Note regarding the bands name:
Sorry omegas and xunker - those are good and commonly held theories as to their name. But the truth is that no one knows the truth. I speak as a long time and rather die-hard fan. (And this is not my idea of the "truth" but the truth as released by the band.) Eddie also told the hallogenogenic jelly story to Rolling Stone Magazine on two occasions. He has later said that he just made up this story on a whim, and then liked it enough to tell it again. He says regarding the media that if you "don't give them an answer, they never leave you alone."
The pornographic theory is just as fallacious. I can't find the exact quote at the moment, but the first time Eddie and Stone heard of this idea they were doing a radio show, and they both just laughed. They said they had never even thought of it that way before, and they found it amusing that other people had such dirty minds.

According to Eddie: "I remember throwing words and meanings around for band names,..... I was writing songs daily and they seemed more important than the name of the band,.... I didn't grasp at the time how representative it may become,....not to mention we were just making a little record that few people would ever hear,...... so the words came, 2,... one of which was Pearl. The name of my great grandmother,..... married to a contortionist...... He used to fit himself into a suitcase.... One in a long line of peculiar individuals."

See, here he says she was married to a contortionist. Before it was an Indian chief. Does Eddie even have a Grandma Pearl? Possibly. I kind of doubt it, but who knows? At any rate, the bands name doesn't need to be analyzed; it is really of no importance. They are great for the music they make, not for what they named themselves.

Additional information on this subject and anything else about the band can be found at:
www.pearljam.com
www.tenclub.net
www.lukin.com
www.synergy.com
www.fivehorizons.com
allthoseyesterdays.net
www.pearljamnetwork.com