# Bands named after real people that weren’t members of the band **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2026, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635 "2026-01-13T10:27:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/41 "2026-01-13T19:00:31Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Jethro Tull Fun fact: their first single came out under the name “Jethro Toe”. Someone at the record label either misread or misheard the name. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/42 "2026-01-13T20:49:23Z")
I’m glad I checked before posting since I wasn’t aware/forgotten that Madonna, the entertainer, was actually named that as a baby. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/43 "2026-01-13T20:56:05Z")
For years, I played in a local band named, “Frank Burns”. My brother-in-law played in a band called, “Haven Moses”. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/44 "2026-01-13T21:17:53Z")
I would have sworn that her name was Mary something. What shocked me was seeing her with a guitar on her wiki page. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her play. Of course, it could just be a prop ala George Strait et al. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/45 "2026-01-13T21:26:52Z")
Heh, I wrote out a post about whether The Madonna refers to the Biblical Mary/Maria exclusively or if it will be a title for any future Mother of Christ. Should we be so Blessed. Like a Smokin’ Pope could mean any of a bunch of old guys. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/46 "2026-01-13T22:15:11Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Not a band, but British singer Gerry Dorsey took the name of a 19th-century German composer and became famous as Englebert Humperdinck. Yeah, if solo artists count (or even if they don’t), you can find quite a few examples in the early music genre. - Hildegard von Blingin’ (neomedieval parody named after the medieval composer/poet/artist Hildegard von Bingen) - Ensemble Claude-Gervais (named after the French Renaissance composer Claude Gervais) - Ensemble Clément Janequin (take a wild guess) - Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble (I think you see how this works) - Egidius Kwartet (I maintain that this counts because the namesake medieval minstrel Aegidius only **had** one name. I am conscientiously ignoring all the myriad “Bach This” and “Handel That” and “Tallis the Other” etc. etc. etc. early music groups that use only surnames of composers whose given names are known) And mind you, these groups/artists aren’t performing exclusively the compositions of the composers they named themselves after. For some reason, early musicians have a bit of a tendency to adopt some beloved composer almost as a team mascot, even if they perform a much wider repertoire. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/47 "2026-01-13T22:22:35Z")
> [@fachverwirrt](#): > > a couple of jazz musicians (Pink Anderson and Floyd Council) Nitpick: they were blues musicians. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/48 "2026-01-13T22:26:08Z")
On the more contemporary side, there’s the [Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Mahler_Jugendorchester). ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/49 "2026-01-13T22:55:10Z")
REO Speedwagon has the initials of Ransom Eli Olds. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/50 "2026-01-13T22:59:39Z")
Country band Sawyer Brown is named after a road in Nashville. Presumably the road is named for a real person or people. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2026, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/51 "2026-01-13T23:11:51Z")
Camper van Beethoven ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/52 "2026-01-14T00:25:22Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Molly Hatchet? Back when I learned they took their name from the infamous MH, i tried looking her up. Most all of the info about her came from stories from the band. I suspect that the band largely made her up. There is more info about her now but I’m not sure it’s historical. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/53 "2026-01-14T00:31:47Z")
Similarly there was an [Australian singer that called himself William Shakespeare](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare_(Australian_singer)). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/54 "2026-01-14T00:52:05Z")
There used to be a local band named Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head. They ended up changing it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/55 "2026-01-14T01:07:31Z")
Prior to settling on the name they became famous under, the Butthole Surfers were known at various points as “Ed Asner Is Gay”, “Fred Astaire’s Asshole”, “The Right To Eat Fred Astaire’s Asshole”, and “The Inalienable Right To Eat Fred Astaire’s Asshole”. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/56 "2026-01-14T01:24:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_Q](#): > > There used to be a local band named Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head. We have a local 1980’s cover band called the Molly Ringwald Project. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/57 "2026-01-14T01:32:45Z")
Molly Ringworm would be clever. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/58 "2026-01-14T02:47:47Z")
In the holding pen until the rock jury determines whether he was a historically real person, but you could potentially include: - Jesus Jones - Teenage Jesus and the Jerks - The Superjesus - Jesus and Mary Chain - The Jesus Lizard The Doug Anthony Allstars, mainly a comedy group but who did lots of music, were named after a then-prominent Australian politician. Australian group, the Whitlams are named after our former prime minister. Years ago I also saw the one and only (thank God), shambolic bin-fire performance of the band Bumphrey Go-cart, named of course after the star of _Casablanca_. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/59 "2026-01-14T10:21:13Z")
The Beau Brummells ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2026, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635/60 "2026-01-14T11:10:12Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > Country band Sawyer Brown is named after a road in Nashville. Presumably the road is named for a real person or people. I seem to remember the road was named after two people. There was the Sawyer farm and the Brown farm on the road. But, I could be wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-named-after-real-people-that-weren-t-members-of-the-band/1026635.md?page=4)