Musical Icon Names
One of the fastest growing category of names today is names that reflect or pay tribute to musical icons of yesteryear. Parents are paying homage to bands and musicians from the 1960s-1990s by bestowing their names on all sorts of kids today-- witness the rise of names like Lennon, Hendrix, and Zeppelin as first names. Here is a list of some that are already popular, plus some others you could use. Most of these have been culled from lower numbers of the top 7000 baby names list of the past 10 years or so.
| Name | Inspiration |
| Ace | Ace Frehley from KISS, also the song "Ace of Spades" by AC/DC |
| Aretha | Aretha Franklin |
| Axl | Axl Rose from Guns n Roses |
| Balin | Marty Balin from the Jefferson Airplane |
| Barrett | Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd |
| Bo | Bo Diddley |
| Bocephus | Hank Williams Jr's nickname |
| Bolan | Marc Bolan from T. Rex |
| Bonham | John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) |
| Booker | Booker T. & the MGs |
| Bowie | David Bowie |
| Boz | Boz Scaggs |
| Cash | Johnny Cash |
| Cassidy | Grateful Dead song also Jack Cassady |
| Cobain | Kurt Cobain from Nirvana |
| Coltrane | John Coltrane |
| Creedence | Creedence Clearwater Revival (band) |
| Crimson | King Crimson |
| Crosby | David Crosby (Crosby, Stills, Nash) |
| Crue | Motley Crue (band)- Crue has been getting more popular recently, possibly influenced by the rise of Cruz as a first name. |
| Daltry | Roger Daltry - the Who |
| Danzig | Glenn Danzig (the Misfits/Samhain)-- this is also a city in Poland (the German name for Gdansk), but when it pops up on name lists, it's probably in honor of the band |
| Del | Del Shannon |
| Dio | Ronnie James Dio |
| Dokken | Dokken (band) |
| Domino | "Fats" Domino |
| Elvis | Elvis Presley |
| Everly | the Everly Brothers |
| Fender | brand of guitar |
| Floyd | Pink Floyd (band) |
| Frampton | Peter Frampton |
| Free | the band Free, the songs "Free Bird", "Keep on Rockin in the Free World" etc. |
| Geffen | record company founder |
| Gibson | brand of guitar |
| Haggard | Merle Haggard |
| Halen | Van Halen |
| Hendrix | Jimi Hendrix |
| Henley | Don Henley from the Eagles |
| Holiday | Billie Holiday |
| Iggy | Iggy Pop |
| Isley | the Isley Brothers |
| Jagger | Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones) |
| Jethro | Jethro Tull (which was named after the 18th century inventor of the seed drill) |
| Jett | Joan Jett |
| Joplin | after Janis Joplin (or Scott Joplin; rock 'n' roll probably wouldn't exist without him either) |
| Journey | the band Journey |
| Jovi | band Bon Jovi |
| Kantner | Paul Kantner from the Jefferson Airplane |
| Kiedis | Anthony Kiedis from the Red Hot Chili Peppers |
| Layla | Eric Clapton/Derek & the Dominos song |
| Lennon | John Lennon |
| Lennox | Annie Lennox |
| Lola | the Kinks song |
| Lucille | the name of B.B. King's guitar |
| Lula | "Be Bop a Lula"- early rock n roll song by Gene Vincent |
| Lynott | Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy |
| Marley | Bob Marley |
| Mayall | John Mayall |
| Maybellene | song by Chuck Berry, one of the first rock n' roll songs ever recorded |
| McCartney | Paul McCartney |
| Mercury | Freddie Mercury from Queen |
| Miles | Miles Davis |
| Mingus | Charles Mingus (jazz musician) |
| Morrison | Van/Jim Morrison |
| Morrissey | Morrissey from the Smiths (this name pops up from time to time, though Morrissey isn't known for being the rocker that some of the others on this list are!) |
| Nash | Graham Nash from Crosby, Stills & Nash |
| Nile | Nile Rodgers |
| Nyro | Laura Nyro |
| Otis | Otis Redding |
| Ozzy | Ozzy Osbourne |
| Presley | Elvis Presley |
| Rainey | Ma Rainey |
| Reed | Lou Reed |
| Reznor | Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails |
| Rider | band Red Rider, songs "Riders on the Storm" |
| Rigby | The song "Eleanor Rigby" spawned tons of girls named Eleanor, but few Rigbys. |
| Ringo | Ringo Starr from the Beatles |
| Roxy | Roxy Music (band) |
| Rush | Rush (band) |
| Sabbath | Black Sabbath (band) |
| Seger | Bob Seger (also Seeger as in Pete Seeger) |
| Smokey | Smokey Robinson |
| Starr | Ringo Starr |
| Stevie | Stevie Nicks, Stevie Ray Vaughan |
| Strummer | Joe Strummer from the Clash |
| Tesla | Nowadays this name is probably given in honor of inventor Nikola Tesla, but in previous eras, the band Tesla was more of an influence. |
| Thelonius | Thelonius Monk |
| Triumph | the band Triumph |
| Van | Van Morrison, Van Halen? |
| Vaughan | Stevie Ray Vaughan |
| Vedder | Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam |
| Withers | Bill Withers |
| Zeppelin | Led Zeppelin |
| Ziggy | Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie album) |