The fact that David Bowie’s musical fame has continued unabated after his death in 2016 is not only shown by the recently released documentary “Moonage Daydream”. In his home country Great Britain, fans apparently also remember the musician in a special way: how reported by the British Statistics OfficeBowie-inspired first names have skyrocketed since his death.
According to the authority, the first name Ziggy, apparently based on Bowie’s alter ego Ziggy Stardust, was given 136 times for boys in 2021 – in 2015 the name was only registered 33 times. Ziggy was given 14 times as a girl’s name in 2021. “Bowie” is apparently also a popular first name: in 2021, 78 boys and 28 girls were called that.
It’s not just Bowie that encourages British music fans to look for a name. The names Ezra and Mabel are also becoming popular, which the authority also explains with the popularity of singer-songwriter George Ezra and singer Mabel. The first name Ezra especially took a leap after the musician’s hit debut album “Wanted on Voyage” (2014), as did Mabel after the hit single “Finders Keepers” (2017). In 2021, 1,226 boys were named Ezra and 885 girls Mabel.
But pop culture names are also popular outside of music, as the authority shows with the example of the latest “Star Wars” trilogy. Although Finn was a popular boy name before, it increased in popularity from 512 to 788 new namesakes from 2015 to 2021. The increase in the name Kylo, which is rather unusual outside of “Star Wars”, is clearer. In 2015, the year “The Force Awakens” was released, it was awarded ten times for boys, in 2020 it was a whopping 189 times, and in 2021 it was still 161 times. Although Kylo started out as a villain in the first film, viewers seem to forgive him after his transformation in the last part.
One prominent example showed that it is good to at least wait for the end of a story before being inspired by it when naming your children. Many “Game of Thrones” fans around the world gave their daughters names like Daenerys or Khaleesi – and then got a nasty surprise when the last heir to the Targaryens underwent a turn into a power-hungry despot in the controversial final season.