Band Name Origins M - O

 

Mamas and Papas	After signing a recording contract and called The New Journeymen, group member Cass saw an interview on TV with the Hells Angels.  One of them said something like "We call our women ‘mamas’.”  Cass said, "Well, we got Mamas in our group and we got Papas!" Group member John said “Yeah, we could be called the Papas and The Mamas.” Cass and Michelle didn’t agree and they became the Mamas and The Papas.
Manfred Mann and the Manfreds	The Mann-Hugg Blues Brothers were formed in London by keyboard player Manfred Mann and drummer Mike Hugg, but changed their name to Manfred Mann and the Manfreds at the request of their producer.
Matchbox Twenty	Originally titled "Matchbox 20," the band took its name from a softball jersey with a "20" on it and a patch that had "Matchbox" written on it. The band altered its name to "Matchbox Twenty" after the release of its debut album Yourself or Someone Like You..
Meatloaf	Marvin Lee Aday stepped on the foot of his high school football coach, who shouted 'Meat Loaf' instead of swearing
Metallica	Lars Ulrich was helping a friend think of a name for a metal fanzine. The choices were Metal Mania and Metallica. Metal Mania was chosen for the magazine & he used Metallica for his band.
Moody Blues	They were originally called "M & B 5" because they wanted to perform in a Birmingham brewery called 'Mitchell's and Butlers.' The building had a big 'MB' on it. It never happened so they changed the name to 'Moody Blues' an Elvis hit, which was one of Justin Hayward's favourite songs. (He later wrote his own Moody Blues song).
Mothers of Invention	Frank Zappa's highly experimental band was originally just called the Mothers, their record label asked them to change it because it could be taken as an obscenity.  Out of necessity they added "of Invention" since "Necessity is the mother of invention."
Mötley Crue	From a friend's comment, "What a motley-looking crew." Motley means "of great variety" and once described the appearance of a court jester. The re-spelling was their own invention; using the umlauts (the purely decorative dots over the top of the “o”) came to them while they were partying and drinking Löwenbrau beer.
Motorhead	British slang for a drug user who uses a lot of speed.
Nickleback	Some say it derived from the American Football term but, according to most sources, the name is derived from the nickel (money), which Mike Kroeger frequently had to give customers back in change when he was working at a Starbucks coffee shop and would frequently say "Here's your nickel back".
Nine Inch Nails	Trent Reznor said in 1994 that he coined the name "Nine Inch Nails" because it "abbreviated easily", rather than for "any literal meaning". Other rumoured explanations have circulated, alleging that Reznor chose to reference Jesus' crucifixion with nine-inch spikes, or Freddy Krueger's nine-inch fingernails.
Nirvana	In Buddhism it means the state of perfect blessedness attained through the annihilation of the self. Kurt Cobain heard it whilst watching a late night special on Buddhism.
‘N Sync	From the last letter of each band member's name: justiN, chriS, joeY, lanstoN and jC.
Oasis	Local British origins: a Manchester cab company a chain of women's clothing stores a local Indian restaurant and more likely a local club that The Beatles played in during their early years (the band are avowed Beatles fans)
OneRepublic	Originally called This Beautiful Mess, they then became Republic. They later changed the band name to OneRepublic after their record company mentioned that the name Republic might cause controversy with other bands