The group derives its name from the eighth stanza of Wallace Stevens' poem Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.
The poem consists of thirteen short, separate sections, each of which mentions blackbirds in some way.
United States House Committee on Ways and Means | Ocean's Thirteen | Thirteen Colonies | Common Blackbird | Filthy Thirteen | Better Ways to Self Destruct | Thirteen Women | Thirteen Days (film) | Thirteen | King Edward VI Five Ways | eighth blackbird | Ways to Avoid the Sun | Ways and Means Committee | Thirteen Years' War (1454–66) | Thirteen Years' War | Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird | Thirteen (House) | Thirteen (film) | Thirteen Days | Thirteen colonies | thirteen colonies | Swings Both Ways | She dwelt among the untrodden ways | New World blackbird | Look Both Ways | Five Ways, Birmingham | Five Ways | Blackbird Leys Choir | 99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style | 1000 Ways to Die |