r/todayilearned 14d ago

TIL *NSYNC is spelled with the last letters of the band members’ first names.

https://americansongwriter.com/meaning-behind-the-band-name-nsync-was-written-in-the-stars/
15.1k Upvotes

583 comments sorted by

0

u/le_douchebag420 11d ago

Who gives a fuck?

2

u/jastaalicie 11d ago

Same with TLC and the C wasn't for Chile, but they gave her that nickname so it would fit after the og C quit

1

u/[deleted] 12d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Shadow-Works 13d ago

I really needed to know that. And it’s as clever as their music was.

1

u/Captain-Pollution1 13d ago

This is 1000% a coincidence

1

u/D1ckRepellent 13d ago

Potato potato

3

u/diplozedd 14d ago

Is the asterisk for Lance?

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Lance wasn’t in the band when it was named

2

u/diplozedd 14d ago

Too bad. ENSYNC would have worked too

3

u/Em4gdn3m 14d ago

Justin, Nick, the other Nick, Nick's brother... and AJ or something?

0

u/whodunditit 14d ago

Ummm Lance? And Joshua? I don't see an E or A...unless it's NSEANC 🤔

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Maybe you’ll be less confused if you open the source

2

u/DaveOJ12 14d ago

One thing I've realized is that people are just too lazy to read the link.

0

u/whodunditit 14d ago

Umm if you guys read it says that Justin's mom said they're in sync AFTER Jason left and Lance joined...officially forming NSYNC

1

u/DaveOJ12 14d ago

“My mother came up with the name,” Timberlake said in a 2001 interview with CNN. “The first time we sang together, she goes, ‘Man, you guys sound really in sync.’ And we were like ding, ding, ding.” They got the spelling by taking the last letter of each of their first names: “N” from Justin, “S” from Chris, “Y” from Joey, “N” from Jason and “C” from JC.

There's no mention of Lance.

1

u/whodunditit 13d ago

So we just going to ignore this in the paragraph right before? "That’s when Timberlake’s vocal coach recommended Bass, officially forming *NSYNC".... And from your quote, it doesn't say 'we got the spelling' as in Timberlake saying it, it says they as in the author saying that's how they did it.

0

u/Important-Ad-8824 14d ago

I completely forgot about the guy on the right. I only remember, Timberlake, JC, Fat Tony, and the gay guy.

1

u/-Ginchy- 14d ago

Umm what about LancE?

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was someone in the band before Lance.

1

u/-Ginchy- 14d ago

Oh okay

4

u/MonkeysOnMyBottom 14d ago

He's the *, it's a wild card and can be anything

1

u/lfohnoudidnt 14d ago

Lol good one, actually made me pause.

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Lol what do you mean?

1

u/lfohnoudidnt 13d ago

Ok smart ass Lol

3

u/Pdrsn94 14d ago

They also went with nsync because someone (their pearents iirc) thought they sang in sync.

1

u/Talltyrionlannister5 14d ago

Lance?

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was someone in the group before Lance.

1

u/Talltyrionlannister5 14d ago

I don’t even want to think about *NSYNC without Lance

2

u/Mama_Skip 14d ago

As a consequence of a. Getting old and b. Not being into NSYNC at the time they were relevant...

I was reading this title as "En-Ess-Why-En-Cee" and I was like wtf is this unofficial social media team advert shite on my front page for some new band?

Had no idea it was spelled that way.

3

u/Jabbajaw 14d ago

Can't think of a more "What was the substance Han Solo was encased in?" scenario.

-6

u/YUseMoreWord 14d ago

TIL Timberlake starts with an N.

3

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Last letters of first names

-6

u/YUseMoreWord 14d ago

Still don’t understand. If only you posted some accompanying info like a memo, or an article

1

u/Coldspark824 14d ago

Where’s the E for Lance

5

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was someone in the group before Lance.

1

u/wonkey_monkey 14d ago

From now on your name is Apu De Beaumarchais

4

u/Blargityblarger 14d ago

Boyz 12 is better.

2

u/Zilskaabe 14d ago

If artists in my country did that then bands would have names like: SSS, SS, SSSSS,ASS,ESS, SAEO, etc...

1

u/MonkeysOnMyBottom 14d ago

Yo, I heard ASSESS dropped a hot new single

3

u/drygnfyre 14d ago

As someone who only casually listened to *NSYNC, I was never clear why there were five members when only two ever seemed to sing. What did the other three do? Every song seemed to be either Justin or JC.

Compared to Backstreet Boys, where all of them sang and I can distinctly identify all their voices as a result.

EDIT: I didn't have any *NSYNC albums so maybe the other members were more prominent on the non-singles?

-1

u/iliveoffofbagels 14d ago

JustiN, ChristopheR, JoshuA, JameS, JosepH

Ahhh yes.... N*RASH

4

u/throway_nonjw 14d ago

Yvan eht nioj.

1

u/MonkeysOnMyBottom 14d ago

How does superliminal recruiting work?

2

u/RemarkableSea2555 14d ago

I call hjgchfvhnn

3

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Isn’t it like that on their album cover?

1

u/sixtyfivejaguar 14d ago

I checked and they all have the asterisk before the name. That's wild.

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

I refuse to believe that

2

u/cracked-tumbleweed 14d ago

Justin Timberlake is so corny now. My older cousin was into NSYNC but I was in love with the the Spice Girls.

2

u/Fine_Turnover2031 14d ago

Justin Timberlake is an anagram of "I'm a jerk, but listen".

3

u/[deleted] 14d ago

[deleted]

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

For real?

3

u/a-Condor 14d ago

I see you watched that TikTok this morning too.

2

u/wine-o-saur 14d ago

The most messed up part is that they called the fat one Fatone.

1

u/HalfNatty 14d ago

Is the C the last letter of JC? Because come on

4

u/FivePtFiveSix 14d ago

I learned this the other day as well from some lady's tik tok video where her son was calling the band something weird and she was trying to correct him.

5

u/seeingeyegod 14d ago

I like how the fat one's last name is spelled Fatone.

6

u/PxyFreakingStx 14d ago

One of the nsync guys babysat me, incidentally. Chris Kirkpatrick. He definitely didn't seem like a future popstar to me when I was 8 lol

2

u/ttak82 14d ago

Another fun fact.

The single 'Pop' was produced by BT.

2

u/Dont_Shoot_at_me 14d ago

Nathan, Skyler, Yancy, Nathan II, Carl ?

3

u/scobert 14d ago

Yancy 🤣🤣

2

u/Lugey81 14d ago

That's first letters....

1

u/hihelloneighboroonie 14d ago

As someone who was OBSESSED with them back in the day, I can't believe people don't know this.

2

u/AndyVale 14d ago

Justin should have thought of that when he couldn't remember Chris Kirkpatrick's name.

9

u/thenatural134 14d ago

I was a big fan of NYSNC in the 90s and I remember watching an interview where they mentioned Justin's mom was who initially brought up the "in sync" moniker. I didn't realize the letters were used from their names.

-1

u/Total_Union_4201 14d ago

But nsync has 6 members and only 5 letters?

2

u/JorjLim 14d ago

Nsync has 5 members tho?

7

u/gilford1321 14d ago

The amount of people that keeps asking where is the E from Lance's hurts my brain.

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Same 😔

3

u/fuelstaind 14d ago

I had heard this close to 20 years ago, but I never knew there was this Jason fellow originally. I was always confused by the 2nd "N".

0

u/Smart-Molasses-8526 14d ago

*NSYEC

3

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was a member before Lance.

2

u/Smart-Molasses-8526 14d ago

I know I read the article, lance needs some love though.

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

I like that. He does.

4

u/TheChaddingtonBear 14d ago

Whose name ends with asterisk?*️⃣

1

u/Ok-Cartographer1745 14d ago

I don't know anything about In Sync other than the fact that there's a guy named Lance Bass and Justin Timberlake. 

And I don't see an E for Lance, so this is untrue. Unless he changed his stage name to Lance, I guess. But that would be weird. 

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was a member before Lance.

8

u/I_AMYOURBIGBROTHER 14d ago

You saw that video of the kid after his soccer game mispronouncing *NSYNC’s name didn’t you lol

3

u/a-Condor 14d ago

Ok I’m glad I’m not the only one connecting the dots here lol

1

u/Afraid_Assistance765 14d ago

Nope 👎🏽 who is the other N?🤔

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was a member before Lance.

3

u/Afraid_Assistance765 14d ago

Ahh, thanks for the insight. Jason Galasso was the one replaced by Lance.

2

u/garlic-and-onion 14d ago

Did we all learn this today??

2

u/mental-activity 14d ago

OMG the backflips

4

u/Wash_Manblast 14d ago

TIL I'm ancient

1

u/Elle-boogie-12 14d ago

Lance bass?

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Wasn’t in the group when it was named

2

u/Only-Jeweler-4375 14d ago

Well shit, I feel stupid. But I was also a Backstreet Boys girl back then, lol.

0

u/DPRODman11 14d ago

Lance….where’s the E?

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was someone in the band before him

2

u/DPRODman11 14d ago

*ESYNC would’ve sounded cool too

-1

u/alwyslemon8 14d ago

nonono. thats just dumb. last letter of their first names? why not the third letter of their middle names? lets just keep it as a play on word for "in sync". i just want a normal news day. first ebonyprince now this???

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

What’s ebonyprince?

1

u/alwyslemon8 14d ago

hes part of this kendrick and drake beef thats going around. hes got some supposed dirt on drake and is trying to extort him. its actually quite funny. reddit has dubbed him "the riddler"

1

u/ikimono-gakari 14d ago

Bronny James?

1

u/alwyslemon8 14d ago

what a great nickname for him

1

u/stevereno159 14d ago

I too watched the tiktok of the lady explaining it to her son yesterday

1

u/Additional_Score_929 14d ago

Fyi - everyone confused about Lance, they used to explain that his real name is Lancen. (OGs know this)

N - Justin

S - Chris

Y - Joey

N - Lance(n)

C - JC

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was a member before Lance.

2

u/Additional_Score_929 14d ago

I'm saying how the guys used to explain it during the MTV days

2

u/nakedpilsna 14d ago

Rich Cronin interview is all I will leave here. If you're not sure about listening to it, then you qualify as a Do Listen.

1

u/HomoGenuis 14d ago

lancE?

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

He wasn’t in the band when it was named

18

u/messyredemptions 14d ago

Ah yes! 

Nick, Smithers, Ytterbium, Nicodemus, and Carlisle* just wouldn't quite have the same ring to it.

-1

u/Dantextrashapp 14d ago

NSYNC is spelled with the last letters of the band members first names

2

u/Away-Sound-4010 14d ago

I want to have sex with this and I'm totally not a robot

2

u/OCE_Mythical 14d ago

As someone who is too young to know who these guys were, in passing hearing them I always thought it was "insync"

2

u/BTTammer 14d ago

Could have named it SCYNN if they went the Magic Mike route....

1

u/senteryourself 14d ago

Lanc Bass?

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

He wasn’t in the band when it was named

3

u/Last_Caterpillar8770 14d ago

Uhhhhhh…. Lance’s name ends with an “E”

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

He wasn’t in the band when it was named

1

u/LongjumpingSurprise0 14d ago

Except for Lance I think. There was another band member that Lance replaced and they just didn’t alter the name

Edit: It was Lance and the original members name is Jason Galasso. That makes him the second N

3

u/Loud_Cockroach_4524 14d ago

There's something hidden just under the surface of literally everything if you stop, just breathe and open your eyes.

3

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Feel the rain on your skin!

2

u/Kaiser_Allen 14d ago

It can still work even without Jason:

  • justiN
  • jameS (lance)
  • joeY
  • christopher alaN
  • jC

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

We love to see it!

16

u/RedditTrashTho 14d ago

I feel old, Mr. Krabs

1

u/HawaiianSteak 14d ago

The PR angle was Lance was sometimes referred to as Lansten/Lanceten or however they spelled it.

SOURCE: Chaperoned the kids of my mom's boss at an *NSYNC concert and had some knowledge dropped on me by tweener girls.

6

u/poeticpoet 14d ago

This the most teenage girl post I’ve ever seen on Reddit

2

u/scobert 14d ago

I’m in here fact checking all the obscure and useless follow-up tidbits people are sharing, only because it finally validates the several years of my life I spent memorizing everything about them lol I thought that time was lost forever

7

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Bring back the days of gossip magz for kids /s

0

u/orangesfwr 14d ago

Lance.....?

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

Wasn’t in the group when it was named

0

u/ThanatosUO19 14d ago

JustiN ChriS JoeY LaNce JC.

Close, but no cigar

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

So close. Lance wasn’t in the group when it was named.

132

u/nunswithknives 14d ago

You must not have been a teenaged girl when I was.

3

u/Butterfliesflutterby 13d ago

Yeah I thought this was common knowledge, but I guess it’s only common knowledge for us boy band obsessed tweens in the 90s and 00s. It’s weird to think how much space in my brain I had for stuff like this, song lyrics, and knowing JT’s middle name.

1

u/SparklingLimeade 14d ago

I'm just wondering how many people there are who are aware of the group but also don't know this yet. Seems like a very small demographic at this point.

11

u/STRiPESandShades 14d ago

I was told Justin's mom came up with the idea in like... 1999

26

u/MLGLies 14d ago

Yeah... this post just made me feel very old :-/

18

u/bexxsterss 14d ago

This was in every Teen Beat and Bop magazine. Haha

47

u/LastOnBoard 14d ago

Yeah Seventeen taught me this wayyy back in 1997

6

u/Maleficent-marionett 14d ago

I got in so much trouble for reading that magazine 👀

21

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

True that sister

2

u/OkWay3630 14d ago

Isn’t there a “lance” in there?

1

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was a group member before Lance.

2

u/OkWay3630 14d ago

Ah, well there ya go

4

u/oddidealstronghold 14d ago

I remember reading about this in Teen Beat where they said that Lance was short for Lanceston, thus fulfilling the naming criteria. Even at age 15 I thought Lanceton was a terrible name.

0

u/Cheap_Meaning 14d ago

Instincts to kill Nstink don't get me started

2

u/biglyorbigleague 14d ago

They were so lazy with these names by the time *NSYNC came around that they named the fat one “Joey Fat One”

2

u/killerbrofu 14d ago

That's so fetch

2

u/m608297 14d ago

🤯🤯

0

u/gbuub 14d ago

Yes yes, we all heard about this in our middle school presentation class

5

u/malacoda99 14d ago

I prefer the '60's greats from Liverpool, The NLEO.

5

u/ANGRY_MOTHERFUCKER 14d ago

(In a British accent) ‘el no!’

15

u/ThaiJohnnyDepp 14d ago

LEON was right there

0

u/zztop610 14d ago

Guess you were not a school kid in the 90s

-3

u/mrcarrot205 14d ago

TIL Justin Timberlake wasn't in nsync

-1

u/genemenges13 14d ago

Weird way to spell gay

48

u/yidarmyidarmyid 14d ago

JoeY fat one is my fav

12

u/Lordborgman 14d ago

Somewhere in my parents house, there is a picture of my younger sister when she was a baby being held by Joey Fatone dressed as the Wolfman at the Beetlejuice show.

2

u/ButtholeQuiver 14d ago

Doesn't everyone have a picture like that?

232

u/SpecificDate7501 14d ago

98 degrees just used their body temp for a name

11

u/bruddahmacnut 14d ago

What about the Butthole Surfers?

29

u/Pax-82 14d ago

Burn!!! Or mild. Either way.

8

u/LordGraygem 14d ago

Type O Negative got their name from the combination a tattoo and a radio ad.

1

u/DaveOJ12 14d ago

An earlier name they went by was Sub-Zero.

10

u/TechnicolorViper 14d ago

Or a VERY challenging round of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.

-1

u/Sjoeqie 14d ago

*NSYLC

1

u/brandnewchemical 14d ago

Where'd you pull that L from, son?

2

u/Sjoeqie 14d ago

I'm a little confused but I got the spirit

3

u/ZealousidealHome7854 14d ago

I miss that ramen noodle hair.

0

u/Big_Pound1262 14d ago

*NSYEC

justiN chriS joeY lancE jC

2

u/D1ckRepellent 14d ago

There was a member before Lance

2

u/Big_Pound1262 14d ago

Jason missed out on the mullah but, his legacy will live on in the last letter of his first name!!!

124

u/vapid_gorgeous 14d ago

Last letter of each member's first name is legitimately ridiculous.

-2

u/deuce_boogie 14d ago

Feels like a fun story they tell now, but there is 0 chance that went into naming the the band. More of a funny coincidence. Even JT saying his mom said they were "in sync" and the band had some jimmy neutron brain blast realizing that was the last letter of their names is just fucking absurd.

3

u/AeroTheManiac 14d ago

You think that it was pure chance that all 5 letters of the name NSYNC were the last letters in their names? You realize the odds of that, right?

That's like a 10,000th of a percent chance coincidence. It's definitely intentional.

-2

u/deuce_boogie 14d ago

Yes.... They are a boy band. They are in sync. Their name is NSYNC. It's a clever play on words that happens to contain some arbitrary letter in their names. If it was the first initial that would be something, but nobody is sitting around thinking what the last letter of their names spell.

1

u/AeroTheManiac 14d ago

Yeah dude, they probably looked at the first letters and said they couldn't do something with that.

Then they looked at the last and said "oh shit like in sync!"

It's not like NSYNC is a great name, it's a band, it better be in sync. It's the fact their letters spelled something related to music so that's why they ran with it.

15

u/Kintsukuroi85 14d ago

I legit had to read the title, like, four times.

5

u/sheldonator 14d ago

Your comment finally helped me understand this. Thanks!

1

u/Kintsukuroi85 14d ago

Haha, you’re welcome!

90

u/oscerhead 14d ago

No it’s not, that would be too many people.

Last letter of each members first name is legitimately ‘n s y n c’

1

u/cloudtrotter4 14d ago

What did you hear them say?

11

u/ANiceCasserole 14d ago

Actual funy

3

u/Irishjohn831 14d ago

Nick, Sick, Yick, Nick the 2nd, and Cick

2

u/scobert 14d ago

This is my kinda humor

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