8 Bands Named After People Not In The Band

Bands like Van Halen, The Alan Parsons Project, Phish and Santana all are named after members in the band. But what about bands named after people NOT in the band? Here's a look at eight of them:

1. Pink Floyd

There’s a record executive in the song “Have A Cigar” that says, “Oh, by the way, which one’s Pink?” Thing is, of course, this was the band responding to (and mocking) the often-asked question. But in reality, the name of the band comes from band member Syd Barrett, who took bluesman Pink Anderson and combined it with another bluesman named Floyd Council. So if you’re ever trying to come up with a good name for another successful rock band, you might consider Anderson Council.

2. Lynyrd Skynyrd

Nope, Mr. Skynyrd never played for the southern rockers. In fact, the band named themselves after their gym teacher and basketball coach, Mr. Leonard Skinner. After Skinner died, one of the surviving members of the rock band had this to say: "Coach Skinner had such a profound impact on our youth that ultimately led us to naming the band, which you know as Lynyrd Skynyrd, after him. Looking back, I cannot imagine it any other way.”

3. Hootie and the Blowfish

While some think that front man Darius Rucker was Hootie and his bandmates were the Blowfish, the truth is that Rucker was both Hootie and the Blowfish! As for the meaning: there was a kid in Rucker's high school nicknamed Hootie because he looked like an owl. There was another kid with puffed up cheeks that they called Blowfish.

4. Tilly and the Wall

Nope, no Tilly in this band. The name comes from a kids’ book, according to an interview with one of the dancers, who credits her time as a grade-school teacher prior to joining Tilly for the idea. “It’s actually the title of a children’s book. It’s just about outsiders overcoming obstacles, that kind of story,” she says. “We didn’t even think about the story that much, but it ended up fitting our band really well.”

5. Belle and Sebastian

No Belle. No Sebastian here. Just some band mates inspired by a 1960s novel by Cécile Aubry about a six-year-old boy named Sébastien and his dog Belle,

6. Freddy Jones Band

Sorry to disappoint again, but not only is there no Freddy Jones or Jones Freddy in the band, but apparently the band has never definitively revealed the name's source.

7. Aiden

This Seattle-based band doesn’t have an Aiden. Instead, the band members named the group after a character in the 2002 film The Ring.

8. Alice Cooper

They were first called the Earwigs, then Nazz, before settling on Alice Copper. The name is said to have been inspired by their Ouija Board, which put them in contact with a spirit named Alice Cooper. When lead singer, Vincent Furnier, went solo, he took the name for himself.