Third Eye Blind popped into my head this morning and I always thought their name was pretty clever. I started thinking about a few others I like and got stuck on “modified birth names”
City & Colour - stage name of Dallas Green
Corto Alto - stage name for Liam Shortall (Corto Alto means “short tall” in Spanish)
Dora Jar - stage name for Dorothy Jar (door ajar)
I don’t love when artists pick names based on other artists, though. I love Chet Faker’s music but wish he stuck with Nick Murphy.
Are there any that you really like?
[Edit] Please explain why you think a name is clever! I’ve looked up the origins of the unfamiliar names getting posted but I’m definitely missing what’s clever about some of them


Sex Pistols
Whilst not clever, but the band name is interesting.