" to this day.	The One and Only Gypsy
Stevie Nicks	She was born Stephanie Lynn Nicks, but couldn't pronounce Stephanie, so she just called herself Stevie	Britney
Stevie Nicks	Stevie Nicks was born Stephany Lynn Nicks, but she couldn't say Stephany so her grandfather called her Stevie for short. She looks like a Stevie...	Bob Jenkins Jr.
StickShift	Trent and Ryan were thinking of band names. Since Ryan had a manual transmission in his car, he thought 'stick shift'. It also represents how nothing is given to you. you must always make it happen if you want to get anywhere in life.	Dunzo
Stiff Little Fingers	It DOES come from the Vibrators song - Burroughs book was called "Dead Fingers Talk".	Gregory
Stiff Little Fingers	I reckon they got their name from the Vibrator's song "Stiff Little Fingers" on the album "Pure Mania".	Mark T
Stiff Little Fingers	Like a lot of band names, they got their's from a William Burroughs book.	goldie
Stigma	Formed in Sacramento, CA, they were originally a Jazz Swing/Speed Metal band called Left Field due to their strange sound. But had to change it due to a British band of the same name. They later went through various other names, but were unhappy with how one name would limit them to a certain style. When they changed to a more tribal, goth rock sound, they wanted a name that fit their new sound, but didn't stigmatize them to that form of music. Frustrated at trying to think up names to avoid a stigma, the lead singer finally said, "What about Stigma?"	sarah
Sting	besides the striped shirts it also has something to do with the fact that the guys in the band were White Anglo Saxon Protestants (W.A.S.P.) s	bob riedel
Sting	Sting got his name form a jazz musician, not by the way he dressed. Forget the archives, it came from the man himself. The clothes may have been inpsired by the name, but not the reverse. I think it's insulting to his image and intelligence to think he would name himself based on how he dressed.	josh
Sting	The person who said yellow and black striped shirts is correct. Anyone who thinks differently is obviously not old enough to remember when The Police first came out. That was the most often asked question of all for them. I must have read it a hundred times. Sting wore a black and yellow striped shirt all the time, made him look like a bee. Archives, people, archives.	(SouprGrrl)
Sting	It's the striped sweater story. I saw an interview where he said it.	Danny
Sting	He named it after the yellow/black striped sweaters he used to wear. It made him look like a bee.	Siebe Wynberg
Sting	This is probably wrong but I had a thought. Sting could be a reference to the police tactic of planting evidence on a suspect and observing their reaction (as far as i know). So...The Police-Sting.	RubyTuesday
Sting	He loves J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Sting is the Eleven sword which hobbit Bilbo Baggins uses.	Cagatay Afyon
The Stone Roses	The band took their name from a 1959 spy thriller of that title by Sarah Gainham. It was published in the UK in 1971 as mass market paperback and one of the band members owned a copy, think it was John Squire.	Michael Daly
Stone Roses	A contradiction: The Stone Roses could write the most fantastic rock song and the sweetest ballads so they picked two words which contradicted each other Stone (Hard) Roses (Soft) - Led Zep have the same thing going on, but I don't know if that was the reason behind their name.	OceanStar
Stone Sour	Stone Sour is a Molotov cocktail made up of 1 part whiskey and a splash of orange juice..they described there music as....1 part pure rock adrenaline with a splash of melody	Andrew
Stone Sour	I got it off their web page. Stone Sour is a kind of drink (1 part whiskey and a splash of orange juice and sour mix).	Deus
Stone Temple Pilots	STP was a psychedelic drug popular in the late sixties, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine (more commonly referred to as DOM now). This could be why they wanted the initials STP.	Bob
Stone Temple Pilots	I like to think that maybe it's a bit of a play on Led Zepplin. By definition, a zeppelin which is made of lead would be 'heavy, yet uplifting' (zeppelin=blimp, lead=heavy metal)... Perhaps STP is SO heavy that their zeppelin of lead is piloted by an ancient temple made of stone, while at the same time, their music is so powerful that their stone temple pilot could be floating along behind the clouds to this day... Oh, and by the way, a little research immediately points out Led Zepplin as being one of STP's biggest inspirations, with the band going so far as to say their ultimate touring experience would be the privilege of joining Led Zepplin up on stage as the opening act. Coincidence? apparently. Only the band members know for sure.	Tom
Stone Temple Pilots	HERE'S THE REAL DEAL: The orginal name of the band (which incidentally was so stupid I can't even recall it now...but, I think it was something along the lines of 'Mighty Joe Young') was found to be already taken by a little-known blues band shortly before their 1st album was ready for release. America, being the Land of Lawsuits, they had to change their name. They liked the STP logo stickers and wanted to do something with that. At first they were renamed Stereo Temple Pirates, but then changed to Stone Temple Pilots on a last minute spark of inspiration.	G-Whiz
Stone Temple Pilots	It was said once on MTV, that STP stood for Stereo Time Pirates.	JS
Stone Temple Pilots	At the end of the first Star Wars movie (Episode IV), the x-wing fighter PILOTS all gather for attack on the Death Star. Where? In a big old STONE TEMPLE.	DJ
Stone Temple Pilots	Scott Weiland remembered a sticker on his bicycle as a child that had the letters "STP" on it. They were originally going to call the band "Shirley Temple's P****."	Matt
Stone Temple Pilots	In a book of Vietnam veterans poetry, there is a reference to a young fighter pilot who destroyed an ancient stone temple for target practice.	Bobostaxi
Stone Temple Pilots	Actually, Stone Temple Pilots was origionally called Mighty Joe Young. They then realized that there was a band called Ugly Kid Joe. Because of the similarity, they decided to change their name. They wanted the initials of the band name to be something popular that people already knew, so they picked STP. They were origionally Shirley Temple's Pussy, but were not able to keep the because of copyright reasons, and because the full name would never be able to be printed. Eventually they just came up with Stone Temple Pilots. It was just three words they put together, not meaning anything. I know this because it is in an official Stone Temple Pilots CD/Biography that I found.	Dana
Stone Temple Pilots	I like to think that they are making a reference to carvings in ancient Mayan or Aztec temples where it looks like the man is sitting in a plane or rocket ship.	CuchiFrito
Stone Temple Pilots	The one origin one someone did up there about just going with STP cuz they saw it on some STP motor oil is correct. I remember watching a special after they did unplugged and what STP originally meant was Stereo Temple Pirates....	Peter
Stone Temple Pilots	It has been said that the band once had the name STP but was known in the beginning as Shirley Temple's Pussy--which is also STP. Upon success at signing a recording contract, the band kept the stp acronym, but changed the wording to be more marketable.	vlad
Stone Temple Pilots	The flying monkey things, Getangs, from Teddy Ruxpin.	cass
Stone Temple Pilots	Actually, this is so stupid, but they actually wanted their initials to be STP, like the oil, y'know? So they thought + thought + thought + that's what came out. As the band members themselves say: "We couldn't have possibly call ourselves Shirley Temple's P*ssy cause no-one would ever print our full title".../	Atropos
Stone Temple Pilots	They just wanted to be called "STP". But fearing a lawsuit by the STP Car Care Company, the band settled for anything cool that stood for S.T.P. Scott Weiland and company found "Stone Temple Pilots" to be the coolest name with those initials.	J.C.
The Stooges	I guess these dude liked The Three Stooges , nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!	Mack the Knife
Story of the Year	On their first, self-titled album, "Big Blue Monkey" they had a song called "Story of the Year" and so.. deciding "Big Blue Monkey" wasn't gonna cut it, they re-named the band "Story of the Year"	Josh
Story of the Year	Story of the Year started out as a band called Big Blue Monkey in 1999. They were locally popular in St. Louis, Missouri, their home town. In 2001, they changed the name of the band after becoming aware that there was another locally popular blues band who had taken Big Blue Monkey as a band name long before they did. They became Story of the Year because this name was the title of thier very first EP, as well as the title of the very first song on that EP.	Kieran T.
Story Of The Year	They first started out as Big Blue Monkey. Then after playing awhile in St. Louis and persisting they were heard by a producer and became the story of the year. They became comfortable being called the Story of the Year and took up that name.	JOHN
The Stranglers	Originally named "The Guilford Stranglers" after a notorious early 70's South London multiple murderer nicknamed "The Guilford Strangler" this name became too offensive and not commercially viable especially as thet played most of their early gigs in South London where the murderer had still not been caught. Hence they changed it to just "The Stranglers".	Enver Hoxha
The Stranglers	In 1974 this band consisted of Jet Black, Hugh Cornwell and Jean Jaques Burnel (JJ Burnel) the band was called Wanderlust. As they played early gigs, sometimes they would mess up on stage. On a few occasions, they would play under assumed names, or give themselves deragatory nicknames backstage after particularly bad gigs. One night, JJ Burnel was heard to comment, "Well, The Stranglers have done it again." JJ Burnel relates this story in a Stranglers radio documentary. Intitially, they were known as the "Guildford Stranglers" because they lived in Guildford. The Stranglers registered their business name on September 11, 1974. They are still going strong!	Richard Kolkman
Stratovarius	Stratocaster (guitar) + Stradivarius (violin) = Stratovarius.	^^
Stratovarius	They combined the name of the classic violin (stradivarius), and a fender stratocaster thus becoming Stratovarius	Shawn McNally
The Strawbs	Dave Cousins who led (and still leads the band) and other members of the band were from Strawberry Hill in South West London. They originally performed as the Strawberry Hill Boys and later shortened it to The Strawbs.	Simon
STRFKR	Official name 'Starfucker'. Quite simply, they wanted to see how far they could get 'with a stupid name like that'. They even admit their band name is stupid. Oddly enough, none of their songs have any profane lyrics. They are a good band.	Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Striknyne	They got their name from a friend of the Guitarist and the Lead singer after she was joking around about the name of the band and she said "call yourself striknyne" little did the band members know the name was rat poisoning, and the name stuck	K-MEN
String Cheese Incident	The band had a run-in with law enforcement (got pulled over or something) and had mushrooms. When questioned about what was in the bag, they supposedly claimed it was "string cheese" and were believed. Hence - the "String Cheese Incident."	Amy
String Cheese Incident	I read this in the Dec. 03 Issue of Relix.. it's about getting a piece of string cheese stuck in your anus.	Jesus
Stripey Says No	There was this puppet called Stripey and he used to come out and tell you not to have sex and all that stuff so he basically would tell you waht not to do. so from that you get "Stripey Says No"	Will
Stroke Nine	sorry don't remember if where the interview was but the band members said it "came" from a little contest they held where they saw how few strokes it took them to "finish" masturbating. I swear I heard them say this in an interview. Now of course these guys could have just been trying to make the female interviewer blush. -rkrii	rkrii
The Strokes	The band's "homework" had been to go home everyday and come back the next with a list of names. One day they were sitting around and Julian Casablancas(vocals) just kind of vomited it out...so, the moral of the story is, don't try too hard to come up with a name for your band. Focus on the music instead...rely on spontaneity.	Geneva
The Strokes	The band liked all the various meanings the word 'stroke' has.	Tareena
Stryper	Originally called 'Roxx Regime', Stryper got really big in their faith and commitment to god.. in the Bible. Isiah 53:5 says 'By his stripes, we are healed'.. so drummer Robert Sweet took it to his brother Michael Sweet and agreed to name the band Stryper	jackdaniels
Stryper	This Christian metal band were formed with the name "Roxx Regime". Following thier dedication to God, Rob Sweet was reading his Bible at Isaiah 53v5; ...By His Stripes You were Healed.... He came up with the word "Striper". Somebody pointed out that the spelling would lead to mis-pronunciatiom, so the name was changed to Stryper. This was convenient for the rockers, famous for thier yellow and blaxk striped Spandex and for throwing Bibles into the audience as it becsme an acronym for Salvation Through Repentance Yielding Peace Encouragement And Righteousness. A little Gospel message in a 7 lettered name!	jeduthunuk
Styx	They were called the Tradwinds before. But when they got a record deal with Wooden Nickel Records, their record producer came up with a list of 100 names. They picked Styx because it was the only one none of them hated.	Brandon
Styx	Yes, it was the "only one that none of [them] hated." Which is ironic, as Styx means hate in Greek.	Nick
Styx	While 'Styx' may indeed have been a reference to the mythical river leading to Hades, that was NOT the reason it was chosen. Wendy is correct; at least one other band member has echoed the explanation by Dennis DeYoung: "It was the only name that none of us hated."	Ron
Styx	It's from the mythlogical river in the underworld.	JEANETTE
Styx	Styx was named after "The River Styx" of Greek mythology.	oppenheim
Styx	It was the one name out of several that five guys didn't hate. Hey, they were almost Kelp, which if they were, I would list under "dumbest band names".	Wendy
Sublevel 27	originally called inertia, lead singer Stone had a roomate whose favorite tv show was "the pretender". on that show an evil corporation known as the "centre" had a secret laboratory somewhere and "sublevel 27" was where they did a bunch of evil dark experiments. stone liked it and changed the name.	david z
Sublime	sublime, meaning Lifted up; HIGH in place; exalted aloft; uplifted; lofty, as well as Not to be excelled; supreme, ultimate	stacey
Sublime	Lead singer Brad Nowwel picked the name from a lyric he wrote "your'e down with a band they call sublime"	Ripp
Subseven	this band is christian and refers to satan having the number six, which is just below seven, god's number	steve mcmahan
Suburban Supernova	The band had been name-less for a while & they decided to make a name by chucking cool words togeher.	Optimus Lime
Suede	Name inspired by the Smiths' song "Suedehead". Forced to go by "The London Suede" in the US.	Liam Rodgers
Suede	Brett & the boys chose the name Suede because they liked the aesthetic shape of the word when written down, and thought it would look good on artwork. They also followed other British indie bands named after fabrics - Felt & Denim.	Hocster
Sugababes	The Sugababes chose their name because when they formed, they ate lots of sweets at their auditions. They also used to eat baby food.	April Slocombe
Sugar Ray	Actually, Mark McGrath stated in an interview that it was named after Sugar Ray Robinson.	Rick
Sugar Ray	The bands original name was The Shrinky Dinx, but they got threatened by the toy company to sue, so they changed it to Sugar Ray, after the boxer Sugar Ray Leonard.	Jen
Sugar Ray	The band was named after the boxer Sugar Ray Leonard.	Susan
The Sugarcubes	The group struggled to come up with a name for a while, and finally one group member said that they should name themselves after the most pointless and absurd thing they could come up with. "The Sugarcubes" were the first name suggested, and it stuck. No LSD connection here.	Marcus van der Meer
Sugarcult	When Tim Pagnotta (lead singer) was in college, there was a group of lesbians living in a dorm room down the hall from him. They called themselves Sugarcult, and the name stuck for Tim's band.	Miri
Sugarcult	The guys of Sugarcult used to live next door to a group of lesbians. The girls next door had a name for themselves, The Sugarcult. So, the guys took the name from them.	RioT
Sugarcult	The lead singer of Sugarcult used to live in an apartment across from a group of lesbians that called themselves Sugarcult, and decided to pick it as his band's name.	Joe
Sugarland	Even though it started in Atlanta and moved to Nashville, Sugarland is named after the city of Sugar Land, Texas, in Houston's southwest suburbs. According to the band's lead singer Jennifer Nettles, they decided on that name because it sounded like a nice name. Well, who could blame them?	Eric
Suicide High	the band went to a school that had an ungodly amount of suicides in a matter of months earning their school the nick name of suicide high, (the band went to marion high in iowa)	jake
Suicide Machines	In the hit "Born to Run" Bruce Springsteen refers to motor vehicles as "Suicide Machines".	Suicide Machines
Suicide Machines	It used to be "Jack Kevorkian and the Suicide Machines." Dr. Kevorkian's lawyers requested that they change the name. They dropped the Dr. K, and it became "Suicide Machines".	Kevin
Suicide Machines	i heard it refers to the high suicide ratings in detroit	Rachel
Sum 41	They started their band on the 41st day of summer, but they were eventually going to change their name, but it stuck.	Kay
Sum 41	Sum 41 derives from "All for One" All=Sum for=4 One=1 Sum 41	Scotty
Sum 41	Derek (lead singer) said "when you ad a penny, a nickle, a dime , and a quarter, the SUM is 41.	sum41fan247
Sum 41	I saw this on a documentary: Deryck explained that they saw the Vans Warped Tour on the 41st day of summer.	xkiss13x
Sum 41	Derek said on the muchmusic channel show IMX that "when you add a penny, nickel,dime, and quarter the SUM is 41"	payupsucka$$$
Sum 41	Sum 41 DOES NOT STAND FOR "Sodomized Underaged Males"... that was a sick rumor. the real reason they are named that was because one summer the boys were hanging out and trying to find a name for the group and since it was the 41st day of summer that year, they just picked SUM 41. Most people know this already.	Ariel
Sum 41	They called their band this because it was formed on the 41st day of Summer	Amy
Sum 41	If you`ve ever looked at a typing keyboard, you`ll notice that on the top, there are numbers with symbols on it. Look at your typing keyboard, and for 4&1, there is a $ and a !. So, Sum 41 means, sum money!	Mike Sorensen
Sum 41	They played their first gig on 41st and sumster st.	Gunner
Sum 41	The badns very first gig was in a park in their hometown, waiting backstage to go on they asked a steward how many people where there (cause they were quite nervous being there first gig) the guy replies "Some 41" and thats where the name came from, the number of people at their first even gig!	GrannyMonkey

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