Pop Group Names - Derivation and Former Names
| Group/Artist Name | Derivation of Name | Former Name of Group/Artist |
| Abba | Initial letters of the first names of the group members. | The Engaged Couples |
| All Saints | All Saints Road in London | |
| Aswad | The Arabic for Black | |
| Bad Company | The title of a 1972 film starring Jeff Bridges | |
| Bangles | The Supersonic Bangs | |
| Bauhaus | A German Art Movement | |
| Beach Boys | Carl and the Passions | |
| Beatles | A play on the group name of the Crickets. | The Quarrymen |
| Black Sabbath | Earth | |
| Blondie | Angel and the Snakes | |
| Blur | Seymour | |
| Boomtown Rats | The Nightlife Thugs | |
| Buffalo Springfield | A model of Steamroller | |
| Chicago | Chicago Transit Authority | |
| Clannad | Gaelic for family | |
| Commodores | The Mighty Mystics | |
| Communards | A historical group of political revolutionaries | |
| Culture Club | The Praise of Lemmings | |
| Cure | The Easy Cure | |
| Depeche Mode | From a French magazine name, meaning Fashion News | Composition of Sound |
| Dexy's Midnight Runners | The stimulant Dexedrine | |
| Dire Straits | The Cafe Racers | |
| Doctor Hook | The Chocolate Papers | |
| Doobie Brothers | A slang term for a Marijuana joint | |
| Duran Duran | The villain in the 1976 film Barbarella | |
| Erasure | From the cult movie Erasurehead | |
| Everything But the Girl | A second hand furniture store in Hull | |
| Four Tops | The Four Aims | |
| Frankie Goes to Hollywood | Hollycaust | |
| Fugees | Shortened form of the term Refugees | |
| Genesis | Garden Wall | |
| Gerry and the Pacemakers | The Mars Bars | |
| Heaven 17 | Fictitious band in the film A Clockwork Orange | |
| Hollies | The Deltas | |
| INXS | The Farriss Brothers | |
| Iron Maiden | From a medieval torture device | |
| Jethro Tull | The inventor of the Seed Drill | |
| Kinks | Ravens | |
| Kraftwerk | German for Power Plant | |
| Led Zeppelin | From a Keith Moon comment 'they would go down like a lead balloon. | New Yardbirds |
| Level 42 | Answer to the meaning of life in 'A Hitchiker's Guide to the gAlaxy' | |
| Lynyrd Skynyrd | A cantankerous Gym teacher called Leonard Skinner | |
| Madness | The Invaders | |
| Mamas and the Papas | The Mugwumps | |
| Marillion | J.R.R Tolkein novel called 'The Silmarillion' | |
| Ned's Atomic Dustbin | An episode of the Goon Show | |
| Nirvana | The state of enlightenment in Buddhism | |
| Oasis | A Swindon sports centre | |
| Pink Floyd | Blues musicians Pink Anderson and Floyd Council | |
| Pogues | Pogue Mahoney | |
| Pretenders | The song 'The Great Pretender' | |
| REO Speedwagon | A model of Fire Engine | |
| Righteous Brothers | The Paramours | |
| Rolling Stones | Muddy Waters song | Satan's Jesters |
| Searchers | John Wayne film of the same name | |
| Shadows | Drifters | |
| Sigue Sigue Sputnik | A Russian street gang | |
| Sisters of Mercy | A Dublin religious group found by Catherine McAuley in 1831 | |
| Slade | The N'Betweens | |
| Spice Girls | Touch | |
| Status Quo | The Specters | |
| Steppenwolf | A novel by Herman Hesse | |
| Stranglers | The Guildford Stranglers | |
| Styx | Mythological river of the underworld | |
| Supertramp | Autobiography of a Supertramp by W.H Davies | |
| Supremes | The Primettes | |
| Sweet | Wainwright's Gentlemen | |
| Talking Heads | The Vague Dots | |
| Thompson Twins | Cartoon characters in 'Herge's Adventures of Tin Tin' | |
| T'Pau | Vulcan priestess in Star Trek | |
| T-Rex | Tyrannosaurus Rex | |
| UB40 | Unemployment benefit form | |
| Uriah Heep | Character in Dickens' 'David Copperfield | |
| The Who | The High Numbers |