Speaking about the band's name, the drummer Jimmi Naylor said: "I never liked the name at first. But it's stuck– and it's probably got us more attention having a silly name. The band were just discussing band names and he came up with 'The Pigeon Detectives'. It became an in-joke but we thought nothing of it. But when it came to our first gig in Leeds the promoter was saying, 'What's your name?' We were like 'Oh, um... "The Pigeon Detectives".