He formed the band under the name Jack's Mannequin, which came to be after McMahon had considered the name "The Mannequins." However, after growing "bored of 'the' band names," he decided to sandwich it together with the title of a song he had completed for the record, "Dear Jack." Originally, there was said to be "not much significance behind the name," but upon McMahon's diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, "the band name became ironic--considering the Jack I wrote the song for & ultimately named the project after, suffered from childhood leukemia."