Check Out How Your Favorite Musicians Stumbled Into Choosing Their Now-Iconic Names

People Thought Joy Division Were Nazi Sympathizers

Warning Abbott/Getty Images

It’s a shock to many when they hear that Joy Division named themselves after a part of Nazi concentration camps. In WW2, the “joy division” of a camp was what Nazi’s called the area of concentration camps where all the younger women were held in. This is because many of the officers would go to the area to rape the young women.

The band said they wanted a name that related to WW2 because a lot of their parents fought during it and they wanted to pay homage to the conflict, but choosing Joy Division really doesn’t seem like it was the best option.

Next, Bob Dylan had to really search for inspiration for his own stage name and then ended up inspiring another band’s name.