# How did -you- come up with your band name?



## groovemasta (Feb 11, 2012)

Interested to see how various people came up with their band names and the reasons or inspirations for such. 
I'm having troubles thinking of one personally.


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## niffnoff (Feb 11, 2012)

... in a music theory part of the forum? Don't think many people will respond to you on this part of the forum dude.


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## anthonyferguson (Feb 11, 2012)

Rock paper wizards... 

Need I explain?


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## JosephAOI (Feb 11, 2012)

I enjoy poetry occasionally and when I do, William Blake is one of the poets I like. /mostinterestingmanintheworld

But yeah, my band name is just the title of an awesome William Blake poem:

Auguries Of Innocence


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## Fiction (Feb 11, 2012)

Metal Band Name Generator

"Sober Goat"


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## groovemasta (Feb 12, 2012)

niffnoff said:


> ... in a music theory part of the forum? Don't think many people will respond to you on this part of the forum dude.



not sure how to move it to off-topic


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## Dayn (Feb 12, 2012)

My parents named me.


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## bradthelegend (Feb 16, 2012)

groovemasta said:


> Interested to see how various people came up with their band names and the reasons or inspirations for such.
> I'm having troubles thinking of one personally.



We all sat around eating french fries at McDonald's thinking up names and then searching on Facebook to see if someone else had already used it.


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## Chiba666 (Feb 17, 2012)

From an awsome song by The Haunted.


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## theo (Feb 17, 2012)

I just thought it up, then searched it. 
It was a power metal album name.

I didn't care and used it anyway


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## broj15 (Feb 17, 2012)

I believe i've decided to go with "From The Mouths of Heretics" as my "band" name (band as in me and a drum program) 
Needed something to fit the sound/ theme/ lyrical content. Basically I play dissonant, sinister sounding progressive, groove oriented deathcore in the vein of old school BoO and Carnifex, with some influence from The Acacia Strain and Vildhjarta and a dose of post rock in the style of Explosions in The Sky and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Lyrical content usually has themes of misogyny, misanthropy, and anti organized religion. The anti organized relion aspect led me to go wtih something with Heretic in it and the rest just kind of fell into place. Too me kind of encompasses my sound so it works.
My old band was called Beneath The Necropolis. That came about after my manager @ work suggested The Devil's Root Cellar (said in an exagerated southern accent). The devils "root cellar" aka basement would be underneath hell (city of the dead aka necropolis), so there for "Beneath The Necropolis".


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## Edika (Feb 17, 2012)

We were discussing with the other band members for more than a month and couldn't come up with something that wasn't lame. Then we decided to check song names from bands we liked to get some inspiration. We liked the name Monochromatic Stains from Dark Tranquility but we didn't exactly wanted to just blatantly use it. Our singer proposed to use Semic (from semiology which he was working with then) and aside from that we liked the meaning (stains of meaning).

Unfortunately most english speakers confuse the root of semic (people have dirty minds) and we end up some times with stupid comments or people thinking we are a comedy band. Can't always get what you want hehehe!!


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## VBCheeseGrater (Feb 17, 2012)

Fiction said:


> Metal Band Name Generator
> 
> "Sober Goat"



LOL thats not bad actually. I'm jamming with a group of guys and "Crash n' Burn"  has been stuck in my head. I just thought of the word "Crash" and how to use it, and that's what popped in my head - so there you go.


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## USMarine75 (Feb 17, 2012)

I played one of my 80's EVH sounding songs for someone awhile back and they told me it sounded like a pure trash classic... so, *Pure Trash Classic* it is.


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## synrgy (Feb 17, 2012)

Well, technically I'm not a "band", but:

In the mid 90's, I used to use a chat program called IRC. I used the handle Sin, after my favorite Nine Inch Nails song. Fast forward to when I started doing electronic music, and I discovered there was already a DJ using that name. My style was/is mostly about high energy and the mashing-together of sub-genres, so the next natural evolution of the word that came to mind was Synergy. I took away the E so I could be one of the cool kids who purposely misspells things, and that was pretty much that. 

Had I known that within 2 years it was going to become corporate America's favorite buzz-word, I would have chosen something else, but I'd already begun to establish myself by then.


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## skeels (Feb 17, 2012)

Ancient Chinese Secret.


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## StratoJazz (Feb 17, 2012)

The first band i was in was _Bravado_. We were really into the band Rush at the time. So we strived to make our music like they did.

The second band was called _Lucy Lovehandle's Breakfast Bonanza_ which was latter changed to _the Tall Tale Nuggets_. These names were chosen because of our interest in bands like Umphrey's Mcgee, Moe, The String Cheese Incident, Phish, and the whole jam band culture. Not to mention the influence of other substances(such as weed). 

*(Not to be a troll(or that guy that posts his music) or anything but if you want hear what that sounded like, you can hear it in some of my music below.) *

Now i play alot of Jazz music and dabble in EDM(Electronic Dance Music). My jazz group is called the Hanna/Coovert group, and my Dj name is StratoJazz. Those are alittle less creative than the others but oh well.

Props to ancient chinese secret man!


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## Wings of Obsidian (Feb 17, 2012)

I was considering alot of different names for awhile...and nothing was really sounding good, or the name(s) was (or were) already taken by some other band or artist.

Then one day "Wings of Obsidian" literally just popped into my head out of nowhere. It was so weird, yet so inspirational that I just stuck with the name.


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## goatLuke (Feb 17, 2012)

we couldnt come up with a name for quite some time. Then 1 night after band practice at my house my neighbor decided to tie his goat up to an old truck frame. We continued drinking and carrying on outside in the driveway and about every minute that fing goat would go off making all sorts of noise. After a while I said "im gonna go punch the shit out of that goat". Our singer looks at me like he saw a ghost and says "Goatfight that it." And that was it. www.reverbnation.com/goatfight


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## Ill-Gotten James (Feb 17, 2012)

I was inspired by a card from Magic the Gathering. I know... I'm a nerd.


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## BIG ND SWEATY (Feb 19, 2012)

from some guys xbox live name haha


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## MitchellJBurgess (Feb 19, 2012)

My old band (Seize The Taken) 
Was called Seize The Day, because our drummer was inlove with that song. From Avenged Sevenfold.
Although the rest of us were more interested in heavier music we still went with it.
But we started seeing the abreviation of it... STD.
SO, we decided we didn't want people to think we were named after sexual hurt =D
So we made it Seize The Taken,
I'm not sure if this helps.
But I thinks it's pretty funny


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## skeels (Feb 19, 2012)

ACS actually from an old laundry detergent commercial.

Let's see... methods and relevance ...
Random words picked from a hat - Obey Norman
Literary reference - Catch 23
Couldn't think of anything better- Happenstance
Let the drummer come up with it- Low Life (fave)
Actual personal meaning - Hiatus Forest (HF) 
Liked but already taken - Cause and Effect
Saw in a scrapbook in a movie called Curdled - Decapitado (!)
Voted down by band -New Local Band 
Voted in - Brave New Gun
Taken - Self Destruct
Didn't use until it was too late and they came out with that movie - Captain America
Random word generator - Syzygy

Others -
Thought was great until someone told me how it was really pronounced - Dumas 
My buddy had a great solo project -Your Frustration

Bands with great names but not so great music -
Raging Slab
Smashmouth

What's next? 
Guess I need a new band first...

Thinking maybe Hachiman..
Or Blood God...


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## Hollowway (Feb 19, 2012)

The second band I was in we named Ground Zero. At the time everyone thought it was a lame name because no one knew what the heck it meant. Good thing we didn't carry on with that name - that would have been weird over the last 10 years!

The only name I use now is Hollowway. I just like the sound of Hollow and paring it up with Way sounds like the Hollow Way, which is like saying the Tao of Emptiness. Which now that I type it sounds pretty damn cool! I think I'll be using that from now on. I'll be Hollowway, and the band/project (which is just me ATM) will be Tao of Emptiness.


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## Fiction (Feb 20, 2012)

My first bands name was Social Perception, then we changed to Indivision, and since then no bands.. just realizing this now 



skeels said:


> Liked but already taken - Cause and Effect



I just have to point out every asshole and his dog has told me I need to name a band this, as my last name is 'Cause'.


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## Goatchrist (Feb 20, 2012)

Our singer and founder once was drunk and got in trouble at a concert, one guy wanted to punch him in the face.. the term he used was:

ORAL FISTFUCK

Our singer always tells this story to anyone he meets. xD


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## Mechanix11 (Feb 20, 2012)

well its a funny story, the first name was ''Metal Machine'' and well after watching some thrash metal (i was starting listening to that stuff then) i came with ''Sadistik'', no one in the band liked so we put then ''Nuclear Destruction'' and we just know that a band from other state of my country have the same name and well we just voted for some good names and we choose the name that we have now 

some people sayed to me that our names that we used are stupid but i dont give a f''k about, i only want to play some good thrash metal with my friends of my band


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## Tysonimmortal (Feb 20, 2012)

We went with Coffin Crusher due to our love of Exhumed. They have a song called "Casket Crusher", so we just changed it a bit! 

Go with something you dig, man!


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## Miek (Feb 27, 2012)

The easiest way to do it is to make up a word that has the right character to it, that feels right when you say it. You can stop there, or you can think of words or phrases that sound similar to it.
One of my band names was Sarasvaati but I don't really want to use it anymore because it sounds too much like a rip on Vildhjarta's theme. So I just keep using it for mech names in Armored Core 
Another one I wanted was Architecture but then the djent scene kind've exploded and there are tons of names like that, not to mention there's like three bands who've already used plays on it EG Architects.


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## Varcolac (Feb 27, 2012)

Mine geographical, mythological and medical concepts, and pick something that sounds right and has the right connotations. Medical concepts are the best for grindcore and death metal bands, especially if they mean something horrific. 

I wasn't the one to choose either of my bands' names, but it's pretty much that concept: mountain range of doom in eastern Europe, the titan who stole fire from the gods. If I ever put stuff out by myself, I use my forum name; more myth-mining: Vârcolac is a Slavic word for werewolf.


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## TheBotquax (Mar 2, 2012)

Io, Jupiter's coolest named moon


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## Resmondo (Mar 5, 2012)

Mine's simple.

My band's name is Oriskany, after the US aircraft carrier that John McCain was stationed before he was shot down in Vietnam. 

Its also the name of the bloodiest battle in US history during the Revolutionary War.

The ship is now sunken in the Gulf of Mexico. We live in Florida, so it kinda fits.


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## Grimbold (Mar 10, 2012)

me and my friends took a bunch of words and looked them up in latin...

so now we are monoceros... unicorn, in latin!


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## PortalNathrakh (Mar 11, 2012)

Well, we haven't done anything, but once we finally DO, we're going to be called Artakvyren.

We achieved this name by modifying the phrase "Altum Videtur" until it was appropriately black metal sounding. 

It's supposed to be a Portal/AN/sunnO))) hybrid, once we get off the ground.


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## Gothic Headhunter (Mar 15, 2012)

I dont have a band name yet, but the ancient ones would be a cool band name.


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## skeels (Mar 19, 2012)

Some friends of mine had a band called The Unknown.

So many times I would tell people about them and they would say "I've heard of them! "


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## WhiteWalls (Mar 19, 2012)

My bassist once said "hey, there's a cool picture on the wall of the pub where we hang out, we should just call our band like that"
And that's how The Old Garden Geranium was born.
It makes absolutely no sense and it's not even grammatically correct without proper punctuation, but at least it's not cliched and it makes a nice contrast with the music

We're still living in fear that the creator of that picture might sue us  even though it's pretty much impossible to find it online


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## Daken1134 (Mar 22, 2012)

went through probably 80 names, my band mates all said each one was either "to pretentious" or sounded like an album name. then i was walking around downtown listening to my ipod on shuffle and "Iodine Sky" by black light burns came on (its a weird instrumental ambient kind of song) and i thought it sounded cool, looked at my ipod for the song name, text my band mates, the rest is history


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## simulclass83 (Mar 22, 2012)

We were trying to think of names that represent the music we play well. It was between Eclipsis and Tethys but Eclipsis took the cake.


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## The Reverend (Mar 22, 2012)

I'm in a band called Verb The Noun with the ingenius and somewhat impish-looking Rick, who posts here under the even more ingenius handle 'Rick'. I forget the exact origin, but he and a long-time member of SSO were discussing names and it popped up.

I'm also a songwriter/sometimes guitarist in my brother's band, REBUILD. He came up with the name before one-word bands really exploded in the djent scene, but it's not a noun, so I think he'll be all right. It's more about him returning to the Houston metal scene, as we used to have a fairly popular metalcore band back in the day. 

I do some lead work for my roommate/best friend's band, tentatively called The Post-Modern Prometheus after the excellent X-Files episode. Last night I suggested The Imperialists, but he shot it down out of what I suspect was pure jealousy. 

Before last year, I did vocals for a metalcore called I Am Eternal, again with my brother, which he chose because he felt it was heretical in some strange fashion. Live, people just thought I was saying 'I am a turtle' and at one point we considered using that. Incidentally, there's a much better technical deathcore band called I Am Eternal from Australia who are using that name now.

Other bands I've been in:
Ending A Black Opera
Guns To The Sky
Rome Is Burning
The Reflection Theory
Bind Torture Kill
Seventy-Three Miles To Go

I came up with all those names, some of which I like, but most of them are abysmal, and still haunt me. Recently my roommate looked up all the old band Myspace profiles, and proceeded to remind me why I hate my teenage years.


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## C2Aye (Mar 23, 2012)

I was lucky enough to be able to use my own name for my solo project. Since it's fairly uncommon, a lot of people thought it was a band name and that there were multiple members


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## asher (Mar 23, 2012)

Stenders: We kind of formed as a backing band... our lead guitarist/vocalist is named Sten, and his brother is Anders, who plays drums. They were doing a song-a-week kinda deal to keep on their toes and keep sharp. Since only Sten is here at Uni, and we formed around him, we've jokingly been called "Sten and the Ders".

I have a working name of Syndic for the very few solo project songs I get anything close to written, both neat sounding (I like Latin) and an homage to ISIS. Other close seconds were Akrasia (project album name; band name already in use), Sepsis, until I looked it up and then remembered this wasn't a gore or death project, and Heir Apparent, as an homage to Opeth. I didn't want to be quite that derivative, so I apparently decided to straight lift a different song name instead (though Syndic is also an actual former legal position). Maldon and Artemid are also solid ideas and have fooled with the thought of Artemid as a stage name.


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## unclejemima218 (Mar 23, 2012)

Foundry of Failed Creations always sounded kind of cool to me. got it from an area of a game I used to play called Guild Wars. kinda long, but hey what the hell.


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