This is a list of band names, with their name origins explained.
You have to remember that we were fifteen-year-old punks–we wanted to piss people off. Anything that might make parents, teachers, and people with authority bristle was up for discussion. We also wanted a name that would suggest a great logo for stickers and T-shirts. Many of the names were compelling but too repulsive. Smegma, Vaginal Discharge, and Head Cheese might make for great logos but were quickly rejected as not representative of our songs. We played around with a lot of names involving the word "bad"–Bad Family Planning, Bad Politics. When we hot [sic] on Bad Religion, it seemed perfect. That year, 1980, was a time of rising prominence for televangelists like Jimmy Swaggart, Pat Robertson, and Jim Bakker. The year before, Jerry Falwell had founded the Moral Majority, which was having a powerful influence on the presidential election between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. Religion was a hot topic, and those TV preachers seemed like a good target to us, though we didn't think they could possibly last for more than a few years. We knew that most people were so defensive about their religious ideas that they would be highly offended by our name–a major plus! And then Brett came up with a logo that represented our philosophical stance. We felt complete. [53]
Fallon: Childish Gambino is your name. And you got that from a...? Glover: Wu-Tang name generator. Yeah. Fallon: When did you get that? Glover: I think it was like sophomore year of college. We were all hanging out, chilling and drinking and then we were like, "oh, Wu-Tang name generator, let's put our name in." And we're putting them all in, and they're all funny and stuff, and then mine came up and I was like, "you guys, it's not funny anymore. This is something big." I just really liked it.
Blackmore has stated; "It was a song my grandmother used to play on the piano."
They took the name Pet Shop Boys because they had friends who owned a dog grooming ship named Shampooch. It was located in the basement of a shopping center in Ealing. The smell of wet dogs was so strong you never forgot it