Rockers Names...

Bono
Born: Paul David Hewson
Supposedly named after a Dublin hearing-aid shop called Bono Vox -- Latin for "good voice." His U2 bandmate the Edge got his own nickname from either his sharp facial features or his fearlessness of heights, depending on which version you believe.

Snoop Dogg
Born: Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr.
Snoop Dogg was nicknamed "Snoopy" by his mom for his love of the 'Peanuts' comic strip. If the original Snoopy was, in fact, a little bit gangsta, 'Doggystyle,' we presume, was not quite what Charles Schulz had in mind.

Marilyn Manson
Born: Brian Hugh Warner
Marilyn Manson combined Marilyn Monroe with Charles Manson, of course. His bandmate Twiggy Ramirez (Jeordie White) combined the names of the slender '60s fashion icon and the serial killer Richard Ramirez. Most of the various band members have taken similarly titillating monikers – Daisy Berkowitz, Madonna Wayne Gacy, Gidget Gein...

Billy Idol
Born: William Michael Albert Broad
A teacher once marked a report card for young Bill with the comment, "William is idle." After his career went multiplatinum in the 1980s, this textbook bad boy fell off the map, going 12 album-less years before a 2005 comeback. Once again, Billy was, in fact, idle.

Elton John
Born: Reginald Kenneth Dwight
Sir Reg's early band was Bluesology, featuring saxophonist Elton Dean and frontman Long John Baldry. In 1972, he legally changed his name to Elton Hercules John, despite never having shared a band with any Hercules.

Sting
Born: Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner
Playing in a jazz band, the young Gordo once wore a black-and-yellow striped shirt that made him look like a bumblebee. "My children call me Sting, my mother calls me Sting," he once joked, after being addressed by his given name. "Who is this Gordon character?"

Freddie Mercury
Born: Farrokh Bulsara
Born in Zanzibar to a Zoroastrian family of Indian descent, the man who would be Queen began calling himself Freddie while at boarding school near Bombay, where he started a band called the Hectics.

Flea
Born: Michael Peter Balzary
Like Sting, another product of the Flying Pest school of rock nicknames. The Red Hot Chili Pepper's stage name was bestowed for his high-strung nature by high school buddy Anthony Kiedis on a ski trip.

Alice Cooper
Born: Vincent Furnier
Original band the Spiders switched their name to Alice Cooper, conjured, according to the record company, through a Ouija board encounter with a medieval witch of the same name. In 1974, Furnier legally adopted the name, keeping it for his solo career.