Ziggy

Ziggy Stardust

With the passing of David Bowie recently I thought Ziggy would be a good name to cover.  Listed since 1988 with five births that year, Bowie probably inspired new parents after he starred in the 1986 film "Labyrinth," a cult classic. Jareth, the name of his character in that movie, began use as a baby name the same year it came out.

Some people mistakenly believe Ziggy Stardust, the persona created by Bowie (born David Jones) in his early years, is a completely made up name; however, Ziggy is a German diminutive of Siegfried, meaning "victorious peace," and Sigmund, meaning "victorious protection." As a nickname Ziggy simply takes from the first element, therefore meaning "victorious." Bowie saw Ziggy as the name of a tailor business while traveling, and Stardust came from an American act called "The Legendary Stardust Cowboy." Coincidentally, another music legend Bob Marley's son called Ziggy was born David (but he was nicknamed Ziggy after a soccer move). Over the years Ziggy remained rare in use, only progressing to 44 births in 2014 and 2015. It was only ever used on boys except for six girls in 2014.

Bowie, a Scottish surname meaning "yellow" that refers to a blonde hair color, is gaining in popularity much faster. In 2015 Bowie was bestowed upon 41 girls and 53 boys, but with the death of David Bowie the name was given to 75 girls and 130 boys in 2016. Some of these numbers may be from the weapons-as-names parents (think Gunner, Hunter, Remington, Pistol, Blade and Beretta) because there is the Bowie knife, named after Jim Bowie, but I doubt any are because of the Bowie Seamount, an underwater volcano, or Bowie Canyon in the Bering Sea.

There have been a few characters named Ziggy on TV, a song titled "Ziggy" by Celine Dion, and the newspaper comic strip called "Ziggy" by Tom Wilson.