Where did those band names come from?
Believe it or not, the band name "The Beatles" came to founder John Lennon in a dream when he was twelve years old! As he recalls, Lennon relates the fantasy of a man on a flaming pie coming to tell him that "you will be Beetles, with an 'A'!!" and thus the legendary Beatles was born some many years later.
Members first included John Lennon (rhythm guitar and lead vocals) Paul McCartney (drums/piano and backing vocals) George Harrison (lead guitar and backing vocals) Stu Sutcliffe (bass guitar) and Pete Best (later replacing McCartney on drums after Stu quit the band and McCartney took up the bass)
Ringo Starr joined in 1962 after Pete was kicked out. It was George Harrison's idea to use Starr.
Members of the Beatles since 1962 included John Lennon (vocals and rhythm guitar) Paul McCartney (vocals and bass guitar) George Harrison (vocals and lead guitar) and Ringo Starr (vocals and drums)
Strange as it may sound, the name came from Zeppelin drummer John Bonham in a bar while talking to lead singer Robert Plant. He made a comment such as "the band will go over like a LED ZEPPELIN" in referrence to a sinking, led-filled blimp. Thus, the name stuck and the rest is history.