Bowie
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Meaning
surname meaning 'yellow-haired'; popularized by David Bowie
The story
Bowie is a Scottish surname from the Gaelic buidhe, yellow-haired, once a way of pointing out the blond one in the clan. David Robert Jones borrowed it in the 1960s, reportedly to avoid confusion with another singing Davy Jones, and made it shorthand for reinvention itself: Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke, half a century of restless records from Space Oddity to Blackstar, the album released two days before his death in January 2016. As a given name Bowie is very new and happily unisex; its small American presence has come almost entirely in the last two decades, rising just as the world was celebrating and then mourning him, and it is hard not to notice the timing. It remains an uncommon, starlit choice, two bright syllables that promise a child permission to keep becoming someone new.
How popular is Bowie around the world?
In the United States, 1,839 babies were named Bowie between 2020 and 2025. In South Australia, 5 boys were registered as Bowie in 2017.
Bowie is on the official records of the United States, South Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, England and Wales, Scotland and Canada.
United States
1 in 12,000
In the United States, 1,839 babies were named Bowie between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Bowie peaked in the 2020s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
South Australia
1 in 2,6002017
In South Australia, 5 boys were registered as Bowie in 2017.
In South Australia, 2 girls were registered as Bowie in 2017.
The count never rose above 7 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Ireland
1 in 3,200
In Ireland, 11 girls named Bowie were born in 2025, the 352nd most common name among girls that year.
In Ireland, 6 boys named Bowie were born in 2025, the 509th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
New Zealand
1 in 3,800
In New Zealand, 15 boys named Bowie were registered in 2025.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
England and Wales
1 in 4,500
In England and Wales, 109 boys named Bowie were born in 2025, the 379th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Scotland
1 in 5,100
In Scotland, 5 boys named Bowie were registered in 2024, the 535th most common name among boys that year.
In Scotland, 4 girls named Bowie were registered in 2024, the 638th most common name among girls that year.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Canada
1 in 7,800
In Canada, 28 boys named Bowie were born in 2024, the 916th most common name among boys that year.
In Canada, 19 girls named Bowie were born in 2024, ranked 1,286th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Austria
last on record 2022
Bowie is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Bowie
Most people given the name Bowie in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Bowie deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Bowie truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Bowie fits with your family’s names and surname.
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