It was written by guitarist/vocalist Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson and guitarist Jason Cropper, and produced by Ric Ocasek.

Cropper wrote the song's acoustic intro; it is one of his only Weezer songwriting credits, as he left the band before the release of its first album.

[3] The song was inspired by Cuomo's brother, who was having insurance problems after a serious car crash while at college.

[6] However, as the song is played with guitars tuned a half-step down, it is played as if it were in the key of C. Melissa Bobbitt at LiveAbout named "My Name is Jonas" the seventh best Weezer song, writing that its lyric "the workers are going home" was "a righteous way to kick off a weekend".

Affinity covered the song on the album Rock Music: A Tribute to Weezer.