Band name opinions

[Serena Casey]

I need your opinions: Would "Firefly" have a masculine or feminine connotation for a band? It's a band made up of three men (lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums) and one woman (lead singer) in their 30's-40's. They play a wide variety of music for weddings and supper clubs - current hits, oldies, country, ballads, and rock.

[poetinahat]

Sounds a little Stevie Nicks to me -- but then again, could be more like Dan Fogelberg, y'know? Or even Earth Wind & Fire.

Then again, Queen never worried about it....

I bet you can pitch it either way. Good luck!

[zarch]

Makes me think of Foxfire, a Joyce Carol Oates book about a girl gang.

[blacbird]

I'd bet a fair amount of money there is at least one real band named "Firefly" operating in the U.S. somewhere. Goooogle and find out (I've had to work really long hours the last couple of days and am too tired).

caw.

[gp101]

Personal impression? It sounds whimpy for a guy band, but pretty damn cute for a kid's band.

[Serena Casey]

I did - there was one in Boston (there were two others, one from Canada and one from the UK). Does that mean I can't use it? I know band names can't be copyrighted but could be trademarked, but I don't know if that applies when the band is fictitious.

[blacbird]

I guess I'd suggest inventing something more individual and distinctive, and making sure it isn't, or hasn't been, in commercial use. Frankly, the name "Firefly" for a band doesn't do a whole lot for me.

caw.

[Serena Casey]

Okay, distinctive...hmmm...I know! How about "Toad the Wet Sprocket"? There's no way in the world anybody would already be using that...What?...Oh, they are? Shoot. How about "Bowling for Soup" then?...Oh. Darn it.

Just kidding. :D I really appreciate the input so far - thank you guys.

[PeeDee]

Why not name yourself after a vegetable or something? Like peas, or, or carrots,or....oh! I know! Corn! That's cool and original! You can even do funky letter changes and write things backwards, if you like! Wicked!

In high-school, my band was called Beorscape, which is a Norwegian word (if I remember properly) that translated loosely to "drinking buddies."

Which was rather odd, since none of us drank even a little bit. There wasn't a cool word for "Slightly off-kilter guys who play video games and raise ruckuss in the garage 'till the girlfriends arrive."

Firefly inevitably makes me think of the television show, I'm afraid. :)

[Jamesaritchie]

Firefly brings the TV show to mind for me, as well. Firefly is a cult favorite, so it's hard to get away from.

[Siddow]

Check out Dave Barry's blog...he's always coming up with great band names from headlines and weird news items.
blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog

[LeeFlower]

I get the TV show connection too. I hear "Firefly," and the only music that comes to mind is "Take my love, take my land..."

[ChaosTitan]

If you want to use "Firefly" then use it. If your editor somehow thinks it's a problem later on down the line, change it.

Personally, I'd be amused to see a band named "Dung Beetles" playing at a wedding reception....

[RG570]

I don't see a problem with Firefly, especially if it's fronted by a chick.

In real life, bands often choose names that sound silly to others.

I mean, come on, "Supernova"? eek. And then there are gems like "Gorguts".

No, people don't always choose names for their bands that please everyone on internet forums. No matter what, someone always will say it's not right.

[veinglory]

Either way for gender, but it is a famous sci fi series so I would avoid it.

[Gillhoughly]

For a fictional band in a book it can go either way, but you'll knock readers out of the story because a number of them will think "Oh, the writer's a Joss Whedon fan." then they will be looking for more references that might not be there.

Masculine or feminine, grab a thesaurus from the shelf and try to find something with no pop-culture references attached.

Which character gets to name the band? What is it in their background that will influence their choice of name?

And re-read the whole Bloom County cartoon strip on how "Deathtöngue"

http://static.flickr.com/26/66298080_46078345da_o.jpg morphed into "Billy and the Boingers."
http://www.worldwatchonline.com/boingers.jpg

:tongue

[Sesselja]

In high-school, my band was called Beorscape, which is a Norwegian word (if I remember properly) that translated loosely to "drinking buddies."


Beorscape is not a Norwegian word.

[Serena Casey]

Thanks so much for your replies. I guess Firefly has no such connotations for me because I've never heard of the TV show and I don't know who Joss Whedon is. But if that's what it brings to others' minds, then I will probably use something else.

The reason I was thinking about Firefly is that the two co-founders of the band were a firefighter and a pilot before they started the band—hence "fire" and "fly"—so I thought that would be a name they might come up with.

There wasn't a cool word for "Slightly off-kilter guys who play video games and raise ruckuss in the garage 'till the girlfriends arrive."
I like that :)

[blackbird]

I did - there was one in Boston (there were two others, one from Canada and one from the UK). Does that mean I can't use it? I know band names can't be copyrighted but could be trademarked, but I don't know if that applies when the band is fictitious.

Absolutely not! A band can no more copyright a name than a writer can copyright a title, and certainly there are thousands of bands playing across the country even as I write this who are playing under the same name as some other band from somewhere else. Two things you would want to avoid, of course: You probably would not want to use the same name as a band that's fairly well known or unique. I guess this is what you meant by bands that have trademark names. For example, you wouldn't get away with calling a fictitious band The Beatles or The Rolling Stones because those bands pretty much have a monopoly on those names, and other huge names, like Pink Floyd, The Doors, The Who, Led Zeppelin, etc, are just too firmly identified with those particular bands. But with a generic name like, well, Firefly, I would say you really have nothing to worry about because none of those real-life bands you mentioned are big enough or well-known enough to have an exclusive on the name. (Obviously, if they were, there wouldn't be at least four identifiable bands currently using the name).

Another caution is to make sure no one you are writing about can be too clearly identified with someone who might actually be in a real group by that name. Of course, realistically you probably can't screen every band going by the name of "Firefly" out there, but just make sure your characters are fictionalized enough that no one would even think about drawing a comparison between your fictional band and their real-life one.

[ChaosTitan]

The reason I was thinking about Firefly is that the two co-founders of the band were a firefighter and a pilot before they started the band—hence "fire" and "fly"—so I thought that would be a name they might come up with.


Then I think using it works. If there is a meaning behind the choice (and it sounds like a good meaning, to me), I say go for it.

[Serena Casey]

That's an idea I hadn't thought of - thanks!

[PattiTheWicked]

The current thing seems to be to take a line from another song and use it as your band's name.

Death Cab for Cutie, My Chemical Romance, and Panic! at the Disco come to mind. Those emo boys are so clever.

[Wordworm]

You could always funk up the spelling. Fyrefly? Fierfli? (Or is that one pronounced Furflee?) Phyrfly? Fyurfly? Fi'yurfly?

Okay, I think I'm having way too much fun with that. You get my drift.
Or bend the words a little...? Like 'Fireflighters' or 'Flyerfyre'.

[gp101]

Why not name yourself after a vegetable or something? Like peas, or, or carrots,or....oh! I know! Corn! That's cool and original!

Assuming you're posting another of your sarcastic responses, we've got Black Eyed Peas, Korn... but the carrots reference elludes me. What damn band used "carrots" in its name?

[Doctor Shifty]

I reckon that if there is a reason in the story why they chose this name, let that stand. If it works out against them later because it's too passive or cute or twee or something, let the story work it out.

[arrowqueen]

Call 'em 'Flamethrower' and have done with it.

;)

[blackbird]

Call 'em 'Flamethrower' and have done with it.

;)

That was a hit song by the J.Geils Band about '83 or so. The problem for people in my age group is that the name automatically, by association alone, would automatically conjure up THAT melody in the back of my head, whereby it would be "stuck" for the remainder of the reading experience. (As you can probably guess, NOT a favorite song of mine). :tongue

Of course, older or younger readers probably wouldn't have that problem.

[jbal]

Firefly makes me think of the Piers Anthony book before the t.v. show. But I think it's dead on for what you've described of the people and their reasoning behind the name.
Some bands I've been in over the years: Sh**seed, the Chia P**kers, Collective Anus, Styramex, Jesus Chrysler, Sin Conductor...

[Carrie in PA]

I just think of lightning bugs. :Shrug:

Actually, I think it works for your story. It makes sense. Just make me believe it in your writing and I'll go along for the ride.

[Serena Casey]

That was a hit song by the J.Geils Band about '83 or so. The problem for people in my age group is that the name automatically, by association alone, would automatically conjure up THAT melody in the back of my head, whereby it would be "stuck" for the remainder of the reading experience.
I was 18 in 1983 but I don't remember that song at all. And here I thought I was an expert on that time period! :Shrug: That's okay, though, because whereas "Firefly" leans toward the gender-neutral/feminine side, "Flamethrower" definitely sounds too testosterone-fueled for my purposes. :)

I may just go with Firefly after all since some of you feel the reasoning behind it works. Thanks for all the ideas!

[mkcbunny]

I'm in the TV Show camp, but aside from that, my initial reaction to the question was that "Firefly" sounded like a mixed-gender band with a female lead singer. So maybe you're on the right track.

[blackbird]

I was 18 in 1983 but I don't remember that song at all. And here I thought I was an expert on that time period! :Shrug: That's okay, though, because whereas "Firefly" leans toward the gender-neutral/feminine side, "Flamethrower" definitely sounds too testosterone-fueled for my purposes. :)

I may just go with Firefly after all since some of you feel the reasoning behind it works. Thanks for all the ideas!

It was off of "Freeze Frame," that album that had "Centerfold" and a bunch of other hits. Was probably one of the last singles released off it (after they'd pretty much milked the other hits for all they were worth).
Go back and look at your old copy, if you still have it. ;) It's on there.

[Higgins]

Makes me think of Foxfire, a Joyce Carol Oates book about a girl gang.

A gripping cold war drama about how gripping the cold war could have been if it had been a gripping cold war.