List of Band Name Etymologies - S

S

• Saving Abel - The band title is from the ancient biblical story of Cain and Abel, that is about a brother who killed his own brother. Band member Jason Null thought up the band title saying “I Googled the story of Cain and Abel and found a line about ‘there was no saving Abel,’ which just jumped out at me."
• School of Seven Bells - A mythical South American pickpocket training academy.
• Seether - Originally Saron Gas. The band was asked to change their name due to Saron Gas being a homophone of sarin gas, a deadly nerve agent. The band changed its name to Seether in honor of Veruca Salt's song titled, "Seether".
• Sepultura — Their name means "Grave" in Portuguese. The name was chosen after co-founder Max Cavalera translated the lyrics to the Motörhead song "Dancing on Your Grave".
• Sevendust — After discovering their name Crawlspace was already taken, band bassist Vinnie Hornsby renamed the band after a brand of plant pesticide he found in his grandmother's garage named Sevin dust.
• Shai Hulud — Named after the gigantic Sandworms of Arrakis from the 1984 science fiction film Dune, based on the Frank Herbert science fiction novel of the same name.
• Sigur Rós — Sigur Rós was named after the band's vocalist, Jón Þór Birgisson (Jónsi)'s little sister, whose name is Sigurrós (without a space). It translates to "victory rose."
• Skrillex — His old AIM nickname
• Slipknot — Drummer Joey Jordison suggested renaming the band from "Meld" to "Slipknot" after their song that eventually appeared on the band's demo Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat.
• Sloan — According to band member Jay Ferguson, the band's name refers to a friend's nickname. Their friend Jason Larsen was called "slow one" by his French-speaking boss, which with the French accent sounded more like "Sloan." The original agreement was that they could name the band after their friend's nickname as long as he was on the cover of their first album. As a result, it is Larsen who appears on the cover of Sloan's Peppermint EP.
• Steely Dan — Named after a dildo in the novel Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs.
• Stryper — Originally derived from the King James Version of Isaiah 53:5, drummer Robert Sweet created the acronym: Salvation Through Redemption, Yielding Peace, Encouragement, and Righteousness.
• Sum 41 — The band started 41 days into the summer. The band was originally a NOFX cover band named Kaspir; they changed their name to Sum 41 for a Supernova show on September 28, 1996.