Simon Cowell's new boy band name 'December 10' has One Direction fans divided

15 December 2025, 13:25 | Updated: 16 December 2025, 16:08

What does 'December 10' mean? The name of Simon Cowell's new boy band has fans of Netflix's 'The Next Act' divided.

After the Global success of One Direction - who have been on a hiatus for a decade now - Simon Cowell is looking to see if lightning can strike twice with a brand new boy band.

The music mogul set up a Netflix documentary in search of the world's next big boy band, or as it's titled The Next Act. He auditioned lads in London, Liverpool and Dublin with the most impressive 16 lads (aged 15-19) brought out to America for the the final stage of auditions.

In the end, seven boys made the cut; Cruz, Danny, Hendrick, John, Josh, Nicolas and Sean. The boy band band was revealed to the world on the documentary release date, December 10th, which is why their name as a band is December 10.

• Read more: December 10 reveal what it's really like to work with Simon Cowell

While the reaction to December 10 has been mostly warm, some viewers have shared their upset at how similar their abbreviated name is to One Direction's.

Using the viral 'Madame Morrible, flip it about, Wicked Witch' sound on TikTok, a One Direction fan pointed out how December 10 can be shorted to D1, which is just 1D backwards.

One person commented: "It's like he's trying to replace 1D will not happen absolutely NO ONE will replace them or even be near close to taking over."

However, many fans have pointed out that it wasn't Simon who decided on the group name.

"He didn't name them, they chose the name with their label because the release date on Netflix was December 10," one person commented.

Another wrote: "He didn't name them, they chose this date because the show aired on December 10 :)"

In the documentary, the boys are seen announcing their name to Simon, saying: "So names, we've spoke to the record label, and we've spoke as like a little band meeting, and we've decided December 10, as a name.

"The show drops on December 10th, so it can be like our birthday, like our anniversary."

When they asked Simon what he thought he said he "absolutely loves it".

Read more music news here:

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• Simon Cowell's boy band December 10 release their first-ever music video
• Why Simon Cowell's huge net worth won't be inherited by his son
• Who are December 10? Meet Simon Cowell's new Netflix boy band
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• RAYE's sisters join her on stage in emotional moment at Capital's Jingle Bell Ball
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