Origin of the Name 'Duran Duran'

If you've ever wondered where Duran Duran got their name, it leads straight to a campy 1968 sci-fi film called Barbarella. The band borrowed it from Dr. Durand Durand, a mad scientist villain played by Irish actor Milo O'Shea. They deliberately dropped the final "d" to create their signature spelling. The name was chosen on the exact night the BBC broadcast the film — October 20, 1978. There's even more to the story than you'd expect.

Key Takeaways

• Duran Duran's name was taken from villain Dr. Durand Durand in the 1968 Roger Vadim sci-fi film Barbarella.
• The band deliberately dropped the final "d" from "Durand," transforming the character's name into their distinctive band identity.
• The name was chosen on 20 October 1978, the exact night BBC broadcast Barbarella on television.
• Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, and Stephen Duffy were present together when the iconic name was selected.
• The name was intended to evoke futuristic, eccentric, and theatrical qualities, reflecting the band's artistic vision.

The Sci-Fi Villain Who Gave Duran Duran Their Name

If you've ever wondered where Duran Duran got their unusual name, the answer lies in a 1968 sci-fi film called Barbarella. The band took their name from Dr. Durand Durand, a deranged mad scientist and villain who inhabits the planet So Go. Irish actor Milo O'Shea portrayed the character, who famously kills using a device called the orgasmatron.

The band deliberately dropped the final "d" from Durand, giving the name a more distinctive, stylized look. This futuristic, eccentric quality perfectly matched their emerging new wave image in 1978. You might also find it interesting that a nearby Birmingham nightclub called Barbarella's, itself named after the film, directly influenced the band's naming decision, connecting both the film and the club in one iconic choice. Nick Rhodes and John Taylor were resident performers at Birmingham's Rum Runner nightclub in the late 1970s, cementing the city as the creative birthplace of the band. Interestingly, 1968 was also the year Douglas Engelbart delivered the Mother of All Demos, a landmark public demonstration that introduced the computer mouse and helped shape the digital age the band would later come to define their era alongside.

Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, proposed his revolutionary hypertext system on 12 March 1989 — the same decade Duran Duran rose to global fame — forever changing how the world would consume the music and culture the band helped define.

Who Was Dr. Durand Durand in Barbarella?

Now that you know the band drew inspiration from Dr. Durand Durand, let's explore who he actually was. In the 1968 Roger Vadim sci-fi film Barbarella, starring Jane Fonda, this mad scientist serves as the central antagonist. Irish actor Milo O'Shea portrays him as a positronic inventor who creates a laser-powered weapon capable of mass destruction, alarming Earth's leaders enough to send Barbarella on a retrieval mission to the Tau Ceti system. The real-world laser that inspired such fictional weaponry was first demonstrated by Theodore Maiman on May 16, 1960, at Hughes Research Laboratories, a date now globally recognized as the International Day of Light.

You'll find Durand Durand hiding in Sogo, a city on planet So Go, where he's plotting to overthrow the Black Queen. He overloads the Excessive Machine using sexual pleasure and accesses the Queen's chamber of dreams, driving the film's loose, erotic, 40th-century narrative forward. The character's origins trace back to a French comic series created by Jean-Claude Forest, upon which the film was based.

The Birmingham Club That Made the Name Inevitable

The Rum Runner Club on Broad Street in Birmingham gave Duran Duran something most young bands never get: a home. You'd find them there rehearsing during the day, deejaying at night, and performing for crowds deep in Birmingham's New Romantics Scene.

The Berrow brothers, who owned the club, saw the band's potential early and offered them management alongside an EMI contract worth £28,000. That support transformed a group with a four-song demo into a nationally recognized act.

Betty Page's 1980 Sounds article amplified what the Rum Runner had already built locally. The club shaped the band's identity, their sound, and their audience. Without that environment, the name Duran Duran might never have meant anything beyond a Jane Fonda film's villain. The band had taken their name from Dr. Durand Durand, the villain in the science fiction film Barbarella, after it was broadcast on the BBC on 20 October 1978.

The Night Duran Duran Actually Got Their Name

On the night of October 20, 1978, BBC aired Barbarella, Roger Vadim's 1967 sci-fi cult film starring Jane Fonda, and Nick Rhodes, John Taylor, and Stephen Duffy caught the broadcast. The villain's name, Dr. Durand Durand, struck them immediately. That late night naming decision required only a single tweak—dropping one letter—and Duran Duran was born.

You can picture the moment: three young musicians recognizing something perfectly suited to their punk-influenced, synthesizer-driven sound. The name honored both the film's campy sci-fi energy and the Birmingham club called Barbarella's, where they'd seen favorite bands perform. Months later, on April 5, 1979, they turned that spontaneous choice into something real with their student gig debut at Birmingham Polytechnic. In the film, the character Dr. Durand Durand was portrayed as a mad scientist, a description that resonated with the band's desire to project something theatrical and larger than life.

The $1 Million Lawsuit Duran Duran's Name Triggered

Duran Duran's name carried more weight than just cult film nostalgia—it also ended up at the center of a $1 million lawsuit. The band filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court against Worldwide Fan Clubs, Inc., a Glenview, Illinois-based company.

The legal dispute stemmed from a 2010 contract authorizing the fan club to collect memberships and sell merchandise. Under that agreement, Duran Duran was entitled to 75 percent of profits. The problem? Worldwide Fan Clubs allegedly never paid up.

The band claimed the company violated the contract's revenue-sharing terms, leaving fan finances unresolved and the band's rightful earnings unpaid. When reporters reached out, the fan club's office declined to comment.

NME covered the profit-sharing dispute, which the band valued at $1 million in damages. Duran Duran, known for hits like "Notorious" and "Hungry Like the Wolf," rose to prominence as one of the defining acts of the 1980s.