Cool site with the origins of rock band names. Check out the site
here. Very ugly site by the way. Here's a couple I thought were funny:
THE DEFTONES - Because when they started out, people thought they were so bad that they called them tone deaf - transposed to def tones.
FOO FIGHTERS - a term used by World War II pilots to describe strange flying fireballs they sometimes saw.
HOOTIE AND THE BLOWFISH - from the nicknames of two friends of singer/guitarist Darius Rucker - one with owl-like eyes (Hootie), another with the puffy "Blowfish" cheeks.
PEARL JAM - Eddie's grandma supposedly made a peyote (hallucinogenic drug) jelly/jam , which as kids they called pearl jam.
TOAD THE WET SPROCKET - A skit from Monty Python's Flying Circus which is about a weird rock band.