Born Jordyn Kyle Lanier Thorpe, Pardi's stage name was initially inspired by Back to the Future's Marty McFly. Originally, he wanted to call himself Pardi McFly, but he later ended up deciding to drop the McFly and just keep Pardi. " . . . I thought to myself, 'JAY-Z is not going to do a song with somebody named Pardi McFly,'" he explained to People during a November 2019 interview.
As for the latter half of his name, it was inspired by a France-based women's fashion brand. As he told People, "I used to walk past this Anne Fontaine store all the time, and I didn't know exactly what it meant or what it sold, but I just knew Fontaine sounded hella important." He later looked up the name "Fontaine" and discovered famed French poet Jean de la Fontaine. As someone who considers himself a storyteller, Pardi felt connected to the 17th century poet and eventually made his MySpace debut as Pardison Fontaine.