David Bowie & Theory of Names

The launch in Ireland on 8 March 2013 of the incredible new David Bowie album, “The Next Day”, prompted us to do some digging around Mr. Bowie’s real name and family names. Like many musicians, he appears to have a penchant for devising beautiful, memorable names.

Here are some of the things we found-

DB, real name – David Robert Haywood Jones

Father’s name – Haywood Stenton Jones (known as John)

Mother’s name – Mary Margaret Jones (nee Burns)

He has two half sisters, Annette and Myra Ann (Annette, by coincidence, through marriage, later became known as Iman) and a half-brother Terence or Terry (full name, Terence Guy Adair Burns)

Wife’s name – Iman, full name Iman Mohamed Abdul Majid

His first Wife’s name – Mary Angela (or Angie) Barnett

Son’s name – Duncan Zowie Haywood Jones (born 30 May 1971, now a successful Movie Director)

Daughter’s name – Alexandra Zahra Jones (born 15 August 2000)

Step Daughter’s name – Zulekha (born 5 July 1978, from Iman’s first marriage to Spencer Haywood)

The reason he changed his surname to Bowie, was primarily because of the upcoming fame of Davy Jones of the Monkees. He is quoted as saying, Bowie “is the ultimate American knife. It is the medium for a conglomerate of statements and illusions.”

So clearly, Bowie understands the power of beautiful, mystical, memorable names and has chosen powerful artistic names for his children too.

We wondered, given the resurgence in Bowie interest globally, are we likely to see an increase in the unusual first name, Haywood? Or maybe the use of name Bowie as a middle name of first name?

What do you think? Do you like/love his choice of names?