How and why did they called the band beatles?

Answer 1

They were "fab" (from "fabulous"), and there were four of them. Insiders at NEMS Enterprises (Brian Epstein's management company, purchased by The Beatles after Epstein's death) and later Apple Corps referred to the band as "The Fabs".

Answer 2

Origins of the name "Beatles"

During The Beatles appearance on Ready, Steady, Go! on 10/04/1963, Dusty Springfield asks John Lennon "John, this is a question which you've probably been asked a thousand times before, but you always, all of you give different versions, different answers, so you are going to tell me now. How did the Beatles get their name?"

John's response: "I just thought of it."

Springfield: "You just thought of it...? Another brilliant Beatle!"

Lennon: "No, no, really."

Springfield: "Were they called anything else before?"

Lennon: "Called, the uh, Quarry Men."

Springfield: "Oooh. You rugged character."

In an interview on 12/10/1963 in Doncaster, Paul McCartney says: "John thought of it, first of all, just for a name, just for a group, you know. We just didn't have any names. Oh, yeah, we did have a name, but we had about ten of them a week, you know, and we didn't like this idea, so we had to settle on one particular name. And John came up with the Beatles one night, and he sort of explained how it was spelled with an e-a, and we said 'oh, yes, it's a joke!'"

"I had a vision when I was twelve, and I saw a man on a flaming pie, and he said 'You are Beatles with an "a"' and we are." -J. Lennon

In a 02/10/1964 interview at The Plaza Hotel in New York, Ringo Starr says: "John thought of the name Beatles, and he'll tell you about it now." To which John adds "It's just that it means Beatles, isn't it, you know? That's just a name, like 'shoe.'" And then Paul McCartney adds: "'The Shoes.'" See, we could've been called 'The Shoes,' for all you know."

"When we first heard 'Crickets'... back in England, there's the game cricket, and we knew about the little chirpy, hoppity-goes-to-town type crickets. So, we thought they'd been brilliant, they'd really got this amazing double meaning name, of like the game and the bug. We thought this was brilliant, we thought, well, we've got to do this. So John and Stuart came up with this name that the rest of us hated, this Beatles, spelled with an 'a.' We said, 'Why?' They said, 'Well, you know, this is a bug, and its got a double meaning, just like the Crickets. We were influenced in many, many ways." -P. McCartney, 1990