It was released in September 1995 as the third single from their fifth studio album, A Boy Named Goo (1995).

"[6] Rzeznik says that the song's unusual composition happened "quite accidentally".

In an interview with KFOG, he explained: "It was weird, I was just sitting on my couch randomly twisting the tuning pegs, and I couldn't figure out what notes the guitar was tuned to, so I had to grab my tuner to find out, and then I jotted them down on a post it.

"[7] In her book The Kennedy Chronicles, former MTV VJ Kennedy claimed that the song was actually about her complicated relationship with Rzeznik, with the lyrics referring to their time together and her full name being a secret to most.

"[8] In October 2012, "Name" was ranked number 24 on Billboard's "Top 100 Pop Songs 1992–2012" chart.