The Most Commonly Misspelled Names in Rock and Roll

Rock and roll and education have never quite gone together. Take the name, Billy Squire. You know you remember him. The guitar rock guy from the 80s, whose song, "Lonely is the Night", is one of the songs on Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s. People might remember the person, but they sure don't remember how to spell his name. It's Billy Squier, not Billy Squire. If you think that's a simple name to spell, it is. But try telling that to the thousands of internet searchers who typed Billy Squire rather than Billy Squier into Google. In fact more people search for Billy Squire than the correctly spelled version of his name. Now, if you think ol' Billy Squier is alone in this regard, he isn't. In terms of searches, many popular rock and roll stars have seemingly difficult names to spell. With that in mind, let's look at the common ways people misspell their favorite rock stars.

These names were gathered by using Google Suggestions to help fill in your search term by using other popular search terms. The most frequently searched for term comes up on top. So for example, in the case of Billy Squier, the misspelled version is searched for more often than the correctly spelled version of his name.

Commonly Misspelled Rock and Roll Names

Billy Squier

Might as well start off with the name that prompted this article. This name is typically misspelled as Billy Squire. During the 1980s, Billy Squier had a number of monster hits. His career fizzled after the release of the music video for "Rock Me Tonite", which featured Squier prancing around a silk and satin apartment set. I'm not sure what Billy Squire ever did.

Jimi Paige

Probably no other rock and roll star has more misspelled versions of his name. The groundbreaking guitarist of Led Zepplin has a number of butchered versions of his name that appear as popular search terms including Jimi Paige, Jimmy Paige, Jimi Page and the correct spelling of his name, Jimmy Page. I suppose we have the next guy to thank for some of the confusion.

Jimi Hendricks

Not as widely butchered as the previous two members of the list, Jimi Hendrix, guitar god extraordinaire, also helped contribute to the Jimi Page/Jimmy Page misspellings. Of course when you're in a purple haze, it gets tough to tell these guitar legends apart. No wonder Slash of Guns N' Roses went with the whole one-word name thing. Speaking of GNR...

Axle Rhodes

Welcome to the Jungle, we've got misspelled names. The second best way to spell Axl Rose is the one that spell check doesn't flag. Axle Rose is by far more popular than Axl Rhodes. But then again you have a guitarist like Ozzy's old partner, Randy Rhoads (also often misspelled as Randy Rhodes) lending confusion to a whole generation of rock and roll fans born after these guys made their first albums. Speaking of the Iron Man himself...

Ozzy Osborne

You'd think being rock and roll's prince of darkness for over 30 years would help people spell your name right, but Ozzy's name is commonly searched for as Ozzy Osborn and Ozzy Osbourn. Of course it's really spelled Ozzy Osbourne.

Other Notable Misspelled Rock Star Names

While the above stars have some of the most commonly misspelled names, here are some others fans many fans have getting right.

Janice Joplin

Not too horrible as misspellings go, but her real Janis Joplin.

Ace Freely

Lead Guitarist with KISS, he was the one with the two stars around his eyes. He was also the one who spells his name Ace Frehley.

Bonnie Rate

Either you just got a good insurance quote or you were looking for Bonnie Raitt.

Eddie Rabbit

Okay, this one is old-school and understandable, but the popular singer of "I Love A Rainy Night" spelled his name Eddie Rabbitt.

Sid Viscous

Perhaps my favorite misspelling on the list. This is the smoother version of Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols fame.

Considering the tough time so many people have in spelling rock star names, maybe Prince had the right idea with that whole symbol thing. But then, how could you misspell that?