The absolutely terrible band name Brian May almost called Queen

7 September 2026, 11:53

Would Queen have been quite as big if they had this unweidly name?

Most Queen fans know that the band grew out of prog rockers Smile.

That group featured Brian May and Roger Taylor alongside fellow musician Tim Staffell. It was Staffell's departure that saw Freddie Mercury join the group, and it was Freddie who suggested they rename themselves Queen.

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"Queen" is an undeniably brilliant name.

“The concept of Queen was to be regal and majestic," Mercury told Melody Maker in 1973.

"Glamorous was part of us, and we wanted to be dandy. We wanted to shock and be outrageous."

That's not to say that there wasn't a bit of concern in the band itself about four lads calling themselves Queen.

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"We're worried that the name Queen will give people the wrong impression," Freddie admitted in the same interview.

"We want to be a good British regal rock band and we'll stick to that way of thinking.

"Our music should override the image, because we'll concentrate on putting out a good product the whole time."

But if Brian May had his way, they wouldn't have been called Queen at all. The guitarist had pitched something else altogether less regal.

Build Your Own Boat. Yes, really.

And despite (naturally) hating the name, Mercury's friend, partner and one-time fiancée Mary Austin – who Brian had introduced to Freddie – actually lent it her support out of a sense of misguided loyalty.

"They asked what I thought," Austin told The Guardian.

“I said I preferred Build Your Own Boat... I thought it was a terrible name. But Brian was my friend. I'd just met Freddie."

Thankfully everyone saw sense, and Queen won out.

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Build Your Own Boat is such a bad name that Mary has even pondered if being asked to choose between that and Queen was some sort of test.

"It was Freddie who put forward the name Queen," she said in The Times. "Brian proposed Build Your Own Boat and Roger offered a suggestion that has since escaped me.

"The debate continued and then, quite unexpectedly, Freddie looked over and asked what I thought. Taken aback by being suddenly drawn into the conversation, I agreed with Brian’s suggestion of Build Your Own Boat.

"Freddie smiled but said nothing. I have since wondered whether it was some sort of test; if so, I suspect I did not fare particularly well."

It's not the first time Mary told the story of how rock history was almost very, very different.

"I remember Freddie’s massive black hair, which made him look like a cavalier, with his arm resting on the mantelpiece of Brian’s house in Barnes," Austin told the Daily Mail in 2000.

"He was very proud of his new white shoes. Suddenly he turned to me and asked what I thought about the names.

"I said, 'Oh, I think Brian’s Build Your Own Boat'. But Freddie got his own way, as he did with most things. They settled on Queen."