Think K-Pop Group Names Are Bad? Here Are 11 J-Pop Group Names That Are Even More Bewildering

Recently, the group name for the Queendom Puzzle contestants to win the show was announced to be ELZ7 U+P, much to the criticism of netizens. It has since been changed to ELZ7 UP, but many still think that it’s too strange for a K-Pop name. Other group names that have received criticism for how odd they are include Kep1er, ZEROBASEONE, CRAVITY, and many others (especially those that are acronyms for a weird group of words).

However, this recent talk of weird K-Pop group names has had J-Pop fans speaking up, because it turns out, these group names are pretty tame compared to some of the strange names given to Japanese musical artists! Here are 11 of the weirdest and most bewildering names of Japanese groups out there.

1. °C-ute

While not the strangest name on this list, the explanation for it is somewhat complicated! It’s explained as this: “The character ‘℃’ (degree Celsius) is substituted for ‘C’ in notation for the purpose of expressing ardor—the hyphen does not have any meaning in particular. The proper pronunciation for this group in Japanese is kyūto (キュート) with pitch accents on both ‘ū’ and ‘o’.”

2. =LOVE, ≠ME, and ≒JOY

While all three of these sister groups’ names together are unique, it’s the last one — ≒JOY — that’s the most unusual! Did you even know that kind of equal sign existed?

3. BEYOOOOONDS

Why does this group name have four “O”s in it? Their name meaning is explained as such: “The name of the group originates from the English word ‘beyond’ and the meaning ‘to the other side of’. The name was chosen with the feeling of them changing shape and growing freely into the future.” We’re not exactly sure what that means, but it’s certainly unique!

4. Sexy Zone

While Sexy Zone in and of itself isn’t the weirdest name for a group, when you learn that the average debut age of the members was 14.6, it makes the inclusion of “sexy” in the name extremely uncomfortable.

5. KinKi Kids

The two members of this duo both come from the Kinki region of Japan, hence their name. Even so, the words “Kinki” and “Kids” together seems a little off if you don’t know the name’s origins.

6. Seagull Screaming Kiss Her Kiss Her

The name for this group was actually inspired by a song of a similar name released by English rock band XTC! That’s pretty much all their is to it, which seems pretty tame for such an unusual name.

7. Hangry & Angry

This duo’s name simply comes from the stage names that the two members go by —  Hitomi Yoshizawa (“Hangry”) and Rika Ishikawa (“Angry”).

8. W

The use of a single letter for a group’s name is certainly a choice, and one that isn’t great when it comes to SEO. However, the name’s origin is actually quite cute: “Tsunku, Hello! Project’s producer, had selected the name ‘W’ because the origin of the name meant ‘two Us’ and ‘gave off the feeling of two You’s’, symbolizing Tsuji and Kago’s dual nature.”

9. Kis-My-Ft2

Often pronounced as “Kiss My Foot Two”, the name meaning for this boy group is explained as: “The name came from the first letter of each of their family names: Hiromitsu Kitayama, Kyōhei Iida, Kento Senga, Toshiya Miyata, Wataru Yokoo, Taisuke Fujigaya, Yūta Tamamori and Takashi Nikaidō (ni being Japanese for the number two).”

10. Juice=Juice

Pronounced simply as “Juice Juice”, this girl group name’s origin has quite a bit of “lore” involved: “Tsunku revealed the name of the group to be ‘Juice=Juice’, stating that he wanted it to be always fresh and full of personality, and that in Japan anything is called ‘juice’ whereas overseas unless it’s 100% pure it’s not ‘juice’…  [He] assigned [each member] a fruit and corresponding color. Karin received grape (purple), Sayuki lemon (yellow), Aina orange, Akari melon (green), Tomoko apple (red), and Yuka peach (pink).”

11. JUGS MAFIA

JUGS MAFIA only just debuted in June this year, but we can’t find an actual reason or explanation behind their unusual name! Nevertheless, it does sound pretty cool, if a bit weird.