in addition to the knowledge on Pearl Jam, they were actually briefly known as Mookie Blaylock and performed live under that name in the very early days. also the name of the first PJ record - "Ten" - because that was Mookie's jersey number. sometimes truth is stranger than fiction.
from wiki [CCR] derived their name from several sources. First came a friend of a friend of Tom Fogerty's whose name was Credence Nuball (with three E's, not four). Next, a beer commercial gave them the idea of Clearwater. And finally, Revival referred to their personal recommittment to the band.
the infamous Led Zeppelin name origin story... keith moon being asked what he thought of jimmy page's recently reformed yardbirds, saying the band would "go down faster than a lead zeppelin." that's a good one, although i've heard it's not actually true.
Jimmy Eat World came from one of the member's little brother that had a globe he was about to eat, and his name was jimmy, clever btw, i thought the 182 was from Scarface saying f*** that many times.
An addition to aussie's addition to the Pearl Jam entry... The Mookie thing is true, of course. And the whole peyote jam thing was just a joke. You look at video of old interviews with PJ and you can see it's a tongue-in-cheek tale. Vedder wasn't even trying to make it believable. But here is the best reasoning he's ever given on the origin of the name..
