A number of names was formed in the very early 80's by a group of guys from Detroit caught up in the Italio Disco scene. They named their only noticable track "Sharevari" after a local club night, which in turn named itself after a french trendy clothing label (this was spelt Charevari but they changed the spelling to avoid conflict). The Sharevari night club soon became THE club to be seen in, with clubbers competing for the trendiest outfit and lusting after all things flash. The Sharevari record they made highlighted the vision of the day with a deep vocal about driving Porsches and drinking fine white wine.
The name "a number of names" came about when the hottest radio jock of the time, the electrifyin mojo, interviewed them on his show. a whole massive bunch of people turned up in a big gang all claiming to be in the band. when the mojo asked what they were going to call themselves on air, they could not think of a name on the spot that they could all agree on. so the mojo suggesed they call them selves a number of names, and it stuck.