Origin of the name 'The Beatles'

So what were The Beatles before they became The Beatles? Did you know
that the group tried eight different names before becoming The Beatles?
Now you can learn all about the names the most famous group in
recording history used.

In the beginning, in March 1957, the skiffle group was known as "The
Black Jacks." At this time it consisted of John Lennon and his best
friend from high school, Pete Shotten. However, this name lasted only
about a week when John Lennon renamed the band "The Quarry Men," named
after their school, Quarry Bank High. As "The Quarry Men," the band
consisted of John Lennon on guitar and vocals, Pete Shotten on the
washboard, Rod Davis on banjo, Eric Griffiths on guitar, and Colin
Hanton on drums. Additionally there were several people who played bass
guitar. They were Bill Smith, Len Garry, Ivan Vaughan, and Nigel
Whalley.

On July 6, 1957, "The Quarry Men" played at an annual garden festival
at St. Peter's Parish Church in Woolton, not far from John Lennon's
home on Menlove Avenue. During their concert, one of the audience
members was a young man named Paul McCartney, who was there with a
mutual friend of John's, Ivan Vaughan. While "The Quarry Men" were
setting up for another concert at the church that evening, Paul was
introduced to the members of the band by Ivan. While with the band,
Paul picked up a guitar and began to play one of Lennon's favorites,
"Twenty Flight Rock." This impressed Lennon, but what impressed him
even more was that Paul knew all the lyrics to the song, and wrote them
down for John, as Lennon was bad at remembering lyrics. A few weeks
past since this night when Pete Shotten went to Paul and asked him if
he would like to join the group, and Paul agreed. Although Pete asked
Paul to join on behalf of Lennon, John had mixed emotions in asking
Paul, as he knew Paul was just as talented as he was, and wondered if
maybe Paul was competition.

Griffiths, Len Garry and Colin Hanton would now add another member on
February 6, 1958. This person was the fourteen-year-old friend of
Paul's named George Harrison. Although George was four years younger
than John, and he looked upon him as a youngster, George was a
wonderful guitar player. To prove his ability to John, he played the
instrumental song "Raunchy," and did it perfectly. In a short time,
Eric Griffiths was removed from the group, replaced by George. "The
Quarry Men" continued on until about October/November 1959 when they
became "Johnny and the Moondogs."

Now as "Johnny and the Moondogs," the group consisted of John, Paul,
George, Colin Hanton, and John Lowe. It would be under this name that
the group recorded what could be broadly considered the first Beatles'
song, although two of the members would soon leave. The group recorded
two songs, "That'll Be The Day," and "In Spite Of All The Danger."
Interestingly, these two songs would not surface until long after the
Beatles' broke up, upon the release of their "Beatles Anthology, Volume
1."

During this time John and Paul began their song writing careers, and
wrote numerous songs. Some from this early period that everyone knows
are: "Love Me Do," " One After 909," "Hello Little Girl," and "When I'm
Sixty-Four."

the name "The Nerk Twins." This came about on April 23 and 24, 1960,
when over an Easter holiday break, John and Paul worked at the Fox and
Hounds Bar in Caversham, Berkshire owned by Paul's cousin Elizabeth
Robbins. Strangely, for working behind the bar, Elizabeth and her
husband Mike allowed John and Paul to play a few songs for the patrons.
Without microphones, they sat on stools and entertained the audience,
when Mike fondly called them, "The Nerk Twins."

Sometime during the early part of May 1960, their name changed to "The
Beatals." The group now consisted of John, Paul, George, and John's
friend Stuart Sutcliffe. According to Lennon, he named the band "The
Beatals," for two reasons. First, he liked Buddy Holly's band "The
Crickets," and wanted an insect sounding name, but also wanted to
incorporate the name "Beat" in the title. Not sold on this, Lennon
would try several other variations. Later on May 10, Lennon came up
with "The Silver Beetles." This still used the insect theme, and lasted
until June 1960. During this time, Lennon changed the name back on May
14 to "The Silver Beats." Still not sold on a name, Lennon changed the
name again in early to mid June 1960 to "The Beatles," this time using
a distinctive spelling. He changed the spelling so as not to have the
insect connection, while at the same time maintaining the insect name
sound.

On month later in July 1960, Lennon again changed the name, this time
back to "The Silver Beatles." This lasted until August 16, 1960, when
the name was changed back to "The Beatles," and the rest as they say is
history.

So, let's take a quick review of the names again:

The Black Jacks

The Quarry Men

Johnny and the Moondogs

The Nerk Twins

The Beatals

The Silver Beetles

The Silver Beats

The Beatles

The Silver Beatles

The Beatles

So there you have it - the origin of the name 'The Beatles'.